Customer Account Associate
About The Position
The Customer Account Associate supports the Account Director and Account Managers in achieving annual sales by providing customer account-focused assistance. The role aligns with the customer account team, manages distributor relationships, and administers customer account systems to help ensure smooth team operations. Responsibilities span trade deduction and post-audit analysis, distributor support, customer account administration, item and pricing maintenance, and promotional contract management. The associate also helps coordinate account planning activities and industry events, maintains reports and customer records, investigates pricing issues, and manages sample ordering and inventory.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree preferred, or 1–2 years of relevant work experience.
- Previous experience in an administrative or support role is preferred.
- Strong organizational and time-management skills.
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Ability to work independently and prioritize tasks effectively.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
Nice To Haves
- Familiarity with SharePoint and other collaboration tools is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Support the Account Management Team and Sales Finance leader with trade deduction analysis and reconciliation.
- Manage customer post-audit claims; collaborate with Account Managers and Sales Finance Revenue Growth Management on undisputed claims and track the status of disputed claims.
- Participate in customer meetings with third-party vendors to resolve claims.
- Administer deduction workflows, research and resolve deduction issues, and follow up on claims requiring further investigation.
- Manage post-audit and deduction issues affecting the business and customer, and drive collection of unauthorized deductions and application credits.
- Support customer metric forecasting and post-audit disputes.
- Communicate with Nestlé Retail Services regarding logistics and distribution activities.
- Create upcoming-period NRS workbooks and sell sheets, and attend the monthly NRS touch base.
- Repair broken connections between distributors and the customer back end.
- Manage weekly distributor reports on out-of-stocks and lost sales, and send follow-up communications.
- Manage customer forms and ensure information is accurate and up to date.
- Coordinate and assist with strategy development for large-scale meetings and planning sessions, including joint business planning and integrated commercial planning.
- Attend and travel to industry events and internal business-planning meetings with account team leadership.
- Assist with item setup, including entering data into the Osprey system, and support setup of new items in systems.
- Maintain accurate and consistent product price-point information and automated customer reports.
- Manage attribute-file item updates in customer systems, including universal product codes and product dimensions.
- Use the customer shelf-reset calendar to submit retailer forms for upcoming major and minor category resets.
- Enter new items into the Customer Item Management System and maintain existing item information as needed.
- Investigate purchase-order price discrepancies identified by the BSC, using contracts, Osprey event adjustments, EDI submissions, or buyer outreach as needed.
- Manage promotional contracts in customer systems; create contracts for the next period, confirm dates, lead times, and applicable lump-sum amounts in Osprey, and arrange review with the Account Manager.
- Manage sample ordering and track sample inventory.
Benefits
- Performance-based incentives and a competitive total rewards package, including a 401(k) with company match, healthcare coverage, and other benefits.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
