About the role
Job Description:
The Senior National Account Manager plays a crucial role in driving profitable and sustainable sales growth for the Mars Food Business across Ben’s Original and Seeds of Change brands. This position is responsible for maintaining strong relationships with customers, broker partners, and internal stakeholders, ensuring the execution of innovative customer plans that support key business objectives in revenue, profit, growth, distribution, shelving, merchandising, promotions, and pricing.
As the primary account lead for BJ’s & Sam’s, this role is directly accountable for delivering the financial plan, driving key growth initiatives, managing trade funding, fostering category leadership, and overseeing Top-to-Top customer engagement and retail execution. A strong focus will be placed on accelerating organizational growth, increasing household penetration, and expanding category leadership through strategic partnerships with customers.
We are looking for a strategic, data-driven, and results-oriented leader with a deep understanding of BJ’s & Sam’s, consumer trends, and the CPG industry. The ideal candidate will have strong enterprise leadership skills that embody Mars’ 5 Principles, fostering collaboration and leading crucial conversations with internal and external partners to drive focus, alignment, and business results.
What are we looking for?
- ~5+ years of Club channel experience (Sam’s, BJ’s, Costco, etc.) with demonstrated success managing Club customers.
- Additional CPG sales experience across other channels would be a plus (e.g., Grocery, Mass, eCommerce) to round out overall commercial capability.
- Proven front‑line sales leadership experience; must have directly owned customer relationships and delivered against sales targets. Heavy on field sales direct selling experience.
- Experience co‑creating growth plans with customers, including customer‑led innovation (pack architecture, merchandising solutions, unique offerings).
- Demonstrated track record of driving share, velocity, and distribution growth across multiple customers.
- Food category experience strongly valued, especially in slower‑moving CPG categories (e.g., rice, grains, center‑store staples).
Technical & Functional Skills
- Strong retail analytics capability, including syndicated data (Nielsen/IRI), customer‑specific platforms (Madrid, Luminate/Scintilla), and annual customer planning.
- Category Management, Customer/Trade Marketing, and RGM/SRM experience preferred.
- High proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word).
- Ability to travel up to 20%.
Leadership & Talent Expectations
- Demonstrated ability to influence cross‑functionally and lead customer‑facing initiatives.
- High‑potential, versatile talent with aspiration and capability to grow into future Director‑level roles at Mars. Should show clear progression in career/roles over time and have the bandwidth to grow into larger roles.
- Strong commercial acumen, strategic thinking, and ability to operate with autonomy.
What will be your key responsibilities?
- Deliver the operating plan - Achievement of customer growth and profit objectives. Market share, NSV, operating profit, ROI on Trade
- Develop sales strategy - for Ben’s Original and Seeds of Change to drive long term growth objectives. Recommend and set priorities as part of segment review process.
- Sell Mars Food category vision (D,S,M,P) to customers, maximizing sales growth and profit.
- Manage joint business plan development and execution, including annual collaborative planning meetings
- Manage overall customer P&L, delivering financial commitments including GSV, NSV and Trade. Accomplished by leveraging tools and resources (technology and people) to negotiate effective customer programs along with effective tracking of all promotional contracts with our customers
- Responsible for sales forecast. Leveraging S&OP best practices and tools in partnership with the demand planning team
- Leverage internal resources to support business objectives (i.e, category management, customer support, shopper marketing, omni-commerce and consumer marketing)
- Leverage broker partner support (i.e. syndicated retail coverage, incremental analytic support, back office)
- Develop and execute breakthrough customer engagement plans, connecting leadership between customers and senior leadership at Mars Food.
- Maintain consistent stakeholder updates (internal and external stakeholders), including internal customer plans.
What can you expect from Mars?
- Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
- Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
- A strong focus on learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
- An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.
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Aplyr's read
Mars is a diverse global powerhouse in confectionery, pet care, and food, attracting talent in manufacturing, sales, and technical roles.
What's promising
- •Mars offers a wide range of career paths across multiple sectors, including food, pet care, and confectionery.
- •The company invests in employee development through programs like the Mars Young Professionals Program.
- •Mars provides opportunities for global mobility and cross-functional career growth.
What to watch
- •The company's large size may lead to bureaucratic decision-making processes.
- •Limited public information about Mars' work-life balance policies.
- •Mars' global operations may require frequent travel or relocation for some roles.
Why Mars
- •Mars is family-owned, allowing for long-term strategic planning without shareholder pressure.
- •The company is known for its iconic brands like M&M's and Snickers, offering strong brand recognition.
- •Mars emphasizes sustainability and responsible sourcing in its operations.
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About Mars
Mars, Incorporated is a global manufacturer of confectionery, pet care, and food products, known for brands like M&M's, Snickers, Pedigree, and Whiskas.