National Account Manager - Cheese

Job Description

National Account Manager – Cheese
Hybrid role – 2/3 days in London, Victoria Office
£60k - £70k (depending on experience) plus car allowance and bonus up to 12.5%

The opportunity:

Mackenzie Jones is delighted to have partnered with FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s largest diary companies. They provide millions of customers all over the world with dairy products that are rich in valuable nutrients from milk. They have many strong brands for consumers, food service and industrial customers, including brands such as Yazoo and Chocomel.

They are now looking for a National Account Manager for their private label cheese business across the grocery & out of home channels.

Reporting into the Sales Director, the Customer Development Manager will take ownership & have accountability for leading the strategy into data driven channel and customer plans.

They will align and integrate brand plans from the marketing team, and channel and category strategy from the CCD team. The successful candidate will lead execution against quarterly plans with the retailers through joint business planning, perfect in-store activation, strong profit management and growth of key accounts and their share of wallet.

What will my key accountabilities be?

Deliver on the Channel & Customer strategy, driving distribution & profitable volume growth
Main representative of Royal Friesland Campina ( RFC ) for the customer’s organisation ). Ensures RFC and client departments liaise effectively and helps build the relationship
Champion the category needs of the channel internally and lead the development of a strategic customer plan that enable FC to ‘win’; within the designated portfolio
Drive customer preference to grow share of wallet through: (1) Constructive partnering with new and existing customers (incl. e-tailers); (2) Leading fact-based negotiations to create Win-win trade terms (incl. optimal price and promo policy, in alignment with Marketing) and engaging in joint business planning; (3) Creating efficient service agreements
Win with relevant assortment: (1) Prioritising Hero SKUs in assortment planning with Key Accounts(2) Contributing to insights on right price/pack architectures for MT (3) Collect pack insights and learnings from field and closely monitor competitors and customer demand to drive barrier-breaking renovation/ innovation
Drive physical availability by executing Customer and Channel Execution plans and leading Perfect Store program: (1) Set distribution targets per customer (prioritising Hero SKUs); (2) Ensure Perfect Visibility by including Perfect Store KPIs in customer agreements and facilitating data collection
Run effective promotions (driving penetration and with positive ROPI) and manage trade term spending to achieve sales KPIs; Align activity calendar with

customers/distributors

and lead (Field) Sales team in excellent execution of Channel & Customer Plans (incl. look & feel of in-store activation, position on shelf, OSA etc.)

Who will I be working with?

Internal stakeholder management across all functions ( supply chain, marketing, category & finance )
Extensive customer contact relationships. Direct lead on commercial contacts, but also facilitating & supporting wider business agenda ( supply chain, marketing, category etc.)

A great candidate will have:

National Account Management experience in Private Label categories in the food sector
Significant knowledge of the grocery channels, its dynamics and its key customers
Ideal but not essential cheese category product knowledge & insight driven solutions
Ability to influence at all levels across all functions
Category product Knowledge and insight driven solutions
Demonstrated business planning & implementation skills
Selling, negotiating skills and strategic planning skills : customer strategy % JBP
P&L management
Trade Spend Management
Developed skills at engaging and influencing customers with multi-functional selling teams
A positive, collaborative, and tenacious mindset

In return for everything you can bring, Friesland Campina can offer you:

£60k- £70k (depending on experience)
Hybrid working policy – 2/3 days a week in their new London, Victoria Office
Car Allowance
Bonus – up to 12.5%
25 days holiday
Optional BUPA Private Medical scheme and Medical Cash plan
Pension scheme

The Process?

Apply today with your most up-to-date CV that will be reviewed by our MKJ Recruitment team.

Initial Stage: Review of CV and experience, with MKJ recruitment Team

The Bit in the Middle : Testing – numerical, verbal and personality

First Stage with hiring team : Competency based interview with Business Unit Controllers

Second Stage with hiring team : F2F Interview and presentation with MD, Sales Director and Business Unit Controller

People are at the heart of everything we do. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive recruitment process that means people can be their best authentic self.

We would love to reply to all applications, regrettably we are unable to do so due to the high volumes we receive, so if you do not hear back within 14 days unfortunately on this role it won’t be progressing. It is possible that the position could be in the process of closing, so chalk it up to bad timing. But, have no fear! There will be more opportunities. Follow us at Mackenzie Jones Recruitment so you don’t miss them.