Sales Operations Manager

Description Looking for a job that can grow into a lifelong career? At Lactalis USA, we believe in promoting from within and giving our employees meaningful opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Whether you're just starting out or bringing years of experience, we'll provide the tools and support you need to succeed. Lactalis is the world leader in dairy-a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Every day, we're proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together every day. In the US, we offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani Italian cheeses and ricotta, President specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone's cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond cheddar, and Parmalat milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi's, Stonyfield Organic, Brown Cow, Oui, Yoplait, Go-Gurt, :ratio, Green Mountain Creamery, and Mountain High, along with sour cream and a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun, Gopi, and Arz. At Lactalis, we live by our core values-Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We're building a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone's unique background and ideas are valued. Even if you don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us make an impact. From your PASSION to ours The Sales Operations Manager will contribute to the strategic development, selling stories, commercialization and execution of US Yogurt (Yoplait, Oui, :ratio, Go-gurt) retail initiatives across channels (Grocery/Mass, Natural, Club, Away-from-Home). This function is the go-to HQ partner for the Field Sales team - collaborating throughout the selling process to deliver the strongest insight-driven story as well as working internally with Brand Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, Trade Planning and Finance to ensure optimal execution of priorities. This person is also responsible for the commercialization and performance analytics of our brands. Reports to the Sales Commercial Strategy & Execution Leader on our Sales Leadership Team. Requirements From your EXPERTISE to ours Key responsibilities for this position include: Strategic Thought Leadership: Accelerate distribution growth at retailers by building persuasive sell stories. Leverage data across multiple platforms to identify the most compelling data points and use this data to create simple and visually appealing PowerPoint slides for customer New Item Meetings. Contribute to the development of the Sales Strategy, utilizing POS data, shopper insights and trends. Partner with the Field Sales team to tailor strategy across customers - prioritizing innovation based on assortment gaps, regional trends, and internal capabilities. Manage Innovation Plan, working collaboratively with Marketing to ensure the right innovation is developed and shepherded through the commercialization process. Ensure critical sales deadlines are met without sacrificing the quality of the proposition. Leverage macro, consumer and shopper insights to create compelling innovation sell decks in partnership with the brand team. Distill down multiple disparate data sources into a unified, persuasive and appealing story. Utilize Category Management skills to develop fact-based sales presentations employing brand research to include customer and consumer syndicated data such as Circana and other syndicated data systems. Incorporate this information into on-going planning and decision making for focus brand(s). Collaborate with internal functions and customer teams to create innovative brand solutions to accelerate brand growth that address critical plan risks. Represent the voice of sales to the headquarter teams - ensure clear communication to the field sales team of changes in the plans and implications. Provide data-driven insights of brand(s) business trends, marketing strategies, competitive landscape, and regional/channel risks and opportunities; help develop the strategy that ties brand, category and customer plans together. General Management & Executional Excellence: Partner with Demand Planning and Brand Marketing to contribute to the forecasting process. Coordinate the brand Risks & Opportunities, develop communication and action plan. Partner with customer strategy team to ensure that accepted item volumes, reset timings, and promotions are all accurately reflected in monthly demand plan. Enable connectivity between field sales team and brand team, ensuring appropriate focus on priorities, adherence to brand guidelines and Topline partnership from concept to launch. Be the liaison between the sales team and the headquarter team, communicating relevant and timeline information tailored to the right audience. Lead the Sales commercialization process for key projects including communication and management of selling timeline & deliverables, executing shipments and delivery of samples, mockups, swag, and trade show needs; ultimately ensuring executional excellence through delivery of all selling mandatories and coordination across cross-functional teams. Partner with Finance and Brand Marketing to develop project P&Ls; lead development and communication of recommendations based on financial analysis, project rationale and operational feasibility. From your STORY to ours Qualified applicants will contribute the following: Bachelor's Degree required Minimum of 5-7+ years' experience in CPG sales or brand marketing Category Strategy, Sales Strategy & Planning and/or Trade Marketing experience a plus Proven knowledge of analytical and presentation development techniques Experience with decision data/tools (IRI/Circana, Nielsen, Spectra, HH Panel) Ability to advance multiple projects concurrently, work under pressure, meet deadlines and identify potential issues before they evolve into roadblocks General knowledge of commercialization process Strong analytical, business and financial acumen Strong computer skills; including PowerPoint, Excel and Word Ability to adapt in a changing work environment Willingness and ability to travel when required At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career. Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.