Director of Sales Finance & Operations

The Role

The Director of Sales Finance and Operations is a vital leadership role within the sales organization, reporting directly to the Corporate Vice President of Sales. This role oversees key functions including Sales Finance, Trade Promotion Management and Optimization, Performance Tracking, Sales Operations, and Sales Administration. The Director will lead a team of six direct reports, acting as the primary liaison between the sales department and internal cross-functional teams such as marketing, sales service, demand management, quality, manufacturing, and accounting.

Key Responsibilities

Sales Finance:

• Establish and maintain promotional accrual rates
• Periodically gather annual accrual forecasts from sales team and brokers
• Prepare and analyze customer-level gross-to-net P&L statements
• Manage price list distribution and communicate price adjustments

Trade Promotion Management (TPM):

• Build upon the Company’s current TPM software to establish a structured approach to planning, executing, and evaluating trade promotions
• Develop and manage the trade promotion calendar
• Oversee checkbook management and monitor over/under spends
• Supervise the deal submission process and synchronization with the Company’s order processing system
• Ensure procedure compliance for deal updates and reconciliation to actuals
• Manage the deal approval hierarchy and workflow

Trade Promotion Optimization (TPO):

• Use TPO software to conduct in-depth analysis of past promotions to identify trends, best practices, and areas for improvement
• Integrate external data sources (e.g., Nielsen, IRI) with internal sales and spend data to develop a scalable platform for the sales team to evaluate the ROI of their promotions
• Assess the effectiveness of different promotion types (e.g., discounts, displays, ads) across various retailers, channels, and regions
• Use advanced analytics tools to model potential outcomes of various trade promotion scenarios

Performance Tracking:

• Track and scorecard sales performance using Business Intelligence tools
• Maintain and update the sales call calendar
• Generate ad hoc performance reports aligned with key initiatives from the VP of Sales
• Collect quarterly sales forecasts, seasonal sell through data and forecast changes related to promotions

Sales Operations:

• Manage all sales related contracts for brokers and customers
• Oversee broker commission payments
• Plan and execute corporate trade shows

Sales Administration:

• Respond to customer information requests related to insurance, quality assurance, etc.
• Support direct-buying customer accounts on order processing and inventory availability
• Facilitate all communications from the office to the sales team
• Support the new customer setup process

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Finance, Accounting, or other business fields, MBA preferred
• Minimum of 15 years of progressive experience in managing sales finance and/or operations, ideally within the CPG food industry
• Strong financial acumen with experience in doing profitability and post-promotional lift analysis
• Process oriented with a keen attention to detail
• Deep experience with Business Intelligence tools and TPM/TPO software
• Ability to manage cross-functional relationships and lead diverse teams.