Junior National Account Manager (12 month FTC)

Ella's Kitchen was set up by Paul Lindley to promote healthy eating amongst babies and young children. We are a highly entrepreneurial and values-driven company which has achieved impressive growth to over £80m turnover, with a team of 80 employees based at Ella's Barn near Henley. Our baby and toddler food pouches can be found in key retailers across the UK as well as the Scandinavian and BeNeLux markets. We are a brand recognised for its high-quality ingredients and ethical credentials which are visible throughout our supply chain and in our social and charity work. Ella's is part of the Hain Celestial group and we are very proud to be an accredited B Corps and included in the Sunday Times Best Companies top 100 list for the last 4 years.

Purpose Of Role

• Take the lead on the Morrisons account and own this relationship with the support and guidance of the (Senior) National Account Manager.
• Work closely with National Account Manager(s) to provide world-class support to one/two other National Accounts - this will include Sales reporting, JBP Tracking and Trade Spend management.
• Providing insight and recommendation on performance, forecast accuracy/alignment and promotional effectiveness.
• Build strong relationships within our team, influence and challenge us to make the right decisions and help support us landing our ambitious growth plans.
• Gain a real understanding of your customers' strategies & goals and align them to our plans.
• Create imaginative, ambitious and commercially sensible plans for your customers.
• Provide wider support when needed across the deals team to ensure we hit the basics with our customers and internally.

Role Activities / Responsibilities

• Customer Management & Sales Delivery

• Help us to deliver our UK Net Sales targets in line with our budgets.
• Bring to life our commercial and brand plans in your customers.
• Ensure our trade spend is managed effectively in your customers, ensuring we spend it on the right activity that achieves against our objectives.
• Build great relationships with our customers through a clear contact strategy so that we are the brand that challenges our customers, but isn’t the painful one to deal with – ask questions, listen, understand and communicate effectively internally and externally in line with our values.
• Support our Dealers with helping us track to the plans we have in place.
• Forecast your customers’ needs ensuring we have great forecast accuracy.

• Work with our category and marketing teams to deliver timely category management/insight to help deliver targets and help stand us apart from the rest of our competition.
• Help us to accurately report sales data (weekly sales number, forecasting, trade spend, promotional performance). Challenge us if you think we can improve and change what we do.
• Good attention to detail, to ensure smooth management of the administrative side of the role. Reduce financial risk with on time and in full management of promotions and invoices.
• Manage and contribute to a broad range of cross-functional projects including new product developments and reviewing how we are performing in the market.
• You are the eyes and ears of your customers. You stay up to date with what is going on in store with frequent store visits and news updates and report your findings back to the team.

• Help us to build amazing JBPs that motivate our customers and deliver against the targets we set ourselves as a business.
• Take the time to think about which elements of a JBP need to be dialled up or down to achieve results, thinking not just about the next year, but also how these plans could impact us in the future and across the rest of our business.
• Support us with building bottom-up plans at a SKU level to ensure we’re making the right choices not only commercially but for our families who buy Ella’s products.
• Ensure plans are delivered in a timely fashion; allowing time for internal alignment/sign off whilst hitting retailer timelines.

You Will Need

• Have experience managing customers, delivering commercial plans and results.
• Be passionate for the brand and what Ella’s stands for – improving children’s lives through healthy relationships with food and using business as a force for good.
• Demonstrate your ability to live and breathe our values: Win Together, Foster Inclusion, Childlike, Be Curious and Own It.
• Have a willingness to learn and be challenged to think differently.
• Embrace, embody and exude all that is special and unique about Ella’s Kitchen.
• Have excellent commercial & numeracy skills.
• Have awesome relationship building skills and top-notch questioning skills.
• Be a brilliant communicator & networker.
• Be a proactive thinker and able to make the time to think about what we’re doing.
• Be able to thrive in an entrepreneurial and exciting environment.
• Influence others through your flexible style.
• Have a results-focused mind-set with the ability to “never never give up” and find solutions to challenges.
• Have a great grasp of MS Office (Excel in particular).

And What You’ll Get In Return

• Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway.
• Competitive salary.
• A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, a yummy breakfast every morning, pamper days, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!
• A really awesome place to come to work every day… our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside.