Channel Sales Manager

As Channel Sales Manager, you will be responsible for leading a team, developing overarching strategies for all customers within a channel and delivering best in class results with BLUE’s largest retailers. In this role, 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.

This role is located in Toronto/the greater Ontario area. There will be a requirement to come into the office 2-3 times a month but the role will be remote the rest of the time.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

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

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 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
• Strong 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 Microsoft applications (Excel & PowerPoint)

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Pet enthusiast!
• 10+ years of experience with sales, marketing, category management, shopper/ consumer insights, customer-facing account management, analytics, and/or trade funding
• 2+ years sales leadership experience leading JBP & Senior Level negotiations and meetings
• Pet Category & National Account Experience an asset

We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.