Key Account Manager Trade Foodservice

Unilever is looking for a Key Account Manager Trade – Unilever Food Solutions (Foodservice)

Location: Brussels, Belgium
Reporting to: Sales Manager Trade

Local employment conditions apply. Full-time.

Salary range: €64,800–€81,000 gross per year, including holiday allowance. The final salary will be determined based on relevant experience and internal equity.

About Unilever Food Solutions

Unilever Food Solutions is the second largest Business Unit of Unilever, one of the 3 Power brands of the Foods Business Group, and a global market leader in Food Service. We are an independent Global Business Unit that operates in over 76 countries, and employs ~4000 employees. We have a unique B2B business model focused on serving chefs and our purpose is to free them to love what they do. 

We at UFS have a bold and clear ambition and strategy in place for 2030 with a bold ambition on turnover and profitability, by being the best solution provider to our growing operator base. We plan to do this via a product first focus on superiority, by becoming the leader in AI powered customer experience and by nurturing a Winning culture. We have had a history of delivering with excellence and resilient performance in the past few years. We also strive to stay 3 steps ahead in the industry. For example, our Future Menus Report identifies emerging culinary trends, making us a trendsetter for inspiring innovative solutions for chefs worldwide. 

We have a culture of caring deeply not just for our business but also for our people. We foster an entrepreneurial culture built on speed, simplicity, trust, and a deep hunger to grow. Our people thrive on their roles being empowered and end to end - across all functions. We also invest heavily in building future skills and leaders. Our People agenda of Accelerate-Grow-Thrive consistently helps us lead in employee engagement, with scores exceeding Unilever scores across all dimensions and being one of the most engaged teams at Unilever.

Here, you will continuously learn, unlearn, and relearn, challenging yourself to accelerate your development in an end-to-end business and in end-to-end roles. If you're dreaming of contributing to Unilever’s 2nd largest Business unit, a fast-growing business, where you're empowered so you can play to win and thrive as part of One Team with One Goal, then come and join us! 

About the Role

Within the Trade Team, we are looking for a Key Account Manager Trade covering West Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.

You will be responsible for some of our key strategic distribution partners. These partners are primarily active within the institutional catering segment, while also operating in HoReCa and having ambitious plans for further growth.

The role combines strategic account management, commercial delivery, negotiation, route-to-market development and people leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Build long-term strategic partnerships with our key distributors and develop Joint Business Plans to grow the business ahead of the market.
• Identify and develop new routes to market, including CRM, e-commerce and digital opportunities, to support future growth.
• Own the development and execution of customer and Joint Business Plans and deliver agreed turnover targets.
• Implement integrated BSP plans and key activations in close collaboration with Channel Marketing Trade, ensuring strong execution.
• Lead commercial negotiations and ensure trade discounts and budgets are used effectively and within agreed parameters.
• Analyse customer performance, including sell-in vs. sell-out, digital performance, categories and products, and translate insights into commercial actions.
• Secure and maintain full range listings, including new product introductions, promotional listings and price increases across trade customers.
• Build strong relationships with trade customers at all relevant levels and execute the Free Trade strategy by motivating, training and incentivising distributor sales teams to actively resell UFS products.
• In partnership with Channel Marketing Trade, further develop category management capabilities with strategic partners and strengthen UFS leadership in priority categories.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across the Pull Independent Team, Chains, Digital and Marketing to deliver results for the wider UFS business.
• Coach, steer, motivate and inspire one Trade Assistant, helping them deliver strong commercial results.

What we’re looking for

• Strong relationship-building and communication skills, with the ability to turn customer relationships into sustainable win-win partnerships.
• Confidence and influencing skills.
• Strong results orientation and perseverance.
• Positive and pragmatic mindset.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to build a fact-based commercial case.
• Creative and solution-oriented approach.
• Structured, accurate and able to work independently.
• Strong people-coaching skills.
• Strong negotiation skills.
• Strategic mindset and commercial acumen.
• Affinity with and knowledge of the foodservice market is an advantage.
• Fluency in Dutch and French, combined with strong English-language skills.
• Strong working knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint.

What does Unilever offer?
Unilever is the place where you can be yourself and bring your purpose to life with the work that you do – creating a better business and a better world. We offer an exciting & dynamic work environment where you can make things happen.

Furthermore, we offer some great reward and benefits!  

• Attractive total remuneration package; excellent company pension, bonus, share scheme
• Flexible cross-disciplinary career opportunities and a wealth of training opportunities & wellbeing resources whenever and wherever
• Plenty of company-paid holidays to further ensure your work-life balance is maintained
• Home working allowance  
• Company laptop and mobile phone 
• Mobility Budget   

EXCITED?

Join Unilever and our team! To apply, please do so online. Please do not forget to upload your CV and a motivation letter. Your application will be reviewed against our requirements and we will be in touch shortly after the closing date to provide you with an update on the status of your application. 

Looking forward to meeting you!    

Please note this is a Direct Search led by Unilever. Applications from agencies will not be accepted, nor will fees be paid for unsolicited CVs.   

Equal Opportunity Employer: Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, disability, age, parenthood, pregnancy or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against. 

By highlighting the gender diversity at the workplace, Unilever encourages applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. If you look for a job after a long career break or after any type of leave, do not hesitate to apply.  

NOTE:  Please save a copy of this vacancy for personal use as it will disappear from the website after closing of the role.  

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.

#LI-Onsite