Grower Liaison Specialist - Categorie Protette L.68/99

About Zespri

Zespri is the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit with over 800  people in New Zealand and throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas.
 

We  help people, communities and the environment thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. We sit at the heart of an interconnected industry working with 2,800 growers in New Zealand and 1,500 growers in Italy, France, Greece, South Korea and Japan. We supply the world’s healthiest little superfruits to people in more than 50 countries. We are fruit on a mission.
 

Our values are at the heart of everything we do. We commit to guardianship; putting people, the community, and the environment first. We are results-driven, challenging ourselves to grow and deliver better value. We cultivate personal connections, listening and acting with empathy and humility – and treating each other better for it.
 

We are growing quickly, driven by our success in engaging more and more consumers and by offering the world’s best kiwifruit 12 months of the year. We have bold ambitions and aim to grow sales from approximately $3 billion in 2018 to $4.5 billion by 2025.
 

To achieve our goals, we’re empowering our people to achieve their goals, designing our work for wellbeing, through flexible work practices and self-leadership.
 

We have bold ambitions for the future and we want all of our people to live and perform at their best.
 

About The Role

The Grower Liaison team serves an integral function in the industry as the grower-facing arm of Zespri. The Grower Liaison team interacts at a detailed level with growers on aspects of the kiwifruit industry and transfers and interprets information from Zespri. In conjunction with the Orchard Productivity Center team, Grower Liaison requires a fully cohesive and inclusive structure to ensure that grower engagement is maximized and is of the highest standard possible. Position function is to ensure the development of G3 kiwifruit production in southern Italian regions, focus on transferring Zespri's strategy and business processes to growers and stakeholders.

This role has to understand the technical, regulatory, and financial context of southern production regions, and integrate this into the design of the communication flow between new and already existing growers, Zespri, and local stakeholders.

The role would be based in Calabria or Basilicata. 

Accountabilities

• Assist Grower Liaison Lead to develop and implement a grower engagement strategy for South Italy that is consistent with Zespri's wider strategic direction
• Support the expansion process of new G3 hectares in South Italy in collaboration with Zespri's Orchard Productivity Center team. 
• Facilitate new growers and new producing area integration to Zespri systems and strategies 
• Assist in developing grower relationships and loyalty/support throughout the South Italy growing regions.  
• Close collaboration with Zespri Orchard Productivity Center and specifically with Orchard Programme specialist South Italy.
• Support the development and maintenance of excellent relationships with growers, technicians, and supplier partners, as well as kiwifruit industry bodies in Italy, focusing on Southern Italy
• Participate in grower and industry meetings to collect information.
• Monitor and report monthly to Grower Liaison Lead on current stakeholder information and particular challenges and events with the specific intent of delivering value to Southern growers
• Organize and deliver key industry information through specific events in collaboration with other teams. 
• Collect, report, and answer any grower issue via email, writing, or phone. 
• Collect and analyze grower orchard industry data with a high level of accuracy.
• Assist growers profiling analysis to better define growers' needs and possible risks for Zespri  
   

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience in the technical/science arena preferably with a graduate qualification in a science or horticultural/agricultural field. 
• Valid driver's license (type B)
• Technically skilled in the areas of Microsoft Office package, database, and other admin support software tools.
• Good stakeholder management skills and service & collaborative mindset 
• Good understanding of the local context (Southern Italy)
• Strong appetite for communication and relationships with the agriculture sector 
• Ability to travel nationally and internationally as required for training or other purposes. 
• Familiarity with business relationship management practices in the horticultural/agricultural industry
• Knowledge of the Kiwifruit industry is preferred. 
• Written and verbal fluency in Italian and English at a conversational, business, and technical level 
• Ability to work in an international context. 
   

What's In It For You

• Competitive overall remuneration package, including a Short-Term Incentive scheme opportunity.
• FlexWELL flexible work ethos
• Additional paid annual leave day per year (Zespri Day).
• Additional paid volunteer day to volunteer within your community (Volunteer Time).
• Global Life and Permanent Disability Insurance.
• Group Medical Insurance benefits.

Zespri is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer - Minority/Female/Disability/ Veteran.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Agency

Zespri will not accept applications or contact from any temporary staffing agency, placement service or professional recruiter for this vacancy (“Agency”).

Where Zespri requires the support of an agency to fulfil a vacancy, we will proactively seek this support from our network of Agencies.  We respectfully ask that you do not contact Zespri or any of its affiliates/employees regarding vacancies, and reserve the right not to reply.

Zespri will not be responsible for, and will not pay, any fees, commissions or other payments related to such unsolicited resumes.