Dairy Production Specialist (Remote)

Job Purpose

The Dairy Production Specialist (DPS) is a specialized role that is focused on the largest dairy key accounts in the country. The DPS will provide technical expertise and solution selling to support the sales of our broad veterinary and producer solutions portfolio through our Extensive Ruminant Team and the Veterinary Account Specialist (VAS) Team. A focus area will be the business development of our genomic tests.

Key Responsibilities

1. Customer Engagement: Primarily calling on dairy producers and their consultants (veterinarians, nutritionists, and other influencers) to provide support and expertise.
2. Diagnosing Inefficiencies: Identifying and addressing inefficiencies in processes, people, and protocols that affect dairy production practices.
3. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Working in a team-based environment to align with and influence both internal and external stakeholders, building and managing relationships at all organizational levels.
4. Technical Expertise: Demonstrating extensive knowledge of dairy production systems and effectively communicating how Zoetis products, services, and technical expertise can enhance productivity and efficiency, with a focus on reproduction, genetics, and transition cow assessments.
5. Communication Skills: Delivering effective training and sales presentations to various audiences, including farm labour, management, ownership, and related influencers.
6. Financial and Industry Acumen: Applying in-depth financial, industry, and business knowledge to understand key industry trends and communicate relevant insights that create value for customers.
7. Change Management: Acting as a change agent, continuously learning, and pushing oneself and others beyond conventional thinking.
8. On-Farm Evaluations: Performing on-farm evaluations such as transition cow risk assessments, genetic evaluations, reproduction evaluations, and calf/heifer risk assessments.
9. Animal Health Solutions: Providing comprehensive animal health solutions by applying knowledge of dairy herd management concepts to drive positive changes and add value for customers.
10. Solution Selling: Demonstrating advanced solution selling skills by teaching new insights, tailoring solutions to individual needs, and managing the sales process from start to finish, including the implementation of new processes as customers adopt new methods and technologies.

KEY PARTNERS

• Internal

o Sales team (Ruminants extensive & Vet Channel)

o Marketing Team (Ruminants)

o Technical Team (Ruminants)

• External

o Dairy Producers (Key Accounts) & Producers Organisations (MPO)

o Dairy Consultants (Nutritionists, Economists etc.)

o Veterinarians & Veterinary Organisations

o Veterinary – Key Opinion Leaders

Reports to: Business Unit Director: Livestock

Location: National (Preferably Western Cape or Eastern Cape) – must reside in close proximity to an airport.

Education and Experience

o Undergraduate degree required, ideally BSc in Animal Science or BVSc

o Master’s in animal or veterinary science or equivalent degree is preferred

o Excellent knowledge in animal breeding, genetics, and genomics

o 5+ years of related experience including sales, dairy husbandry, dairy milk quality, AI, general dairy management.

o Ability and willingness to travel overnight between 25% – 50% of the time including some weekends.

o Language – fluency in English and Afrikaans

Behavioural Skills and Attributes

o Strong analytical thinking, problem solving skills & attention to detail.

o Demonstrates strategic ability

o Customer Centric

o Attention to detail

o Self-motivated and self-aware

o Accountable with high level of integrity

o Results orientated.

o Team player with high inter-personal skillset

o Strong analytical thinking, problem solving skills & attention to detail

o Demonstrates strategic ability