Sales Development Representative

Sales Development Representative Hemiksem, Belgium · On-site · Full-time

We're looking for someone with a passion for supplements who loves turning interest into conversations, and conversations into customers, and who wants to grow into owning deals of their own.

About axabio®

At axabio®, we believe technology and nature can work hand in hand to improve the health of people and the planet. Based in Belgium, we cultivate microalgae using patented flat-panel bioreactor technology to produce natural astaxanthin, the world's most powerful antioxidant, with unmatched purity and stability. Our products support food supplements and cosmetics worldwide.

Our culture can be summed up in three words: natural astaxanthin, reinvented. We are a small, energetic team that moves fast, decides quickly and gets things done, and we add our own flavour to everything we touch. We don't sell, serve customers or solve problems the way the industry always has. Reinvention is our default setting, and we look for people who instinctively ask whether there is a better, more natural way to do things.

The Role

This is the role for someone who wants to build a commercial career in biotech from the ground up, and who wants to do it fast.

axabio® is a marketing-driven company. Our campaigns, our trade show presence and a fast-growing reputation mean that the market comes to us: brands, formulators and manufacturers reach out because they want to know more about our natural astaxanthin. You are the person who picks up those conversations. You respond quickly, find out what the prospect is really looking for, qualify the opportunity and keep it moving through the pipeline. And where a promising account hasn't found us yet, you go and open that door yourself.

You don't stop at the handover either: smaller deals are yours to run end to end, from first contact to first order, so you learn the full commercial cycle from day one.

It is a role with a clear growth path. Do this well, and it grows into an Account Manager position with your own portfolio of customers.

What You'll Do

• Own the incoming leads. Pick up every inbound enquiry fast, understand the need behind it, and make sure nobody who is interested in axabio® is left waiting for an answer.
• Qualify with judgement. Work out what a prospect really needs, separate genuine opportunities from noise, and make sure the pipeline you build is a pipeline worth having.
• Drive the pipeline forward. Keep opportunities moving: follow up, arrange samples and documentation, line up the next conversation, and never let a good lead go quiet.
• Own your own deals. Take smaller opportunities all the way yourself, from first conversation to sample, quote and first order, while supporting the team on the larger ones.
• Go and find the rest. Where a target account hasn't come to us yet, research the brands that fit our ingredients, find the right person and start the conversation, hand in hand with marketing.
• Represent us where it counts. Join trade shows and industry events, meet prospects face to face, and follow up while the conversation is still warm.
• Keep the CRM honest. Log what happens in HubSpot so the whole team can see where every opportunity really stands.
• Learn the science. Get to know natural astaxanthin properly, what it does and why ours is different, so you can hold your own with formulators and product owners.
• Reinvent, don't repeat. Question the standard sales playbook and find sharper, more human ways to move a conversation forward, true to "natural astaxanthin, reinvented."

Desired Experience

• Between 1 and 3 years of sales experience, ideally as an SDR or BDR, or in another role where you were responsible for qualifying and developing new business.
• A genuine passion for supplements and healthy living, and real curiosity about the biotechnology behind them. You don't need a science degree, but you do need to want to understand what you are selling.
• A feel for the conversation. You respond quickly, you ask the questions that get to the real need, and you know how to keep an opportunity moving without becoming a nuisance. When a door needs opening yourself, you are happy to knock.
• Strong commercial communication in English, our working and commercial language. Any additional language is a welcome bonus.
• Comfortable with the tools of the trade, CRM (we use HubSpot), Lemlist, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and email sequencing, or fast to learn them.
• Not ticking every box? If you are excited about the role, apply anyway. Mindset matters more than a perfect CV.

Core Competencies

• Drive: you set your own pace, and it's a fast one.
• Structured: you work a full pipeline without losing track of anyone, and you follow up exactly when yo