Grower Service Specialist

Who are we?

Zespri is the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit with over 850 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.
 

What's the role?

Reporting to the Grower Services Manager, the primary purpose of the Grower Service Specialist is to build strong relationships with growers and stakeholders. Based in Chengdu, this role will also support the development and implementation of a grower engagement strategy supporting policies & processes to ensure they are consistent with Zespri’s global policies and the best practice, but tailored to suit needs of the kiwifruit industry in Sichuan.

Accountabilities include:

• Develop and manage strong working relationships between Zespri growers and shareholders in a way that ensures strong grower relationships, loyalty and support throughout growing regions in Sichuan province
• Develop and implement key grower policies, ensuring grower and industry interests are represented and that the policies are consistent with Zespri's global policies and best practice
• Develop and implement a Grower Engagement Strategy that is consistent with Zespri and Zespri Shanghai's broader strategic direction, that informs growers of key industry information through verbal and written forums, including:

- Managing engagement programme.

- High involvement in the new Grower Education programme with the objective of increasing education by improving relationships and engagement with new and existing entrants.

- Managing the grower's participation and involvement for the various industry and community events such as the field day

- Developing and implementing an internal coordinated approach to grower engagement, importantly this strategy/platform must be aligned with Zespri's eco-system in Sichuan province.

• Managing the pre-commercial trial function in order to have a successful and educational transition into the Commercialisation stage of Zespri G3 kiwifruit in China.
• Management and oversite of any pre-commercial varieties data collection and communication programme, including:

- Co-ordinating with packhouses and the technical team grower harvesting requirements.

- Distributing and collating information provided by growers

- Organising and sending communication to trialists.

- Liaison with growers regarding monitoring and maturity testing and picking results and instructions

• Co-ordinating the communications to growers around residue and the residue sampling programme.
• Manage a focused grower engagement strategy as agreed with General Manager

Who are you?

We are looking for an individual contributor who has proven experience within horticulture industry and posseses exceptional relationship building abilities and a commercially driven mindset. The ability to thrive in a dynamic, changeable environment will be a key to success in this role and the successful candidate will have: 

• Strong working knowledge of the Sichuan horticultural/agricultural industry
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• Strong time management and prioritization skills
• The ability to travel  
• Good verbal and written communication skills - in both English and Mandarin 
• Well-developed computer skills: Word, Power Point, Outlook, Excel

Why Zespri?

Our people are what makes our culture so irresistible and uniquely Zespri. We are a passionate and mighty team of 850+ employees in 23 different locations globally. Working at Zespri is an opportunity to join a fast-paced, culture-driven environment unlike any other. We want people who share our values of being personally connected, results-driven, and committed to guardianship. Join us in shaping our future and be part of a truly unique organisation.

• Competitive overall remuneration package, including a Short-Term Incentive scheme opportunity

• FlexWELL flexible work ethos; WFH & the office.

• Additional paid annual leave day per year (Zespri Day).

• Additional paid volunteer day to volunteer within your community (Volunteer Time).

• Global Insurance benefits

Apply Now! Applications close 15 December 2023

At Zespri, we understand the importance of diverse perspectives and experiences, and a fair hiring process is the first step to getting there. We want to attract a diverse range of people and encourage everyone from all backgrounds and walks of life to apply. Please let us know if you need any assistance or reasonable adjustments to take part in the recruitment and selection process by reaching out to our Talent Acquisition team via email at careers@zespri.com.

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.