Associate Director Beauty & Personal Care-Kroger

Unilever•Cincinnati, OH

5d•$146,200 - $219,400

About The Position

The Associate Director, Kroger is responsible for delivering topline volume across Unilever categories, including Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care. The role manages the commercial plan for the Kroger business, a strategic business partner for Unilever, and leads customer planning and execution to support collective growth for Kroger and Unilever consumers. The position leads direct and indirect teams, develops near- and long-term Joint Business Plans, and works with Business Development, Brand, and CS&P teams to align resources, spending, and volume. It also creates and operationalizes the Kroger customer strategy and go-to-market plan, including growth platforms, innovation, trade investment ROI, and integration of shopper marketing and merchandising plans. The role cross-functionally oversees operational delivery, including forecasting, retail inventory management, supply chain compliance, deductions, and trade investment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
At least 10 years of related Sales, Category Management, and Customer Planning experience.
Customer Strategy and Planning experience.
Experience managing direct NSV of more than $100 million.
Experience leading at least 2–3 direct reports.
Successful track record in key Customer Business Manager roles across multiple COT.
Strong financial and business acumen, including P&L ownership, customer planning, effective internal and customer communication, and analytical skills.
Strong verbal and written communication skills for working with the Kroger Leadership Team, Business Development Team, CS&P, and Brand Team.

Nice To Haves

Resilience and confidence navigating challenges and ambiguity while working with numerous support groups to deliver growth initiatives.
Growth mindset, including ability to present and sell new ideas and techniques to Kroger and Unilever personnel to achieve profitable sales growth and turnover targets.
Working knowledge of Nielsen/IRI, Evergreen, and Customer POS Data.
Ability to leverage the Simplify platform to enable faster and more profitable growth.
Ownership mindset, including asking challenging questions and taking accountability for successes and failures.
Big-picture thinking and ability to connect information and develop strategic growth plans.

Responsibilities

Manage and lead a direct and indirect team to deliver individual and collective team success.
Lead near-term and long-term Joint Business Planning and develop strategic platforms and other growth drivers to achieve growth targets across all categories at Kroger.
Work with the Business Development Team and internal Brand and CS&P teams to ensure plans are resourced and spending and volume are synchronized to deliver the Joint Business Plan.
Create and operationalize the Kroger customer strategy and go-to-market plan, including Big Bets, innovation execution, trade investment ROI, and integration of shopper marketing plans with merchandising plans.
Cross-functionally lead operational delivery of the business plan, including initiating growth platforms, forecasting, retail inventory management, supply chain compliance, managing deductions, and balancing trade investment.