Channel Account Manager

Job Title:   Customer Account Manager, Unilever Ireland (WL1C)

Job Description:

We are looking for a passionate and high-performing Customer Account Manager, to develop and accelerate Unilever’s business in a designated customer(s) and Business Unit. Unilever’s Business Units are Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition and Ice Cream.

Established over 100 years ago, Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies. We are known for our great brands such as Knorr, Hellmann’s, Dove, Lynx, Persil, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s and our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance.

Job Purpose:

The Customer Account Manager is responsible for building strong working relationships with the customer buying team; developing and executing customer business plans at a category level which deliver Underlying Sales Growth, Market Share and Profitability. They are accountable for the day-to-day contact with the customer buyers, supply chain, shopper marketing, internal category & brand contacts.

Key focus areas for this role are:

Serve you customer – You will lead the Customer/Unilever relationship within your categories and focus on delivering excellent customer experience.  

Shopper first – You will grow categories through insight and exceed shopper expectations.

Drive digital – You will be able to talk Digital with confidence

Better deal –  The need for extensive commercial rigor in the assessment and implementation of our Growth Strategy to drive the JBP forward.

Build the base – Through category-based selling improve space, distribution, range & POS for your business.  

Responsibilities

• Build strong and sustainable customer relationships.
• Negotiate effectively with your customer, e.g. to agree trade terms, trade funding, and counterparts according to the UL strategy on their categories.
• Manage the relationship aspects of key customer ‘events’, e.g. launching of new products, cost price changes, breaches of trade terms.
• Develop and deliver the customer strategic business plan for relevant categories, and the joint customer business plan, working closely with Category Managers and Shopper Marketing.
• Develop and deliver an optimal integrated category promotional plan (including selling the plan with the customer).
• Manage promotional and non-promotional investments with the customer and ensures all agreements are properly documented and stored.
• Work closely with Trading Executives to ensure administrative aspects of promotions are completed.
• Manage the launch of new products with customers, e.g. selling in the new product, providing samples etc
• Ensure effective in-store activation of key events (e.g. promotions, range reviews), providing clear briefings to the Retail Execution Team

Accountabilities

• Manage the customer P&L for relevant categories and the overall level of customer investment.
• Manage in-month performance vs forecast, working closely with CBMs and Customer Operations
• Manage accruals and pricing accurately and efficiently.
• Ensure customer is compliant with agreed trade terms; where these are breached seek a resolution and monitor implementation.
• P&L Management: Delivery of Turnover & Business Building Terms targets for specific category
• S&OP Forecasting
• Provision of clear up to date inputs into Business Processes (Promotional Evaluation, Customer          
• Business Planning, sales updates, in store tracking, price claim management etc)
• Delivery of required admin for the customer – pricing, rebates, NLF, promo proposals, trade terms, contracts

ALL ABOUT YOU 

• Previous experience of performing a CAM role – minimum 2 years.
• Prior commercial experience and exposure to P&L
• Proven history of working within a team environment.
• Shopper Marketing or Category Management experience is preferable.
• Data and digitally curious.