Job Description 

The Associate Director is the expert on leading the commercial planning strategy and execution related to customers and trade management. This critical role helps to translate brand/category vision & strategy into clearly articulated category fundamentals, steer the BUs strategic agenda with cross-functional partners to improve impact with customers, and interacts within the BU as the face of field sales. Additionally, you will lead and empower your team of individuals who own day-to-day connectivity and leadership of aligned field category management team members. The team will operationalize the strategy set forth by the Associate Director across the BU team and with field sales. 

Primary Responsibilities 

• Prioritize enterprise sales initiatives and align cross functional stakeholders  

• Drive strategic planning cadence and execution excellence across category teams for total BU 

• Establish governance standards and continuous improvement for planning purposes  

• Provide oversight for major launches, commercial priorities, and field readiness  

• Ensure commercial planning capabilities align with enterprise priorities and business outcomes  

• Work with our Field Sales teams to drive compliance and increase incremental sales volume with multi-unit accounts within the division with a mutual goal of achieving sales volume & distribution optimization 

• Partner with BUSS team, General Managers and Marketing teams to develop executional plan for promotional, price, shelving, merchandising programs and implement them with the retail accounts   

• Cross-collaborate with Sales and BU Finance teams to build, analyze, improve and implement financially based strategies inclusive of strategic brand changes, promotional planning and trade budgeting 

• Act as Sales functional guide in the division through aspects of business building/management including innovation commercialization, brand strategy re-evaluation and promotional evaluation and execution 

• Participate into customer deep dives and develop action plans for gap closers based on sales fundamentals 

• Support total Sales through building and delivering sales presentations both internally and externally with retailers, supporting new product launches, & attending buying conferences 

• Successfully build internal relationships to help influence decisions towards driving profitable external growth 

• Category scale led activation using entire BU portfolio 

Qualifications 

• Seasoned and tested sales experience required with a demonstration of sales management resulting in profitable growth, preferably in a CPG, restaurant, culinary, and/or distributor industry 

• Prior supervisory experience, demonstrating the ability to lead and develop a team of sales professionals preferred 

• Command of business intuition shown by discernment that not every sales opportunity is equal 

• Strong analytical skills demonstrated by effective business planning and data-driven strategy for maintaining current and securing new customers 

• Effective interpersonal skills, both verbal and written, across internal and external partners