Business Manager / Business Head – Essential & Natural Oils

About US

Scimplify is a science-first manufacturing company for Advanced Materials: from specialty chemicals to the emerging building blocks of next-generation energy applications, life sciences, and crop sciences.

We scale process development and manufacturing as one continuous system, supported by world-class R&D infrastructure and executed across a global network of 500+ manufacturing partners and thousands of scientists and technical partners. The result: new materials go from molecule to commercial scale in months, not years. Scimplify operates offices and teams across 5 countries with 1,000+ innovator customers in 40+ countries.

We are backed by investors such as Accel, Bertelsmann, Omnivore, Hitachi Ventures and 3one4 Capital, having raised over $80M.

About the role

The Business Manager / Business Head – Essential & Natural Oils will be responsible for developing and expanding Scimplify's business across essential oils, natural oils, aromatic ingredients, and related natural-origin products.

The role requires a strong combination of commercial leadership, market understanding, sourcing expertise, supplier development, and customer relationship management. The individual will identify growth opportunities, build a robust supplier and manufacturing network, lead commercial negotiations, and develop long-term relationships with domestic and international customers.

The ideal candidate will have experience in the essential oils, aroma ingredients, fragrance and flavour, natural extracts or related industries, with a proven ability to build business and deliver profitable growth.

Key responsibilities

1. Business Strategy & Growth

• •Develop and execute the business strategy for Scimplify's Essential & Natural Oils vertical.
• •Identify attractive product categories, target markets, customer segments, and new business opportunities.
• •Develop a growth roadmap covering sourcing, manufacturing partnerships, customer acquisition, and market expansion.
• •Evaluate industry trends, pricing dynamics, competitive positioning, and evolving customer requirements.
• •Build a strong business pipeline and establish measurable revenue and profitability targets.

2. Sales & Business Development

• •Drive customer acquisition, business development, and strategic account management across domestic and international markets.
• •Develop relationships with fragrance and flavour companies, FMCG businesses, personal care and cosmetics manufacturers, wellness brands, ingredient distributors, and other relevant customers.
• •Identify customer requirements and develop commercially viable product and sourcing solutions.
• •Lead commercial negotiations, pricing discussions, quotations, contract closures, and long-term supply agreements.
• •Build a strong pipeline of new accounts while expanding business with existing customers.
• •Identify opportunities to introduce new products, expand product portfolios, and increase customer wallet share.

3. Sourcing & Supplier Development

• •Build and manage a reliable supplier ecosystem covering essential oils, natural oils, botanical oils, and related natural-origin ingredients.
• •Develop relationships with growers, distillers, processors, extract manufacturers, aggregators, and sourcing partners.
• •Evaluate suppliers on product quality, pricing, traceability, reliability, capacity, and sustainability practices.
• •Develop sourcing strategies to ensure competitive procurement costs, consistent availability, and dependable supply.
• •Identify opportunities to establish long-term sourcing partnerships and improve supply chain resilience.
• •Build an understanding of seasonality, crop availability, geographical sourcing advantages, and raw material price fluctuations.

4. Product & Technical Understanding

• •Develop a strong understanding of essential oils and natural oils, their applications, processing methods, and customer specifications.
• •Understand product characteristics such as aroma profile, purity, composition, quality parameters, and consistency.
• •Work with technical, quality, R&D, and manufacturing teams to ensure products meet customer requirements and applicable standards.
• •Support product evaluation, sampling, customer approvals, and commercialisation of new ingredients.
• •Identify opportunities across natural extracts, botanical ingredients, aroma chemicals, and value-added ingredient categories, where aligned with business priorities.

5. Manufacturing & Strategic Partnerships

• •Identify and develop relationships with essential oil distillers, processors, extraction facilities, and contract manufacturing partners.
• •Assess manufacturing capabilities, production capacity, processing expertise, quality systems, and cost competitiveness.
• •Explore opportunities for custom processing, contract manufacturing, product development, and value-added solutions.
• •Work with manufacturing and technical partners to improve product consistency, yields, quality, and commercial viability.
• •Develop strategic partnerships that support business expansion, differentiated offerings, and long-term customer commitments.

6. P&L & Commercial Ownership

• •Drive business performance across revenue, gross margins, sourcing costs, and profitability, in line with the scope of the role.
• •Develop business plans, budgets, forecasts, and pricing strategies.
• •Evaluate commercial opportunities through margin analysis, cost modelling, and market benchmarking.
• •Manage working capital, payment terms, inventory exposure, and commercial risks.
• •Monitor business performance against targets and implement initiatives to improve profitability and operating efficiency.

7. Quality, Compliance & Sustainability

• •Ensure coordination with quality and compliance teams to meet relevant product specifications and customer requirements.
• •Maintain awareness of applicable regulations, safety documentation, product traceability, and export requirements.
• •Understand relevant standards and certifications where applicable, such as ISO, organic certifications, and industry-specific quality standards.
• •Promote responsible sourcing and supplier practices, particularly for products dependent on agricultural raw materials and natural resources.

8. Team Building & Cross-functional Leadership

• •Build and lead a high-performing business team as the vertical scales.
• •Collaborate with procurement, quality, R&D, manufacturing, logistics, finance, and leadership teams.
• •Establish clear business metrics, reporting mechanisms, and accountability for execution.
• •Translate market opportunities into actionable commercial and operational plans.

Desired candidate profile

• •12–20 years of relevant experience in essential oils, natural oils, aroma ingredients, fragrance and flavour, natural extracts,or related ingredient businesses.
• •Proven experience in B2B sales, business development, commercial leadership, sourcing, or business management.
• •Strong understanding of essential oil and natural ingredient markets, product applications, sourcing networks, and commercial dynamics.
• •Established relationships with customers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, or industry stakeholders.
• •Experience managing commercial negotiations, pricing, key accounts, and long-term supply partnerships.
• •Demonstrated ability to develop new business opportunities and deliver revenue growth.
• •Strong commercial acumen, negotiation skills, market understanding, and stakeholder management capabilities.
• •Experience with international trade, exports, or global customer accounts would be an advantage.
• •Entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to build and scale a business in a dynamic environment.

Preferred industry background

Candidates from the following industries would be particularly relevant:

• •Essential oils and natural oils
• •Fragrance and flavour ingredients
• •Aroma chemicals and perfumery ingredients
• •Natural extracts, botanical ingredients, Speciality ingredients
• •Personal care, cosm