Commercial Development Manager - Ready-to-Drink

Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA • $135K — $173K *

Arlington, VA 22204In-Person

Food & Beverages

Less than 5 years of experience

Today

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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

Experience with distributor-led, DSD, Small Format, Convenience, Drug, or Wholesaler channels.
Minimum 4 years in Sales, Commercial Development, Category Management, Customer Planning, or Marketing.
Bachelor's degree required; equivalent experience acceptable.
Strong grasp of customer planning, trade strategy, and promotional effectiveness.
Ability to link customer decisions to financial outcomes like margin and P&L.
Excellent cross-functional leadership and influencing skills across multiple departments.
Proven record of identifying performance gaps and implementing corrective actions.
Familiarity with Strategic and Integrated Commercial Planning processes.

Responsibilities

Own the Commercial Development strategy for the RTD Small Format channel.
Translate brand strategies into practical customer and distributor plans.
Create and share effective presentations and business plans for stakeholders.
Implement a customer-focused approach in Go-To-Market strategies.
Analyze insights to drive decisions on trade investment and volume forecasting.
Manage annual and monthly business planning, focusing on risks and opportunities.
Identify and rectify execution gaps in collaboration with Field Sales and distributors.
Act as an authority on Small Format matters for various departments.
Lead product innovation launches and align with market readiness.
Develop Commercial Action Plans that align with broader brand objectives.

Benefits

Opportunities for cross-functional collaboration with key business units.
Engagement in strategic growth initiatives within a leading RTD portfolio.
Participation in innovative product launches and market penetration efforts.

Full Job Description

Job Summary and Mission

We are looking for a Commercial Development Manager to serve as the dedicated Small Format commercial lead for the Ready-to-Drink Business Unit. This role owns the connection between RTD business strategy and execution across a complex distributor-led route to market, with accountability for customer planning, assortment, innovation readiness, promotional strategy, trade investment, forecast quality and risk escalation. The CDM will act as the commercial control point across the Business Unit, Field Sales, Finance, Marketing, Demand Planning and distributor partners to protect and grow a material Small Format RTD business, improve planning discipline and ensure commercial decisions are managed through a customer, channel and financial lens.

Summary of Key Responsibilities:

Serve as the dedicated Commercial Development owner for the RTD Small Format channel, including Drug, Convenience and distributor-led partners as applicable.
Translate RTD brand and BU strategies into executable Small Format customer, channel and distributor plans that build brand equity, grow market share and deliver financial objectives.
Develop and deploy clear communication, selling stories and cohesive business plans for Field Sales, distributor partners and cross-functional stakeholders.
Establish a strong customer-focused approach that brings Small Format requirements into Go-To-Market plans across DSD and wholesaler routes to market.
Leverage customer, category, shopper and distributor insights to identify growth opportunities and provide direct input into volume, trade, margin and P&L decisions.

Lead annual, monthly and in-month business planning for RTD Small Format, including performance management, risks, opportunities and recovery actions.
Own the commercial linkage across assortment, pricing, promotion, trade investment, innovation readiness, forecast accuracy and customer execution.
Partner with Field Sales and distributor teams to identify execution gaps, prioritize corrective actions and improve follow-through against customer and channel plans.
Provide Small Format expertise to the BU by translating distributor priorities, selling system dynamics and customer decisions into financial implications.
Serve as the key liaison to Field Sales and Finance for incremental funding, trade deployment and commercial spend management.
Use TPM/TPO and related planning tools to support scenario planning, optimize sales and trade plans and evaluate post-promotional effectiveness.
Partner with Finance and Demand Planning to improve forecast discipline, understand volume drivers and manage the P&L implications of customer and channel decisions.
Lead monthly Small Format business reviews, including strategy objectives, deploy rates, trade efficiency, customer actions and risk escalation.
Serve as the Commercial lead for Small Format innovation launches and support customer, channel and distributor readiness through the I2L process.
Act as the RTD Small Format authority for Division brand teams, Field Sales, Finance, Demand Planning and leadership stakeholders.
Develop and deploy Commercial Action Plans that align brand objectives, growth drivers, category strategies, activation tactics, trade strategy and shopper insights.
Build Small Format channel and customer strategies based on approved category, customer and channel plans.

Understand and strategically optimize Small Format class of trade and Direct Store Delivery partnerships to drive sustainable, profitable growth for Nesquik RTD and the broader RTD portfolio.

Qualifications and Skills

Experience managing distributor-led, DSD, Small Format, Convenience, Drug or Wholesaler channels required.
Minimum 4 years of experience in Sales, Commercial Development, Category Management, Customer Planning or Marketing preferred.
Bachelor's degree required; equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
Strong understanding of customer planning, trade strategy, promotional effectiveness, pricing, assortment and commercial execution.
Ability to connect customer and distributor decisions to volume, trade spend, margin, forecast and P&L outcomes.
Strong cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to influence across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Demand Planning, Supply Chain and external partners.
Proven ability to diagnose business performance gaps, develop corrective action plans and drive accountability across stakeholders.
Knowledge of Strategic and Integrated Commercial Planning processes, including customer planning, financial reporting and route-to-market execution.
Experience using tools and data sou

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