European Business Manager [Nordics]

the ideal candidate:

• A candidate with 3+ years’ experience in FMCG, in international sales through distributors or direct to market
• Experience in Scandi / Nordic markets is highly desirable but not mandatory
• Experience managing distributors and/or direct to retailers in Europe
• Exposure to field sales strategy and execution
• Comfortable travelling regularly across the region
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Commercially astute with excellent negotiation skills and P&L management
• Detail-oriented and collaborative, with confidence and communication skills to work with various stakeholders in the business.
• A flexible, can-do attitude with the willingness to work closely with others within a small team, a real self-starter
• A entrepreneur with a passion for food and a true brand ambassador

About us:

itsu is the healthy eating, Asian inspired quick service retail & grocery brand with over 70 stores in the UK and a leading grocery business across Europe and beyond. Renowned for its best-in-class food made fresh in every shop every day, itsu has huge global ambitions with a commitment to continue to open many more stores and intensify the growth of its already thriving grocery arm. With its best-is-class healthy food, latest technology, innovation, and talented workforce, itsu is the future of fast food.

itsu [grocery], which this role falls under, takes the itsu brand into supermarkets, health food stores, online, wholesale and internationally with products such as, frozen gyoza, soup dumplings & bao, rice’noodles, and our world food range to name a few…

Buoyed by the success in the UK, itsu [grocery] International have expanded into several European markets, winning some major listings in key retailers. With more ground-breaking products in the pipeline and expanding into new and exciting categories (and markets), this is just the beginning.

• Nominated for exporter of the year 2026.
• 60% growth expected this year
• Double digit head count growth
• 'Best introduction in 2025' for our chicken soup'dumplings by Levensmiddelenkrant

D&I statement:

itsu [grocery] is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation. We encourage applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply for all of our opportunities.

Scope of the role:

itsu [grocery] is looking for a European Business Manager covering the Scandinavia and the Nordics region, to take ownership of the region and join our fast-growing international team.

This role will be responsible for launching and scaling itsu [grocery] into Scandinavia and the Nordics. You’ll own the P&L, shape the strategy, and play a key role in delivering our next phase of European growth.

This is a great opportunity for someone with FMCG account or distributor management experience who is ready to step up into broader ownership and build markets with a high-growth brand.

• Establish and develop new markets in the region, ensuring the strategy for each region is delivered alongside the creation of a multi-year plan
• Manage each distributor, building a strong, performance-driven partnership
• Lead on commercial negotiations, including pricing and promotional strategy
• Unlock new distribution while accelerating growth in existing listings
• Work closely with supply chain and demand planning teams to ensure strong in-market performance [OTIF, launches, availability]
• Partner with marketing to build impactful activation plans [media, POS, field sales incentives]
• Provide regular performance updates to senior stakeholders [head of sales international & senior management]
• Ability to quickly react to issues faced and comes to the table with logical solutions, a problem-solving mindset

what we offer:

• Competitive salary
• Competitive bonus scheme
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays (two bank holidays are interchangeable for other religious holidays)
• Health insurance
• Company pension scheme
• Hybrid working (2 days wfh)
• Opportunity to work from abroad
• 50% employee discount in itsu shops
• Free itsu lunch
• Discounts at major retailers
• Salary sacrifice cycle and electric vehicle schemes
• A sizeable training budget to support your ongoing development