Kroger National Accounts Manager

Principal Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a National Account sales plan to include all divisions within the account.
• Attain all budgeted product line volumes, pricing, mix, margin, and share objectives.
• Prepare and present annual joint business plans, line reviews, innovation sell-ins, and category reviews.
• Maintain consistent communications and standing meetings with customer teams to ensure strategic alignment.
• Monitor daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and YTD customer performance metrics, identifying risks and opportunities and adjusting plans accordingly.
• Implement and champion procedures to continuously improve the accuracy of the Demand Plan forecast, collaborating closely with Supply Chain, Operations, and Customer Service to minimize service issues.
• Manage all customer trade spend and programs.
• Utilize the TPM system to plan, track, and evaluate promotional effectiveness and ROI.
• Lead customer negotiations related to pricing, trade spend, distribution, promotions, and contract terms while protecting company margin objectives, consulting with Revenue Growth Management.
• Partner with Marketing and Category Management to develop and implement customer-specific assortment strategies, shelf sets, planograms, and merchandising solutions aligned to natural and fresh retail formats.
• Serve as the proactive voice of the customer internally as you work cross-functionally, translating retailer strategies and shopper insights into actionable business plans that utilize your knowledge and understanding of each retailer’s goals and objectives.
• Travel as needed to division offices, stores, distribution centers, processing facilities, and corporate offices to stay close to the marketplace, support program selling & execution, item launches, and resolve issues.
• Participate in leadership roles on special projects and cross-functional teams; continuously improve skills through training, classes, and seminars as outlined in the development plan.
• Ensure compliance with customer, regulatory, and company standards related to food safety, labeling, animal welfare, and sustainability.

Minimum Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in the areas of Sales, Marketing, or Business Administration.
• 5+ years related work experience (CPG industries and/or Meat/Poultry).
• 2+ years of direct customer experience with national or large-format retailers.
• Must possess strong analytical skills, coupled with mastery of sales communication.
• Proficiency using Microsoft applications.
• Extensive experience with data-driven selling & execution, utilizing syndicated data (i.e. Circana/ Nielsen), and customer specific data insights (i.e. 8451/Retail Link/Scintilla).
• Demonstrated experience managing complex national account relationships and cross-functional internal teams.
• Proven ability to manage trade spend, pricing strategy, and margin performance in highly competitive categories.

Preferred Education and Experience

• MBA or advanced business coursework.
• Experience working with natural, organic, antibiotic-free, or animal welfare–driven product lines.
• Experience with Kroger, or similar large supermarket retailers.
• Management experience in the food or food sales areas.
• Experience selling fresh chicken, meat, or value-added protein products, including short-shelf-life or fresh supply chains, in addition to experience selling packaged meat.
• Strong understanding of protein economics, including yield, cut optimization, commodity pricing, and margin volatility.
• Knowledge of food safety, quality assurance, USDA regulations, and customer-specific protein standards.

Physical Requirements and Environmental Factors

• Position is remotely home-office based, preferably with close proximity to an airport, with anticipated travel 30% of the time and with flexibility.
• Position is mostly sedentary but may require occasional moving to other offices or buildings.
• May need to move light equipment or supplies from one place to another.