Ice Cream CD Associate Operations Manager

The CD Operations Manager is a strategic enabler of the Customer Development (Sales) function, responsible for ensuring seamless backend operations, data integrity, and system optimization. This role drives operational excellence, digital transformation, and advanced analytics to support commercial growth, customer satisfaction, and cross-functional alignment. The manager acts as a bridge between business strategy and technology, ensuring that systems, processes, and data are leveraged to deliver best-in-class execution in the Ice Cream category.

Key Responsibilities:

Operational Excellence & Process Optimization

• Design, implement, and continuously improve standardized processes and procedures to ensure efficient and scalable operations.

• Lead digitization of key CD workflows including new customer creation, inquiries, and asset requests, using automation tools and low-code platforms.

• Apply agile methodologies (e.g., sprint cycles, retrospectives) to drive iterative improvements in operational tools and practices.

• Use design thinking to enhance user experience in internal systems and customer-facing processes.

Systems & Technology Management

• Serve as the primary contact for troubleshooting and problem-solving across TPO (Evergreen), TPM, ERP, GS1, and Master Data Management systems.

• Collaborate with IT to manage system upgrades, integrations, and connectivity, ensuring minimal disruption and high system uptime.

• Ensure secure access and compliance with Canadian data privacy regulations (e.g., PIPEDA), implementing role-based permissions and encryption protocols.

Data Strategy, Integrity & Governance

• Lead the development and execution of a robust data governance framework to ensure accuracy, integrity, consistency, and compliance across all customer sales data and internal/external reporting.

• Ensure POS data accuracy across all retailers to support reliable analysis and business decision-making.

• Maintain and enhance internal databases capturing primary and secondary sales, distributor sales, and customer orders across the portfolio.

• Align customer data and POS strategy with national category management, channel strategy, finance, and marketing business cases.

Advanced Analytics & Reporting

• Lead data collection and reporting across all platforms (In-Home and Out-of-Home consumption) to generate actionable insights and competitive unlocks.

• Develop and maintain Power BI dashboards and other reporting tools to visualize performance, trends, and opportunities.

• Enable self-service analytics for CD and cross-functional teams, reducing dependency on IT and increasing data accessibility.

• Build and maintain automated dashboards and predictive models to simulate the impact of pricing, promotion, and assortment changes.

• Partner with data science teams to explore AI/ML applications for demand forecasting, trade promotion ROI analysis, and anomaly detection.

Data Architecture & Integration

• Collaborate with IT to build and maintain a centralized data lake architecture that integrates POS, shipment, inventory, and market data.

• Streamline data flow across platforms (e.g., CRM, ERP, TPM, BI tools) to enhance visibility and reduce manual intervention.

• Connect external data environments (e.g., retailer portals, syndicated data) with internal systems to create unified reporting interfaces.

• Oversee access and integration of retailer-specific data portals into internal reporting and analytics workflows.

KPI Monitoring & Performance Management

• Develop, maintain and enhance performance dashboards to monitor KPIs across retail customers, channels,  and categories, promotional ROI, and executional compliance.

• Benchmark operational KPIs against industry leaders and implement best practices to drive continuous improvement.

• Provide timely and accurate reporting to support strategic planning, quarterly reviews, and customer negotiations.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as the operational liaison between CD, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, and IT to ensure alignment and execution of customer initiatives.

• Lead issue resolution for customer service escalations, system errors, and data discrepancies.

• Facilitate cross-functional workshops and training sessions to build digital literacy and operational capability.