Job Description

About the job

Senior Customer Business Manager, Southeastern Grocery

(Publix, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Southern Regionals)

At Horizon Organic, we’re growing a culture of passionate people driven to do good for the horizon we all share. We’re building the tomorrow we want to see. Every single day.

Joining our team means being part of a dynamic environment where your skills are valued, and your contributions make a real difference. We offer diverse opportunities for career growth and development. Embark on a rewarding journey with us in shaping the future of organic dairy!

Two generations of families—and counting—have grown up on Horizon Organic® milk. From the start, as the leading organic milk producer in the U.S., Horizon has been committed to delivering innovative, nourishing dairy that growing families can rely on. In 2023, Horizon Organic became a brand of Platinum Equity. Today, Horizon works with more than 500 farmers across the U.S. to bring high-quality, certified organic milk to consumers. For more information on Horizon’s full portfolio of organic dairy products, visit Horizon.com.

About the Job:

We are currently looking to hire a Senior Customer Business Manager!

This is a unique opportunity to join an outstanding business, with the iconic Horizon Organic brand and the innovative Wallaby yogurt brand, a distinctive premium, organic portfolio with a long-lasting strong commitment to sustainability across its value chain.

The Sr. CBM drives sales strategies to grow the Horizon Organic Dairy business at key retailers in the Southeast including Publix, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Southern Regionals. Be the key touchpoint with customers – sharing and selling the Horizon Organic products to retailers. Understand customer business needs and build short and long-term strategies that support those customer goals while achieving company sales targets and financial expectations. Execute company plan at the customer level – building customer/category plans. Lead and coordinate cross-functional company efforts with customers (e.g., bring in category, shopper marketing, customer service, etc.) in order to accomplish customer plan.

The role can be hybrid or remote with a preference to be based in the Southeastern US.

Reports to: VP of Sales

Responsibilities in this role will include:

Build and execute the customer plan to grow the business:

Coordinate selling process for your customers to deliver sales objectives
Gain a deep understanding of customer needs and priorities (e.g., their KPIs, business/category goals, etc.) and represent them to the headquarter team
Develop sales/account plans to meet customer objectives while operating within company initiatives and guidelines
Gain distribution on new products and improve product exposure (shelf positioning, advertising, and promotions) – including monitoring what competitors are doing
Negotiate with customer headquarters/category buyers on pricing, new items, and promotions
Collaborate with customer and internal teams on joint business plans
Leverage internal resources (category management, customer planning, shopper marketing, etc.) to drive success at customer
Work with Broker Partner on supported accounts to deliver sales objectives

Enhance relationship with customer:

Build and maintain relationships with key customer personnel
Develop calendar for customer-touchpoints – define who needs to be involved at each meeting, purpose for each interaction, etc. (top-to-tops, market visits, etc.)
Coordinate top-to-tops and bring in sales leadership when necessary
Engage cross-functional experts with customers as needed (e.g., category deep-dives, latest shopper marketing, etc.)
Prepare for and conduct scheduled customer business reviews
Execute annual calendar visits at customer with internal and external leadership
Manage the development and delivery for all customer presentations
Represent the Premium Dairy business during annual tradeshows and conferences attended by customer

Monitor account performance and customer P&L:

Manage the customer P&L – have very clear sense of the financial targets to hit with the customer – growth rates, trade rates, etc.
Manage trade spending, promotional programs, spending across the brands to reach targets
Manage total customer spending, deduction management and pre-pays
Provide key inputs for demand planning – own the bottom-up forecast, provide key input into the bottom-up forecast for the S&OP process
Track account-level performance and adjust behaviors to hit targets
Perform account administration, including finalizing customer contracts and requests for trade funding (beyond plan)
Ensure accurate and timely submission of customer promotional contracts
Input expected trade/shopper spend (total customer plan) for each promo

Deliver in-store execution performance:

Help define what success looks like in the store in coordination with the sales leader
Be accountable for delivering on in-store success (retail KPIs)
Regularly walk stores to flag and fix issues when needed

Provide customer/category feedback internally:

Communicate customer needs to internal stakeholders
Lead cross functional team communication (supply chain, customer service, shopper marketing, etc.) related to promotion, merchandising, and distribution
Manage internal updates related to planning system, merchandising calendar, and distribution
Provide category thought leadership and insights from customers to drive both category growth and business.
Communicate emerging market needs and requirements for product development

The base compensation range for this position is $125,000.00 - $170,000.00 commensurate with experience.

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