Assoc Mgr BD

Work Location: London

Work Arrangement: Hybrid – 3x a week RTO

Summary:

Hershey is a fast-growing confectionary company within the UK, aiming to drive growth across all channels ahead of the category. We are looking for a driven & ambitious individual to join our team to help deliver the growth ambitions we have for the UK market, with focus on our leading brand Reese’s.

This role is responsible for leading the Discounter Channel, working with our UK distributor & cross-functionally within Hershey to ensure continued profitable sales growth.

The role will focus on revenue delivery in terms of net sales, gross profit, category/market share and operating income by developing and executing business plans, working closely with Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain. This role will be working hand in hand with our established distributor team on the ground & the respective National Account Managers from the distributors.

This role is responsible for achieving channel and customer profitability (via management of all promotional spend & other sales budgets) as well as market share and distribution goals. The role is also responsible for the coaching and development of National Account Managers at our distributor.

The role requires an individual who is a brilliant communicator, strategic thinker and highly commercial to ensure the development of robust growth strategies for the channel & enable us to partner for growth with our key customers. Given the scale of opportunity within the UK we also require an individual who can rigorously prioritize, inspire others behind ideas, and demonstrate drive and tenacity to deliver results.

It is essential that this individual is close to market trends & understanding the Discount channel dynamics, to ensure insights are shared and utilized to optimize future performance.

Major Duties/Responsibilities:

MARKET STRATEGIES AND EXECUTION

• Defines and grows the base business through effective sales & customer marketing strategies at trade level
• Clearly executes: “where to play” and “how to win” trade, customer and shopper programs that deliver the outcomes required with clear marketing, sales and financial deliverables.
• The role leads customer marketing, field sales, and Supply Chain in delivering profitable growth for key customers in the Discount Channel (via UK distributor).
• Execute the plan for geographic, channel and customer priorities and what it will take to deliver against the strategies – he or she is the key communicator of this at all forums.
• Communicates and consistently monitors progress of the execution of the strategy with internal and external stakeholders.
• Develops and executes joint business plans with distributor partners and identifies key customers within channels.
• In all called out areas below, the role will comply with or develop the right measurables at all levels to ensure delivery and visibility of progress in achieving business goals.

DISTRIBUTOR MANAGEMENT

• Oversees the delivery of the sales goals through team at the distributor through well defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  The KPIs reflect and show sales strategies being executed as planned across the market. KPIs includes but is not limited to: gross invoice sales, in-country sales, promotional spend, distributor trade inventory. The role owns the delivery of the sales KPIs.
• Externally, the role is the main driver of the distributor relationship – the main driver of joint business performance.

CUSTOMER MARKETING, FINANCE    

• Delivers the agreed market strategies in-outlets. The role articulates and delivers to marketing partners ideas, positions and insights that will deliver the right positioning, price, product, promotion and place for the channel.
• Co- owns and co- leads the execution of a healthy P&L for each channel which includes but is not limited to: total business, brands, channel and customer P&Ls as well as sales to expense and controllable SG&A lines

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT  

• The role is a key participant in the development of the in-market talent and strategies and co-owns the delivery of the right succession plan for his or her distributor’s team.
• Internally, this role is responsible for the creation of and execution of sales incentives and where appropriate, incentives for the distributor for their respective channels
• The role is also an active partner in the selection of key talent for the distributor partner in the market (as applicable).

Minimum knowledge, skills and abilities required:

• Deep knowledge and exposure to sales and account management
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; strong interpersonal and presentation skills
• Experience operating in cross-functional teams
• Distributer management (helpful but not essential)

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree. Minimum of 5 years’ experience in sales, Key Account Management & FMCG specifically – ideally working with Discounters in the UK market previously.
• Demonstrated ability in key functional tasks and a clear progression or expansion of areas of responsibility or increase in business size and complexity.