Strategic Dairy Category Lead - Milk Powders

Land O'Lakes; Arden Hills (MN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Land O’Lakes, Inc. in Arden Hills, MN, seeks a Sr Category Manager to lead strategic customer growth across dairy ingredients including Milk Powders, Whey and Cheese. You will own enterprise relationships, develop growth strategies, and drive portfolio optimization.

You will collaborate with planning, manufacturing, supply chain, finance and risk management to align forecasting and pricing with commercial objectives, coach a small team, and represent Land O’Lakes in industry forums.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
• 8+ years of experience in sales, category management, or commercial leadership within food, agriculture, or ingredients markets.
• 5+ years of managing strategic customer relationships and delivering commercial results.
• 5+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams and complex business initiatives.
• Experience with assessing customer, market, and risk scenarios – preferred.
• Experience developing and leading direct reports or small teams – preferred.
• Working knowledge of dairy ingredients, commodity markets, and risk management tools – preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic account growth across assigned commodity ingredient categories.
• Own enterprise customer relationships and develop customer-specific growth strategies.
• Advance new business opportunities through portfolio optimization and cross-selling.
• Collaborate with planning, manufacturing, supply chain, finance and risk management to align forecasting and pricing with commercial objectives.
• Lead strategic initiatives and projects to enhance market connectivity and competitive positioning.
• Develop and coach a small team of professionals in the category sales model.

Skills

Sales leadership

Category management

Commercial leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic account management

Forecasting

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Risk management tools

Job description

Land O’Lakes, Inc. in Arden Hills, MN, seeks a Sr Category Manager to lead strategic customer growth across dairy ingredients including Milk Powders, Whey and Cheese. You will own enterprise relationships, develop growth strategies, and drive portfolio optimization.

You will collaborate with planning, manufacturing, supply chain, finance and risk management to align forecasting and pricing with commercial objectives, coach a small team, and represent Land O’Lakes in industry forums.