Senior National Account Manager - Wholesale & Convenience Channel in Crawley

Field based role with a requirement to be in the Gatwick office 2 days a month as a minimum and 1 Day in London Hub.

Some of our other fantastic benefits include:

• Potential, discretionary annual bonus
• 12 flexible days on top of 25 day holiday entitlement pro rata
• A focus on personal development and growth

Position Summary:

Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages (NW & PB) is the world leader in the bottled water market and we’re committed to bottling the very best waters from the source, straight to our customers, via the most advanced and sustainable techniques currently employed. We are also proud to produce some of the UK’s best-loved brands including Buxton, SanPellegrino, Perrier and Nestlé Pure Life. We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior National Account Manager to join our NW & PB Sales team to lead the Traditional Wholesale and Convenience (W&C) Channel within the Out of Home Team.

This is a high profile and strategically important role, where you will have direct National Account Management responsibility for Booker Cash and Carry, Booker Retail Partners, Bestway Wholesale and Retail; and through leading a team of two National Account Managers deliver profitable growth through the Buying Groups and their key wholesale members.

Your impact:

Reporting to the National Account Controller OOH and leading a team of 3 direct reports, you will drive the end-to-end commercial performance of the Traditional Wholesale and Convenience Channel, influencing decisions across pricing, investment and targeted distribution gains to drive profitable growth.

Key responsibilities include:

• Full management and accountability of the customer/category/format P&L, including Sales Revenue, Trade Spend, Market Share and Profit targets
• Develop and agree customer specific JBP/CIP aligned to internal and external strategies and KPIs
• Ensure full and timely input and participation in MBP and own improvement of PiOS Measurements within customer/category/format
• Ensure Customer Plan administration (both Volume, Financials and line code accuracy) are provided in an accurate and timely manner to Demand Planners
• Promotional post-evaluation and optimisation in conjunction with Strategic Revenue Manager throughout the year to drive ROI
• Ensure Nestlé Category and Marketing Initiative Plan is executed in wholesaler depots, online platforms, trade media titles and retail stores and at correct the time frame by working in conjunction with Activation Managers
• Develop a Customer Contact Strategy and build powerful relationships cross functionally at appropriate levels
• Develop Channel Strategy Plan ensuring support is secured for each touchpoint products take to the consumer (to wholesaler, to retailer, to consumer)
• Coach and support the National Account Managers and National Account Executive
• Raise the profile of Nestlé Waters and Premium Beverages with key trade associations and to be aware of competitor activity and market intelligence and how that affects the brand portfolio.

Your ingredients for success:

To be successful, you will already have a fantastic breadth of sales and category experience within the FMCG sector and ideally have previous success in the wholesale channel and/or learning agility to demonstrate quick understanding of the channel. This role requires strong commercial judgement to balance short term delivery with longer term strategic growth, influencing customers and buying groups to drive distribution and performance.

Your ability to think strategically, be resilient in the face of challenging situations and be able to influence both internally and externally will be key. Other key attributes will include:

• Be a skilled negotiator and have the ability to conduct multi-faceted negotiations
• Numerate with good understanding of P&Ls
• Successfully delivered on KPIs, especially top and bottom-line business results
• Have an understanding of forecast planning principles
• Understand the importance of working in a customer centric way.
• Be curious! Specifically, to continue developing your already strong Category Management skills.
• Proven track record developing and motivating a team of reports
• Understanding of the route products take through wholesale into retail groups/outlets and how to influence that positively.

What you need to know:

We will be considering candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application. At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect and we believe that embracing diversity and fostering an inclusive environment allows everyone to reach their full potential and drives innovative thinking. We strongly encourage applications from individuals of all gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities, parents, carers and members of the LGBT+ community. Please let us know if we can provide accommodations to ensure your full participation in the application process.

We take pride in championing inclusion and diversity. We proudly signed the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter, are committed to Disability Confidence, and have been recognised as a Times Top 50 Employer for gender equality for three consecutive years. Additionally, we are a headline partner of Diversity and Inclusion in grocery.