Description and Requirements

Work Type: Hybrid

Contract: 10 Months (high potential for extension)

Location: Mississauga, ON

Our client, is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores looking to hire,Channel Sales Manager - FDM, Grocery & Mass Retail.

Position Overview: Lead the FDM Sales Team and Manage the FDM Channel for BLUE Buffalo.

As Channel Sales Manager, you will lead the FDM business across grocery, mass and general merchandise customers, including Wal-Mart, Loblaws, Sobeys, Canadian Tire, while identifying opportunities to expand distribution. In this role, you will lead a sales team of direct reports, developing overarching strategies for all customers within a channel and delivering best in class results with BLUE’s largest retailers. You will gain exposure across multiple levels of leadership both internally as well as externally with the customer.

You will need to leverage your strong influential leadership, capabilities & cross-functional expertise to set strategies that enable both BLUE and our customers to win. We are looking for someone who can demonstrate excellent strategic thinking, exceptional negotiation skills, as well as someone who can develop talent, drive a culture of inclusion, and deliver personal accountability.

Key Accountabilties: Manage the largest growth channel for our PET business and lead a sales team of key account managers supporting the business needs and delivering targets of the FDM channel

SELLING EXPERTISE & LEADERSHIP

- Cultivate and maintain relationships with senior level leaders at customers and internally
- Challenge the channel and customers to profitably grow market share across BLUE’s six sub-categories




- Establish guardrails and Influence customers to follow recommended promo & pricing strategies
- Lead and own forecasting of volume and trade spend for the channel
- Lead Pet Specialty strategy and execution to drive omni-channel leadership
- Lead JBP process & negotiation while accelerating BLUE’s long-term strategies

EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE
- Meet or exceed annual volume & share targets
- Develop and implement winning customer and channel strategies that drive sales and deliver profitable growth
- Own and manage trade investment budgets across all customers within the channel and consistently evaluate ROI
- Partner with cross-functional teams (Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Category/Insights, etc.) and our national retail team to maximize in-store presence and consumer impact

INFLUENTIAL LEADERSHIP
- Be an idea machine; facilitate cross-functional efforts to deliver innovative customer solutions
- Collaborate with internal and external partners to lead the development of multi-year customer strategic growth plans
- Effectively inspire and engage their team and cross-functional partners based across the US and Canada
- Partner with Sales Operations on continuous improvement projects to deliver process efficiencies throughout the Canadian route to market

ENGAGING LEADER




- Model Engaging Leader behaviors to foster an inclusive environment and embrace a learning mindset and demonstrate personal accountability

Minimum Qualifications

- 5+ year people leadership
- 5+ years managing Key Canadian Retailers, specifically in FDM, Grocery, and Mass Merch Retail
- 6+ years of experience with sales, marketing, category management, shopper/ consumer insights, customer-facing account management, analytics, and/or trade funding
- Experience working in a matrixed/cross-functional organization with partners in Finance, Marketing, Legal, Supply Chain and Sales and possess the talent to interface directly and effectively with all levels within the organization
- Robust analytical skills and experience aggregating internal and external data sources (e.g., Nielsen) of information to build an influential selling story
- Leadership capabilities to recruit, train, develop and motivate employees
- Advanced strategic thinking, planning, financial management, decision-making, and negotiation skills
- High-level learning agility and ability to adapt quickly to changing demands and needs of the business
- Advanced proficiency in AI capabilities and Microsoft applications (Excel & PowerPoint) Must be a Pet enthusiast!

Education: Bachelor’s Degree is preferred but not required for qualified candidates.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience leading sales teams managing Canadian Grocery customers
- Preferred experience managing FDM Channel in Canada
- Preferred 10+ years of experience with sales, marketing, category management, shopper/ consumer insights, customer-facing account management, analytics, and/or trade funding
- Pet Category & Key Account Experience

📌 Channel Sales Manager (Canada)
🏢 wilson
📍 Canada