National Account Executive

The National Account Executive (NAE) will be responsible for KDP’s Direct Store Delivery (DSD) business at Kroger. The NAE position is a critical role for KDP, serving as a member of the sales management team and reporting to the Senior Director of Sales. The NAE will lead the strategic direction of the customer joint business plan for all Cold Space. This role contributes to revenue, profit and market share growth by driving distribution and availability across KDP’s Direct Store Delivery (DSD) portfolio.

The role requires a results oriented, collaborative thinker with strong business acumen. The ideal candidate specializes in joint business planning, possesses excellent communication, and critical selling skills. The right candidate brings solution-based thinking and an overall customer focused mindset to consistently find new growth avenues in partnership with the retailer. The individual must add to the team culture with a can-do attitude and enjoy a fast-paced environment. This individual must proactively partner with KDP internal stakeholders across multiple functions (Finance, Revenue Growth Management, Category Management, Channel Strategy, Route to Market teams) that influence and help with execution of the Kroger account strategy.

Location: This position is based in our office in Cincinnati, OH and will have a hybrid schedule

Responsibilities:

• Cultivate and maintain effective business relationships with Kroger counterparts, internal key stakeholders such as Revenue Growth Management, Channel Strategy, Category Management, Route to Market and Partner Brand teams.
  
• Be the internal expert on Immediate Consumption and Kroger with deep understanding of retailer’s end to end business and sharing this important perspective with internal stakeholders
• Develop and sell annual joint business plan including all elements necessary to deliver profitable growth (Price, Promotion, Display and Assortment)
• Develop strategy and execution plan for Immediate Consumption across the entire KDP portfolio
• Developing assortment plan in collaboration with Kroger NAEs and Category Management
• Develop GTM strategy and execution plan for Kroger Fuel Centers
• Strong executive presence with ability to lead presentations with senior management internally and externally
• Investment Strategy: Maximize and execute trade budgets against promotional plans/calendars to deliver profitable growth
• Stakeholder Management: Sell key initiatives to bottlers/ distributor decision makers, ensuring execution of strategies and plans
• Fully leverage data and insights (IRI, Circana, Market 6, 84.51, internal systems) to identify opportunities and adjust plans to meet annual goals and objectives
• Ensure high performance results of your team by:
• Fostering a culture of trust and wellbeing that prioritizes the team and values employee contributions
• Driving a shared vision with clear goals and accountability, supported by regular conversations to maximize talent
• Embracing diverse perspectives to foster innovation, learning from both successes and failures
• Establishing a safe environment where team members are motivated, heard, and aligned with clear expectations

• Ensure high performance results of your team by:

  • Fostering a culture of trust and wellbeing that prioritizes the team and values employee contributions
  • Driving a shared vision with clear goals and accountability, supported by regular conversations to maximize talent
  • Embracing diverse perspectives to foster innovation, learning from both successes and failures
  • Establishing a safe environment where team members are motivated, heard, and aligned with clear expectations