Commercial Development Manager

Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA•Seattle, WA

7d•$135,363 - $172,761

About The Position

The Commercial Development Manager serves as the dedicated commercial lead for the Starbucks Seasonal portfolio, connecting Starbucks brand and portfolio strategy with customer and channel execution. The role is accountable for seasonal customer planning, assortment, innovation readiness, promotional strategy, trade investment, forecast quality, and risk escalation. It partners across the Business Unit, Field Sales, Finance, Marketing, Demand Planning, and Supply Chain to coordinate seasonal launches, maximize in-season performance and sell-through, and manage end-of-season inventory risk while ensuring commercial decisions reflect customer needs, seasonal selling windows, and financial objectives. The manager translates brand and Business Unit strategies into customer and channel plans, develops seasonal selling stories and launch calendars, and leads annual, seasonal, monthly, and in-season business planning. The position coordinates assortment, pricing, promotions, trade investment, launch readiness, forecasting, and customer execution; provides commercial and financial insights; and leads milestone reviews and post-season analysis. It also serves as the seasonal commercial point of contact for cross-functional teams and supports readiness for seasonal innovation and returning offerings.

Requirements

Experience managing customer or channel commercial planning is required.
At least 4 years of experience in Sales, Commercial Development, Category Management, Customer Planning, or Marketing is preferred.
Bachelor’s degree required; equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Strong understanding of customer planning, trade strategy, promotional effectiveness, pricing, assortment, and seasonal commercial execution.
Ability to connect seasonal customer and portfolio decisions to volume, trade spend, margin, forecast, inventory, and P&L outcomes.
Strong cross-functional leadership and ability to influence Sales, Marketing, Finance, Demand Planning, Supply Chain, and external partners.
Ability to diagnose business performance gaps, develop corrective action plans, and drive stakeholder accountability.
Knowledge of Strategic and Integrated Commercial Planning processes, including customer planning, financial reporting, and seasonal launch execution.
Ability to build clear and compelling seasonal customer and channel selling stories for Field Sales and retailer sell-in.

Nice To Haves

Experience with seasonal portfolios, limited-time offerings, or time-sensitive product launches.
Experience using Nielsen, VIP, BW, TPM/TPO, Source, customer POS, shipment data, or other commercial planning systems.

Responsibilities

Serve as the dedicated Commercial Development lead for the Starbucks Seasonal portfolio and align commercial priorities across customers and channels.
Translate Starbucks brand and Business Unit strategies into customer and channel plans that build brand equity, grow market share, and deliver financial objectives.
Develop and deploy seasonal selling stories, launch calendars, and business plans for Field Sales and cross-functional stakeholders.
Incorporate retailer planning timelines, seasonal shelf transitions, and activation requirements into Go-To-Market plans.
Use customer, category, shopper, and prior-season performance insights to identify growth opportunities and inform volume, trade, margin, and P&L decisions.
Lead annual, seasonal, monthly, and in-season business planning, including performance management, risk and opportunity assessment, and recovery actions.
Manage the commercial linkage across seasonal assortment, pricing, promotion, trade investment, launch readiness, forecast accuracy, and customer execution.
Partner with Field Sales to identify distribution, merchandising, and promotional execution gaps, prioritize corrective actions, and improve follow-through.
Translate customer priorities, seasonal demand patterns, and retailer decisions into commercial and financial implications for the Business Unit.
Coordinate with Field Sales and Finance on incremental funding, trade deployment, and commercial spend management.
Use TPM/TPO and related planning tools for scenario planning, sales and trade plan optimization, and post-promotional effectiveness evaluation.
Partner with Finance, Demand Planning, and Supply Chain to strengthen forecast discipline, align volume assumptions with customer plans, and manage availability, sell-through, and end-of-season inventory risks.
Lead monthly and seasonal milestone business reviews covering launch readiness, distribution, sell-through, trade efficiency, customer actions, and risk escalation.
Lead commercial support for Starbucks Seasonal innovation and returning seasonal offerings, including customer and channel readiness through the I2L process, as applicable.
Serve as the Starbucks Seasonal point of contact for Division brand teams, Field Sales, Finance, Demand Planning, Supply Chain, and leadership stakeholders.
Develop and deploy seasonal Commercial Action Plans aligned with brand objectives, growth drivers, category strategies, activation tactics, trade strategy, and shopper insights.
Build seasonal customer and channel strategies from approved plans, aligning assortment, sell-in timing, and activation to key seasonal occasions.
Evaluate post-season assortment, distribution, promotional effectiveness, and sell-through, and turn findings into recommendations for sustainable, profitable growth.