Agriculture Specialist, Commercial Agriculture

Requisition ID: 175979

Join a purpose driven winning team, committed to results, in an inclusive and high-performing culture.

Contributes to the overall success of the Agricultural segment of the Business Banking department(s) in Canada ensuring specific individual goals, plans and initiatives are executed/delivered in support of the team’s business strategies and objectives.

The Agriculture Specialist(s) are responsible for focused profitable sales of both credit/non-credit products to agriculture customers and prospects in Business Banking including self-development of an extensive network of referral sources through effective strategy of community involvement, within an assigned territory. Develops and expands profitable high value client relationships (borrowings $1-3MM).

The Agriculture Specialist ensures all activities conducted are following governing regulations, internal policies and procedures.

**Is this role right for you?**
- As the Agriculture Specialist you would be expected to proactively ‘hunt’/acquire and develop relationships with prospects, high value small business customers and COI’s. This role will include targets for new customer acquisition.
- You would develop and maintain relationships with Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Agriculture Account Managers and Wealth Partners in order to provide a coordinated market approach to Agriculture Services in the assigned territory.
- You would acquire new Agriculture customer relationships through involvement in industry events and relationships with local farmers, Agriculture businesses, COI’s serving the segment and Scotiabank partners and associations with a footprint in the local market.
- Maintain and grow a portfolio allocated in discussion with your Agriculture Market Lead. Purpose of the portfolio is to provide a base within your assigned territory and support market development activities. Portfolio’s will be monitored on a regular basis. You will be responsible for servicing and annual reviews for assigned clients.
- Your approach, focusing on the needs of businesses in the agriculture sector, aligns sales, products, risk policy, and market strategies to deliver solutions specific for individual needs. This opportunity prepares you to deliver excellent, responsive, and proactive service to agriculture business clients in the areas of accounts, operating services, credit, lending and deposits.

**Do you have the skills that will enable you to succeed in this role? We would love to work with you if you have**:

- Experience in the field of Canadian agriculture (educational or working).
- University/college courses in accounting, finance, business law and economics, or equivalent work experience.
- A strong knowledge of business financial statements, especially the Agriculture segment.
- A working knowledge of competitor offerings and alternate sources of financing.
- A working knowledge of economic conditions and political events affecting small business, especially the Agriculture segment.
- Proven success in sales, marketing and business development.
- The ability to build and maintain key relationships, along with the ability to influence and persuade others. The incumbent must possess tactical planning, implementation and organization skills. A high degree of flexibility is required to adapt to a wide variety of tasks and functions.
- The ability to become a trusted advisor to clients. This is achieved through identifying underlying customer challenges and proposing holistic solutions by both the Agriculture team and our internal partners that add value for clients.

**What you need to do to succeed in this role**:

- Be the champion for a customer focused culture, to deepen client relationships and leverage broader Bank relationships.
- Grow the Business Banking agriculture portfolio through new rural business acquisition at an acceptable level of risk.
- Put your talents to work and be responsible for the planning and completing relationship building activities which create sales and revenue opportunities for new business.
- Provide specialized Agriculture expertise and business/finance advice which increases the small business owner's ability to succeed in their business.
- Proactively promote Scotiabank’s image within the agricultural community through participation and leadership in community business groups, market events.
- Effectively authorizing, renewing or declining customer requests within standard Bank policies and authorized limits.
- Preparing and/or ensuring all documentation are properly prepared; ensuring accounts adhere to the conditions of authorization.
- Understand how the Bank’s risk appetite and risk culture should be considered in day-to-day activities and decisions.

**What's in it for you?**
- You get to work directly with farmers and ranchers to provide advice and financing solutions, building your brand as a trusted advisor in the market.
- The opportunity to be part of a highly