Senior Customer Business Manager UNFI Foods

JOB PURPOSE

The primary purpose of the Senior Customer Business Manager (CBM) position is to develop sustained business relationships and driving mutual profitable sales volume and nurture sustained business relationships with one of the largest U.S. distributors, UNFI Conventional, and their downstream retail customers for Foods categories. The Senior CBM will exceed (profitable) volume and share goals while improving return on holistic customer investment, in line with joint business plan targets and customer and brand strategies. They optimize product distribution, pricing and promotions to drive profitable growth. It is imperative that they have a working knowledge of the consumer cross functions.  

WHAT YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES WILL BE

This position requires excellent customer engagement skills and will manage all aspects of the commercial plan for the UNFI Conventional business including: 

• Lead 7-person dedicated broker team as well as indirect cross functional partners to deliver the collective KPIs required of the overall team 
• Lead both near-term and long-term Joint Business Planning (JBP); lead the development of strategic platforms and other growth drivers to achieve growth targets across Foods categories at UNFI Conventional
• Working with the Business Development Team and the internal Brand and Category Strategy & Planning teams to ensure the plans are resourced and that Spend and Volume are synchronized in order to deliver the Joint Business Plan
• Create and operationalize the UNFI Conventional customer strategy including all components of the go to market plan including “Big Bets”, innovation execution, trade investment ROI and the integration of shopper marketing plans with merchandising plans 
• Cross functionally lead all aspects of operational delivery of the business plan including initiating growth platforms, forecasting & retail inventory level management, supply chain compliance and managing deductions and balancing trade investment 

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

• Undergraduate bachelor’s degree required
• 7-10+ years experience in CPG or Retail industry
• Experience working with distributor networks and broker sales teams is a plus
• Working knowledge of Nielsen/IRI, Evergreen, and Customer POS Data is strongly desired
• Ability to build strong relationships with multiple levels of management internally and externally
• Strong financial and business acumen, including P&L ownership, customer planning with effective internal/customer communication, and analytical skills  
• Skilled in verbal & written communications to work with our Sales Leadership Team, Business Development Team, Category Strategy & Planning, and Brand Team
• Resilience: Thrive on challenges and confidently navigate ambiguity with numerous support groups to deliver growth initiatives
• Growth Mindset: Ability to present and sell new ideas and techniques to all UNFI Conventional and Unilever personnel to achieve profitable sales growth and turnover targets. Always seeking to optimize and evolve.
• Ownership Mindset: Ask challenging ‘why’ questions and take full accountability for successes and failures.
• Big Picture Thinking: You connect the dots and develop strategic plans to deliver growth

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