Senior Director Distributor Development

Griffith Foods is the caring, creative product development partner helping food companies meet the evolving needs of consumers while sustaining the planet. As a family business founded in 1919 and headquartered in Alsip, Illinois USA, Griffith Foods is known for true, collaborative innovation guided by their Purpose of "We Blend Care and Creativity to Nourish the World". The company's product capabilities range from seasonings and marinades to coating systems and sauces that are better for people and better for the planet. For more information, visit www.griffithfoods.com.

TITLE: Senior Director Distributor Development

LOCATION: Lombard, IL (Remote)

COMP RANGE: $142,183 to $236,972

Sales incentive plan eligible

Custom Culinary, a subsidiary of Griffith Foods, is hiring a Senior Director, Distributor Development to develop the strategy to grow the company's national broadline distributors. Provides leadership/executional direction, strategy to the field sales, broker sales organizations for our largest FS distributors to facilitate accelerated growth within our distribution community.

This is your opportunity to drive greater focus, strategy, and execution in the company's go to market optimization strategy. It's also an opportunity to lead and inspire a team of commercial team members through our commitment to our 2030 Aspirations.

As a Senior Director, Distributor Development, your responsibilities will include:

Strategic Planning

• Provides input in development and implementation of strategic plans to meet organizational goals.
• Provides long range planning initiatives and implements tactics to execute for each of the national FS (Field Sales) Distributors. Create comprehensive customer business plans that align with strategic growth within foodservice channel.
• Communicates customer business plans, strategy, and key initiatives to direct and broker sales teams, ensuring best in class execution.
• Complex contract negotiation, to ensure long-term agreements with customers meet to the best of our ability top and bottom-line company objectives.
• Actively grow the CC (Custom Culinary,) branded portfolio at a rate greater than industry/category growth.
• Strong analytical skills, ability to understand P&L's and a strong broader financial acumen.
• Analyze, recommend, and control trade spend to support the food service growth goals, and customer initiatives.

Customer Development

• Further penetrate key FS distributor customers by broadening scope of products sold, and becoming a more strategic partner with our categories.
• Develop strategic initiatives to achieve and maintain competitive advantage.

• Make regular sales calls to corporate office, as well as key Field Sales (FS) Divisions in the field to ensure top down strategy is being executed. Deepen relationships with strategic customers, sales team, and brokers.
• Execute best in class cross functional collaboration with marketing, customer service, R&D, culinary, and others to ensure the broader team is focused and informed of key customer opportunities and challenges.
• Responsible for ensuring proper category management of portfolio is in stock and available, along with targeted points of distribution expansion.
• Manages administrative functions including, information request, competitive intelligence, results tracking and analysis, deduction management, sales reports.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Responsibilities include contract negotiation, trade management, customer business plan creation, implementation and execution of said plan down through the necessary channels of the organization so to ensure better than industry growth with our top distributor partners.
• Leverages culture of performance excellence through flawless demonstration of Selling Skills, Presentation Skills, Strategic Management, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and Communication Skills.

You'll bring value to the Sr. Director, Distributor Development position and the team if you:

* Extensive and proven food industry experience; working with distribution networks.

* Have an in-depth understanding of distribution networks and trade spend programming.

* Are committed and motivated by behaving like an owner, building customer success, making the future better, think creatively, use financial data to build realistic plans, working together as a team and delivering results.

The Expertise and Experiences You'll Need to Succeed:

Qualified candidates will have:

* A bachelor's degree from a college or university with a minimum of 10 years of food industry experience, working extensively with distribution networks and trade spending.

* Proven leadership experience driving results and building relationships

* The ability to effectively communicate and influence without authority.

* Share specific experiences where you have taken initiative to drive deliverables.

* Proven examples of experience in building the support of initiatives both internally and externally.

* Ability to travel up to 75%, including overnight trips.

Remote Role: Work Flex, allowing employees to work remotely, and select options like compressed work weeks, flex time, etc. that creates an effective workplace where work patterns meet the needs of both employers & employees. Most professionals come into the office once a week or less. Periodic onsite meetings may occur at our Lombard (IL), Oswego (IL), Avon (OH) Medina (OH) or Alsip (IL) locations.

Physical Requirements:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to walk, sit, use hands or and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and distance vision. Overnight travel is required.

Custom Culinary is a subsidiary of Griffith Foods and is a provider of branded and customer brand / "private label" soup bases, flavor concentrates, sauces, gravies, and other flavor enhancing products. We sell primarily into foodservice - restaurants, hospitals, schools, and cafeterias - as well as industrial - food manufacturers, assemblers, and commissaries - and specialty retail - grocery store foodservice, convenience stores, and meal kits.

At Custom Culinary, we aim to Be True to the Food , and we are focused on authentically bringing flavor and excellent food, ingredients, and menu solutions to our customers.

Learn more about us at https://griffithfoods.com/careers/

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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Griffith Foods believes that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity. Griffith Foods does not discriminate against qualified employees or applicants because of the following actual or perceived characteristics: race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or related medical condition, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, genetic characteristic or information, AIDS or HIV status, order of protection status, marital status, military or veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law. Equal employment opportunity will be extended to all persons in all aspect of the employer-employee relationship, including recruitment, hiring, participation in benefit programs, training, promotion, transfer, discipline, layoff, recall, and termination.

Benefits:

Benefits for this role include Medical, Rx, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending & Health Savings Accounts, EAP, Health Advocacy, Financial Planning, Parental Leave, Care.com, Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance, Education Assistance/Tuition Reimbursement, Safety Reimbursement, Lifestyle Spending Account, Group Life & AD&D, Voluntary Life Insurance, Short Term & Long Term Disability, 401(k) Plan with Company Match, ESOP, PTO, Holiday's & Leaves, Accident Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, Hospital Indemnity, Home & Auto Insurance, Pet Insurance, Identity Theft Protection, Long Term Care + Life Insurance & Legal Assistance. There is also potential for a discretionary bonus, this bonus is based on personal & company performance and is not a guaranteed bonus plan.