CDI - Head of Business Development Discounter Channel (H/F)

Job description

AT A GLANCE, YOU WILL

Experience #lifeatdanone

Work with many brands

About the job

Overview

We are looking for a global Manager to lead business development projects and the discounter KAM community of all countries where Lidl and Aldi are operating.
You will play a central crucial role in driving the growth and expansion of Danone’s discounter business with Lidl and Aldi and even beyond with other key banner players of the discounter channel with the primary responsibility to identify and pursue new business opportunities, establish strategic partnerships, enhance existing relationships and lead dedicated projects together with the countries’ KAM & PRGM teams to maximise revenue and business share within this channel.

 

Roles & Responsibilities:

 

• Provide substantial support to the Global Customer Director (GCD) and the GS Discounters Team on developing and thought-leading Danone’s future Discounters Strategy into execution for customers and categories in responsibility, support the GCD on all key growth projects and lead own projects for incremental growth contribution.
• Support the Discounter Team GAMs and the local countries’ KAM teams in all their negotiation projects with additional selling supportive insights and best practice knowledge.
• Manage own growth projects and the discounter community to constantly and relentlessly support the countries and categories in growing business with the core customers of the discount channel.
• Market research and analysis management: Manage the S&I connect and discounter data projects. Initiate thorough market research to identify potential markets, trends, and customer and shopper needs. Analyse competitor strategies to gain insights and capitalize on market gaps.
• Business strategy development: Support GCD in developing and implementing effective business strategies to enter new market-category constellations, drive growth and achieve business objectives. Identify together with Categories and CBUs future potential areas of expansion and growth and devise action plans accordingly. Identify and lead dedicated growth projects within this framework of action plans (incorporating D2D and Category connection for concrete product and/or packaging developments).
• Product portfolio management: Collaborate with the Category teams and with D2D product development to develop and introduce new discount channel products or variations to cater to different markets’ and customers’ preferences. Optimise in collaboration with the KAM teams of the countries the product ranges in play and in proposition.
• Partner and discounter community management: Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal stakeholders and all KAM teams of markets in discounters operational perimeter to ensure effective and disproportionate growth generating collaboration with the key discounter customers. 
• Management of discounter workshops & conference programme: Plan the overall yearly workshop calendar in contact with the countries and prepare for related agendas and concrete GS Discounter Team workshop contributions. Ensure generation of tangible business ideas via these workshops. Support GCD with the preparation and conduction of the ECS (European Customer Summit) and EDS (European Discounter Summit) conferences.
• Customer T2T management: Support GCD with preparation of agenda and content for central-to-central top-to-top customer meetings. Be a driver for generating meaningful T2T content.
• Tools and capability management: Drive improvements on given management tools, develop ideas for new future management tools and manage the GS Team’s central information repository. Support sales teams of the markets in developing strong discounter sales plans on range, promotional activities and pricing strategies by the use of central tools like range overview by category segment, x-country sales performance monitoring or category market research findings.

Connect with Sustainability Management and PRGM colleagues and with GS Finance colleagues to develop and deliver new and better discount channel related initiative plans and reportings.
• Budgeting and Reporting: Develop and manage budgets for business development initiatives. Provide regular reports and updates on business performance with the channel and its key customers and on key performance metrics and market developments for related senior management information.

• Market research management: provide business with selling supportive insights, especially shopper insights on discounter channel related dynamics.
• Business strategy development and related project leadership: generate concrete sales enhancing elements of future discounter sales proposals of the countries.
• Portfolio management: deploy new tool of Net Net pricing coordination and management, range optimization recommendations and new product development directions for success with the discount channel model.
• Partner and discounter community management: conduct frequent x-country update calls to foster best practice exchange and keep discounter community updated about most recent channel insights, minimal once per quarter. Provide central insights and best practice consultancy in bilateral country contact upon identified need or request. Develop and manage a discounters newsletter community update.
• Management of workshops & conference programme: ensure a minimum of 6 successful discounter workshops per year and a successful EDS conference as core community event each year.
• Customer T2T management: pro-actively provide agenda inputs on relationship building and sales supportive quality.
• Tools and capability management: conduct at minimum one multi-country tool & capability workshop call per half year.
On the capability area, make sustainability management (OPOH initiatives) a key area of future collaborative initiatives development between Danone and the key discounters.
• Ensure optimal Finance performance reports being generated and provided on a monthly basis.

 

Main interfaces

• Sales Directors, KAM, PRGM and Trade Marketing colleagues of the countries in perimeter
• Category Management and D2D Management peers
• Central Global Sales & Support Functions: Finance (Business Analysis), Sustainability Management (OPOH), Value Creation (PRGM, OBPPC), Market Research (S&I)
• Central teams, especially Market Research, Marketing
• GS Discounter Team colleagues

 

Travel requirements

Approx. 20-30% of working time abroad, traveling to head office and to our Danone country sales team colleagues, e.g. for country discounter workshop meetings

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About you

• General Management & Personality Competencies:
- Cross-functional and cross-country engagement strength and alignment capability
- Entrepreneurial drive paired with strategic view and hands-on delivery ambition, based on professional pragmatism
- Strong empathy in stakeholder management 
• Management Skills:
- Leadership & Autonomy
- Strong communication & interpersonal skills
- Ability to influence and manage complexity and workload intensity
- Strong financial skills, ability to oversee the big(ger) picture
• Critical Technical Competencies:
- Strong track record in sales project and/or key account management
- Professionally fluent in English (German is a plus, all other languages are an asset, especially French)
- Experience with discounter sales management is a plus
- Marketing and/or Market Research and/or Category Management experience is a plus
- Sound project management experience
- International profile or interest
• Strong sales knowledge fundamentals, ideally already key account management experience; a proven track record in FMCG Sales with large customers is a plus
• Strong commercial business background (Sales and/or Marketing and/or Category Management) of between 8-10 years, ideally gained in FMCG businesses
• Strong software literacy in Excel and PowerPoint is a necessary asset

About us

One Planet, One Health - BY YOU! 

Our four core values "HOPE": HUMANISM, OPENNESS, CLOSENESS and ENTHUSIASM serve as our compass. 

Every day, you will make decisions that impact our economic and societal performance, as well as our ability to achieve our ambitions.  

At Danone, you can just be yourself. We are convinced that it is up to YOU to define how you work, develop and progress. 

With us, you will work in a challenging, authentic, and caring environment.