Key Account Manager – East Coast - USA

ZIWI; Napier; Hybrid; NZD 159,000 - 247,000; Full time

Job summary

ZIWI is seeking a commercially driven Key Account Manager – East to accelerate growth across the Eastern US. You will manage strategic retail and distribution relationships, develop customer plans, and lead sales initiatives that deliver revenue and profitability targets.

Reporting into the North American commercial team, you’ll own key accounts, negotiate plans, and drive distribution, placement and promotions while collaborating with Marketing, Supply Chain and Finance to ensure exceptional

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ sales or key account management experience in consumer/CPG.
• Proven ability to manage retail, specialty pet or e-commerce accounts.
• Strong track record delivering sales and profitability targets.
• Excellent relationship-building, negotiation and presentation skills.
• Forecasting and trade spend planning experience; data-driven decisions.

Responsibilities

• Own and grow East Coast retail, specialty, distributor and e-commerce accounts.
• Develop and execute customer-specific sales and growth plans.
• Lead customer presentations, line reviews and annual business planning.
• Drive sales, margin, distribution and promotions across portfolio.
• Coordinate with distributors and third-party partners region-wide.
• Manage pricing, promotions and budgets; build forecasts and risks.
• Analyze sales, inventory and promo performance for growth opportunities.
• Partner with Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance and CS for execution.
• Stay attuned to customer priorities and market trends.

Skills

Account management

Sales strategy

Relationship-building

Negotiation

Presentation skills

Forecasting

Trade spend

Data analysis

Tools

CRM

Excel

PowerPoint

Reporting systems

Job description

ZIWI is a New Zealand-born, global leader in air-dried pet nutrition, on a mission to elevate every pet to their peak, every day of their life. With a rapidly growing presence across North America, we’re looking for a commercially driven Key Account Manager – East to help accelerate our growth across the Eastern US.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of strategic retail and distribution relationships, unlock new growth opportunities and play a key role in expanding ZIWI’s presence across the region.

The Opportunity

Reporting into the North American commercial team, you’ll manage and grow key customer relationships across the East, delivering against revenue, profitability, distribution and promotional objectives.

You’ll combine strong account management with a growth mindset — identifying opportunities to expand distribution, improve assortment and placement, launch new products and build compelling customer plans that deliver sustainable results.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

• Own and grow relationships with key retail, specialty pet, distribution and e-commerce accounts across the East.
• Develop and execute customer-specific sales and growth plans.
• Lead customer presentations, line reviews, annual business planning and new product sell-in.
• Drive sales, margin, distribution and promotional performance across your portfolio.
• Lead and influence distributor representatives and third-party sales partners across the region.
• Manage pricing, promotions and trade investment within agreed budgets.Build accurate forecasts and proactively communicate risks, opportunities and market insights.
• Analyse sales, inventory, sell-through and promotional performance to identify opportunities for growth.
• Partner closely with Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance and Customer Service to deliver excellent customer execution.
• Stay close to customer priorities, competitive activity, category trends and developments across the US pet food market.

What you’ll bring

• 5+ years’ sales or key account management experience, ideally within pet food, pet products, CPG or a related consumer industry.
• Proven experience managing retail, specialty pet, distributor and/or e-commerce accounts.
• A strong commercial track record, with experience delivering sales and profitability targets.
• Excellent relationship-building, negotiation and presentation skills.
• Strong commercial and analytical capability, with experience in forecasting, promotional planning and trade spend.
• Confidence working with sales data and tools including Excel, PowerPoint, CRM and reporting systems.
• A proactive, entrepreneurial approach and the ability to identify and turn opportunities into results.
• Willingness to travel across the East Coast as required.

Location: Ideally based within the Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Washington D.C. corridor.

Success in this role will look like:

Growing revenue and profitability, expanding distribution and product placement, delivering effective customer programmes, improving forecast accuracy and building strong, strategic customer partnerships.

If you’re a commercially savvy account leader who loves building relationships, spotting growth opportunities and making things happen, we’d love to hear from you.