Director of National Grocery

About the role

The Director of National Grocery is responsible for leading Barcel USA's National Grocery business across key retail customers and driving sustainable sales, profit, and market share growth. This position develops and executes customer strategies, leads annual business planning, negotiates customer agreements, and partners cross-functionally to deliver commercial objectives. As a key member of the Commercial Leadership Team, the Director serves as the primary strategic leader for assigned grocery customers, providing thought leadership, customer insights, and executional excellence while ensuring alignment with organizational growth priorities.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
  • Develop and implement long-term customer growth strategies aligned with Barcel USA's commercial goals.
  • Lead Joint Business Planning (JBP) processes with assigned National Grocery customers.
  • Identify opportunities to expand distribution, accelerate revenue growth, and improve profitability.
  • Develop multi-year account plans, customer strategies, and business forecasts.
  • Analyze market trends, competitive activity, category performance, and retailer strategies to identify growth opportunities.
• Customer Management
  • Serve as the executive point of contact for assigned National Grocery customers.
  • Build and strengthen relationships with key customer decision-makers.
  • Lead customer negotiations involving pricing, promotions, contracts, assortment, and annual business agreements.
  • Ensure customer plans align with company sales, profit, and strategic objectives.
  • Drive customer satisfaction and long-term strategic partnerships.
• Financial & Business Management
  • Deliver annual sales, volume, profit, and market share targets.
  • Manage customer P&L performance and trade investment budgets.
  • Evaluate promotional effectiveness and ROI.
  • Own forecasting, budgeting, and customer performance reviews.
  • Develop corrective action plans when business performance deviates from objectives.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Partner closely with Marketing, Revenue Growth Management, Category Management, Supply Chain, Finance, Shopper Marketing, Demand Planning and Distribution teams.
  • Lead cross-functional collaboration to support new product launches, distribution gains, and customer initiatives.
  • Drive operational excellence and customer execution throughout the organization.
  • Represent customer needs while balancing company goals and profitability expectations.
• Talent Development
  • Coach, mentor, and develop National Account Managers and other commercial team members.
  • Establish performance expectations and ensure accountability.
  • Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and results.
  • Support succession planning and organizational capability development.

Qualifications

• Education
  • Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Marketing, Finance, or related field required.
  • MBA preferred.
• Experience
  • 10+ years of progressive sales and commercial leadership experience within Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG).
  • Significant experience managing National Grocery customers.
  • Proven success in customer negotiations, strategic account management, and business planning.
  • Experience managing large customer portfolios with significant revenue responsibility.
  • Demonstrated leadership and team development experience.
  • DSD Experience required.
• Core Competencies
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Commercial Acumen
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Executive Presence and Emotional Intelligence
  • Complex Negotiation & Influencing
  • Financial Analysis & P&L Management
  • Category Management
  • Revenue Growth Management
  • Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Change Management
  • Business Planning
  • Problem Solving
  • Communication Excellence
  • Talent Development
  • Results Orientation
  • Go To Market Expert with DSD teams
  • Warehouse / Direct Sales Experience

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Net Sales Growth
• Gross Profit Performance
• Market Share Growth
• Distribution Expansion
• Trade Spend Effectiveness
• Forecast Accuracy
• Customer Revenue Growth
• New Item Success Rate
• Annual Business Plan Achievement
• Team Engagement and Development Metrics

Leadership Expectations

• Champion Barcel's values and leadership principles.
• Lead with integrity, accountability, and a customer-centric mindset.
• Foster collaboration across internal and external stakeholders.
• Drive innovation, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership regarding customer and market opportunities.

Scope of Responsibility

• Lead strategic relationships with major National Grocery retailers.
• Manage a multi-million-dollar customer portfolio.
• Influence cross-functional teams to achieve commercial objectives.
• Shape customer strategies that directly impact Barcel USA's growth and profitability.