Job Title: Senior National Account Manager
Poole, GB, BH12 3LL
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We’re Ryvita - yes, the Crispbread & Savoury Snacking legends - and we’re on a mission to make healthy snacking exciting. We need someone who loves big challenges, big retailers, and big results. If you want a role where you can truly own your accounts, shape strategy, and make a real impact, this is it. You’ll be part of a small, passionate team that values independence, creativity, and getting things done (with a smile).
Overview of role
The Senior National Account Manager is a key position within the commercial function, reporting directly to the Commercial Director. This role is responsible for owning and driving strategic retailer relationships, managing cross-functional collaboration, and leading two critical strategic customers. In addition, the role includes line management of one direct report: Commercial Executive & Office Administrator.
You will take full ownership of day-to-day account management while shaping and delivering long-term strategic plans for Ryvita across the UK and Ireland.
Key Responsibilities
• Account Leadership: Own and manage the retailer relationship for key accounts, ensuring strong cross-functional engagement
• Commercial Delivery: Drive sales, operating profit, volume, value, and market share growth, while delivering long-term sales and profit objectives
• Strategic Planning: Develop tailored account plans to achieve all commercial goals.
• Profitability Management: Ensure sustainable growth through effective pricing, promotions, activations, and budget control
• Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop one direct report to enhance performance and capability
Customers
You will own the buying relationships across Tesco, Asda, and Waitrose, while building and nurturing senior-level connections across buying, category, and operations.
Key Accountabilities
Sales Strategy and Strategic Business Management
• Construct, develop, implement and measure a tailored Account Plan to deliver sustainable and profitable sales growth in line with targets
• Review Customer Business Plans and work with/ coaches direct report to maximise return on all trade investment
• Plan and conduct regular ‘Business Reviews’ with the retailer buying teams
• Competently use both persuasive selling and negotiation skills and techniques to support sales negotiations where required
• Use the outputs of each budget plan to cascade target activity into implementation plans to ensure the effective use of time and resources.
• Keep pace with the constantly changing marketplace, anticipate market trends, competitive threats and plan accordingly
Commercial Awareness
• Conduct a detailed and thorough promotional analysis and evaluation ensuring that there is a commercial payback from such investment
• Drive a conditional mind set, ensuring that all trade investments are conditional and support the delivery of our market plans
• Work with the Commercial Director & Commercial Finance to ensure all spends are in line with the agreed plan and delivering positive ROI
• Monitor distribution, space and availability measures to ensure we have fair representation across the market and works with the Category team to build plans to address gaps
Customer Relationships
• To secure and then retain ‘partnership supplier’ status
• Establish and build exceptional relationships with all key retailer contacts, and drive depth of contact with strategic customers to at least Buyer +1 as a minimum, and develop multi- functional relationships across customers, targeting category and supply chain teams as well as format teams operating in Convenience/ dot.com.
Customer service and business operations
• Manage the account & team to ensure forecasts are updated as required with a clear focus on improving forecast accuracy
• Regularly review the market forecast with Demand Planning and Finance to ensure alignment
• Consider and develop ideas to reduce our cost to serve
• Ensure invoice accuracy to reduce credit notes and to secure adherence to agreed payment terms.
• Eliminate customer fines and penalties.
Communication (Internal / External)
• Communicate with clarity at all levels both internally and externally
• ‘Set the standard’, clearly demonstrating our company values with a can do attitude at all times
• Lead the sales function in the market as part of the sales leadership team.
Performance Management
• Drive performance improvement of the team through clear objective setting, feedback and coaching through regular 1:1s, quarterly performance reviews and annual appraisal
• Seek to improve and continually raise their ‘Performance bar’ by knowing themselves, measuring performance and capability on a regular basis
Environment and Ways of working
• Responsible for adhering to safe systems of work processes and acting in a safe manner to always protect the health and safety of yourself and others.
• Promote a culture of positive safety behaviours within your team, demonstrate strong safety leadership and address unsafe behaviours and working practices to coach the right behaviours.
• Successfully manage key stakeholder relationships and interfaces – within ABF, Jordans and Ryvita.
• Ensure that the business has in place effective and appropriate controls and governance.
The Right Person
• You’ve managed major retailer accounts before—Tesco, Asda, Waitrose? Even better.
• Commercially sharp, strategic thinker, but happy to roll up your sleeves.
• Relationship builder extraordinaire, buyers love you, and so do your colleagues.
• Resilient, energetic, and ready to thrive in a hybrid setup.
• You’re a natural leader who loves coaching others.