National Accounts Manager - Distribution Execution

National Account Manager – Distribution Execution- Unilever Food Solutions   

Location: Remote USA 

Who We Are   

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is the €3bn+ foodservice division of Unilever. It leads the dynamic Food Service market across its categories and has ambitious growth objectives, marketing a range of professional food and beverage products and services to operators across 72 countries.  UFS prides itself on creating value for its customers through culinary solutions and improving the food experience for everyone from distributors and operators to diners and consumers.   

UFS is accelerating its digital transformation to fuel growth through data driven and technology enabled Go-to-Market (GtM) capabilities. Our global ambition is to reach 3 million operators by 2030 via an online & off-line contact strategy. Within the US, the focus of UFS Customer Development and Marketing is to engage with customers in unique and specific ways to generate demand for our professional brands and create long term value for our partners.    

Pay: The pay range for this position is $86,080 to $129,120. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.  

Bonus: This position is bonus eligible.  

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible.  

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverage for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents. 

Purpose of the Job 

Find your purpose at Unilever. This position is part of the Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) Corporate Distribution team where you will play a critical role in shaping the evolution of our execution strategy, primarily through national distributors such as US Foods, PFG and Gordon Food Service.  

As the National Account Manager for Distribution-Execution you will be rethinking the way we go to market, developing execution strategies and creating execution playbooks to drive reach and demand to deliver on our ambitious growth targets, with particular focus on street growth. You will report to the Head of Corporate Distribution and work closely with our Distributor National Account Managers on execution strategy, with cross-functional partners to enable execution plans, and with our Field sales teams to deliver execution with excellence.  

If you have an entrepreneurial mindset and are passionate about driving growth through execution, excel in leveraging data and insights to guide decisions that drive big results, and have the ability to inspire and influence cross-functional teams to deliver on execution this role is just for you.  

Who You Are & What You’ll Do?  

• Drive the execution evolution of UFS Corporate Distribution Team with an entrepreneurial mindset, rethinking our execution strategy with a multi-lever approach but primarily through our Field Sales Team and national distribution partners like US Foods, GFS and PFG.     

• Deliver industry leading growth in our key categories, with particular emphasis on street growth and driving efficient demand generation through our Field Sales Team.    

• Along with the Distributor National Account Managers, responsible for the co-development of Annual/Quarterly Execution Plans and execution of annual, national joint business plans (JBP) which align customer needs with the strategic priorities agreed by UFS leadership. Ensure key UFS IBP and multiyear targets are being exceeded via Execution Plan.    

• Develop playbooks that enable Execution Plans to optimize field execution, stating clear goals, measurable KPI’s and appropriate tools and resources to enable flawless execution as well as accelerate adoption and speed of execution.  

• Lead the charge in leveraging newly acquired data tools to develop Execution Plans, arming the organization with data insights to understand performance and to inform decisions and prioritization of most impactful opportunities and execution activities.  

• Influence and hold Field Sales team accountable for Execution Plan delivery, ensuring quarterly tracking against KPIs and collaborating to identify new success pathways to adapt future execution. Create synergy and excitement around Execution Plan by connecting initiatives to UFS strategic initiatives and Field Sales Team targets.  

• Establish UFS as a valued National Brand Supplier partner with best-in-class execution capability in 1) driving category growth, 2) leveraging data and insights to develop execution plans that drive mutual growth and 3) delivering flawless field sales execution.      

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on development and enablement of Execution Plan activities. Raise key issues, opportunities and resource requirements to UFS Leadership with commensurate speed and a strong sense of urgency. 

• You’re a changemaker: Entrepreneurial mindset to drive evolution of our distribution execution strategy to drive accelerated sustainable growth, particularly with street customers, and deliver on ambitious growth targets.  

• You’re a born collaborator: Lead the Execution Plan development and deployment of initiatives to the Field Sales organization, collaborating and influencing cross-functional teams to deliver on execution with excellence.  

• You’re a dot connector: Ability to connect UFS strategy with Distributor partners’ strategies to align on priorities that remove obstacles and drive maximum growth and impact; as well as to internally develop and roll out Execution Plans that enables internal partners’ priorities to build momentum and synergy for the organization.  

What You’ll Need to Succeed 

• Bachelor’s degree required in a related field; MBA preferred  

• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in Foodservice sales  

• Demonstrated sales success with Foodservice Tier 1 distribution and execution through direct field sales or brokers, ideally with proven track record on driving street growth  

• Experience in annual/quarterly Execution Plan development and execution  

• Strategic thinker with strong relationship building skills who can influence and work effectively with members of various cross-functional teams in a highly collaborative manner  

• Data-driven; strong analytic skills and ability to make data-driven decisions to guide Execution Plan development   

• Ability to effectively partner with and influence various levels of management both internally and externally  

• Strong communication, negotiation and project management skills  

• Proficiency in excel spreadsheets and building sales reporting tools, and familiarity in using systems such as Blacksmith/Forge, Salesforce and Power BI 

• Ability to build compelling storytelling decks in PowerPoint  

• Financial acumen with a clear understanding of P&L  

• This is a remote role, but you must have the ability to travel around 25% of the time 

Our Culture  

• Caring Deeply  

• Positive Tensions for Bigger Outcomes, Fairness and Transparency, Performance AND care  

• Staying Three Steps Ahead of the Market  

• Build Future While Delivering today, Think Big simplify, commit, Lead Shape Disrupt Mkt   

• Delivering with Excellence  

• Pride in our Execution, Best in Reality, Developing Breakthrough solutions  

• Focusing on What Matters Most  

• Fewer Bigger Things, Fight for What matters most, Challenging and Debating Right Choices 

What We Can Offer You      

Culture for Growth | Top Notch Employee Health & Well Being Benefits | Every Voice Matters | Global Reach | Life at Unilever | Careers with Purpose | World Class Career Development Programs | Check Out Our Space | Focus On Sustainability