Associate Director Regional Grocery Foods

Unilever; Englewood Cliffs (NJ); On-site; USD 146,000 - 219,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus eligible

Long-Term Incentive

Health insurance

Retirement benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

Unilever PLC in New Jersey is seeking an Associate Director of Regional Grocery to lead strategy, execution, and performance delivery for priority regional accounts. You will own annual business planning, coordinate cross-functional teams, and strengthen the Acosta partnership for flawless activation of priorities.

The role requires 10+ years in sales leadership, omni-channel and Nielsen/Circana know-how, and strong verbal/written communication. It offers bonus eligibility and extensive benefits.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree is required.
• 10+ years’ experience as a Sales Leader.
• Ahold Delhaize experience is a plus.
• Trade Marketing and Category Management experience is a plus.
• Working knowledge of omni-channel capabilities and eCommerce capabilities.
• Working knowledge of Nielsen/Circana, Trade Promotion Management and Customer POS Data is strongly desired.
• Must be skilled in verbal and written communications.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the strategic growth agenda for regional grocery customers, translating national priorities into customer-specific plans that deliver sales, share, profitability, and distribution objectives.
• Own the annual business planning process for assigned customers, including joint business planning, promotional strategy, trade investment, innovation launch plans, and customer-specific growth initiatives.
• Lead performance management across the regional grocery portfolio by tracking sales results, identifying risks and opportunities, and driving corrective action with internal and external partners.
• Partner cross-functionally with customer strategy, category management, shopper marketing, supply chain, revenue growth management, finance, and brand teams to deliver integrated customer plans.
• Build trusted relationships with key customer stakeholders and represent the company as a strategic, solutions-oriented partner.
• Coach, develop, and set direction for direct reports or matrixed team members supporting the regional grocery business.

Skills

Sales leadership

Omni-channel

eCommerce

Nielsen/Circana

Trade marketing

Category management

Verbal & written communication

Ahold Delhaize experience

Leadership for best practice

Education

Undergraduate degree

Job description

Job Details

JOB PURPOSE
The Associate Director Regional Grocery role is responsible for leading the strategy, execution, and performance delivery across a portfolio of regional grocery customers. This role serves as the customer-facing business leader for priority regional accounts while also managing the Acosta partnership to ensure strong field execution, account coverage, selling discipline, and flawless activation of business priorities.

WHAT YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES WILL BE

• Develop and lead the strategic growth agenda for regional grocery customers, translating national priorities into customer-specific plans that deliver sales, share, profitability, and distribution objectives.
• Own the annual business planning process for assigned customers, including joint business planning, promotional strategy, trade investment, innovation launch plans, and customer-specific growth initiatives.
• Lead performance management across the regional grocery portfolio by tracking sales results, identifying risks and opportunities, and driving corrective action with internal and external partners.
• Partner cross-functionally with customer strategy, category management, shopper marketing, supply chain, revenue growth management, finance, and brand teams to deliver integrated customer plans.
• Build trusted relationships with key customer stakeholders and represent the company as a strategic, solutions-oriented partner.
• Coach, develop, and set direction for direct reports or matrixed team members supporting the regional grocery business.

Acosta Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary business lead for the Acosta relationship supporting regional grocery customers, ensuring alignment to company priorities, customer strategies, execution standards, and performance expectations.
• Establish clear ways of working with Acosta teams, including communication cadences, role clarity, scorecards, escalation processes, and accountability for deliverables.
• Partner with Acosta leadership to strengthen account coverage, selling effectiveness, retail execution, and field-level feedback loops.
• Ensure Acosta teams are equipped with the tools, insights, selling stories, innovation priorities, and promotional guidance needed to represent the business effectively with customers.
• Monitor Acosta performance against agreed metrics and identify opportunities to improve execution quality, customer responsiveness, and return on partnership investment.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree is required
• 10+ years’ experience as a Sales Leader. Multiple channel and category experience is a plus. Ability to provide leadership and direction for “best practice” implementation.
• Ahold Delhaize experience is a plus.
• Trade Marketing and Category Management experience is a plus.
• Working knowledge of omni-channel capabilities and eCommerce capabilities
• Working knowledge of Nielsen/Circana, Trade Promotion Management and Customer POS Data is strongly desired
• Must be skilled in verbal and written communications

Pay: The pay range for this position is $146,200 to $219.400. 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 coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.

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