Key Accounts Managger

Role Overview

This position owns the complete commercial relationship with a portfolio of major retail chains, from strategic planning through daily execution. You will serve as the bridge between your employer’s brand strategy and the retailer’s shelf reality, ensuring that products are listed, displayed, promoted, and sold profitably. The core of the role is balancing growth ambitions with financial discipline: negotiating joint business plans, steering trade spend, and protecting margins while consistently hitting revenue and distribution targets.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the creation and negotiation of Joint Business Plans with each assigned modern trade account, aligning internal objectives with retailer priorities to secure sustainable, mutually beneficial growth.
• Own the end-to-end performance of your accounts, including revenue, volume, market share, margin, and profitability, reporting progress against targets and adjusting tactics as needed.
• Act as the single point of commercial contact for key retail partners, building trust at multiple levels and resolving day-to-day issues before they escalate into account-level problems.
• Shape the product assortment for each retailer by securing new listings, expanding distribution into relevant stores, and improving shelf placement based on category insights and consumer data.
• Monitor sell-in and sell-out metrics, inventory health, and demand forecasts to prevent stock-outs and overstocks, collaborating closely with supply chain and demand planning teams.
• Design account-specific pricing, promotion, and merchandising plans that deliver measurable return on investment, then track performance and reallocate spend where it works hardest.
• Audit in-store execution to ensure promotional compliance, product visibility, and merchandising standards meet both company guidelines and retailer expectations.
• Manage trade budgets, rebates, promotional investment, claims, and receivables in partnership with Finance, safeguarding the profitability of every deal you negotiate.
• Analyze market trends, competitor activity, and account performance data to spot emerging opportunities or risks and turn that analysis into concrete commercial actions.
• Align and coach field sales and merchandising teams so that agreed plans are executed consistently across every store in the account’s footprint.
• Run regular business reviews with customers and internal stakeholders, using performance scorecards to drive continuous improvement and celebrate wins.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Sales & Marketing, Commerce, Economics, or a comparable field.
• 5–7 years of progressive experience in sales, key account management, or commercial management within FMCG, consumer electronics, telecommunications, or a closely related sector.
• At least 3 years specifically managing modern trade accounts with leading retail chains, demonstrating a thorough understanding of how these customers operate and negotiate.
• A documented history of delivering revenue growth, gaining market share, and meeting profitability targets in a competitive retail environment.
• Hands-on experience developing Joint Business Plans, executing trade marketing campaigns, managing categories, and leading high-stakes customer negotiations.
• Solid grasp of trade investment mechanics, including promotional ROI, rebate structures, pricing strategy, merchandising principles, and inventory management.
• Proven ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams and field sales staff without direct authority, driving alignment and accountability across multiple functions.