Primary Location :
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada
**Position summary **
Reporting to the Director, QSR & National Accounts, the National Account Manager - QSR owns a portfolio of named Canadian Tier 1 quick-service restaurant and FSR customers. This is a national account role, not a geographic territory or distributor-led sales position. The incumbent is accountable for profitable growth, retention, customer strategy, commercial agreements, forecasting and the successful commercialization of customer-specific solutions. The role leads senior customer relationships and coordinates Solina teams across Sales, Culinary/R&D, Marketing, Commercialization, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality and Finance to deliver commitments and build long-term partnerships.
**Key responsibilities **
National Account Strategy and Growth- Develop and execute a multi-year strategy and annual account plan for each assigned national QSR/FSR customer, aligned with Solina Canada's growth and profitability objectives.
- Build strong and trusted relationships across the customer organization, including senior leaders and decision-makers in Procurement, Supply Chain, Culinary/R&D, Quality, Marketing and Operations.
- Protect and expand existing business by identifying customer priorities, whitespace opportunities and competitive risks, and converting them into an actionable pipeline.
- Lead structured customer business reviews that translate sales, service, innovation and financial data into clear decisions, commitments and next steps.
- Demonstrate a Performance mindset by setting ambitious account objectives, tracking results and continuously identifying opportunities to improve commercial performance.
- Maintain a strong Customer focus by understanding customers' strategies, challenges and evolving needs and translating them into value-creating solutions.
**Commercial and Financial Ownership **
- Own account revenue, gross margin, pricing and trade or program investments, recommending actions that support sustainable and profitable growth.
- Lead customer negotiations for pricing, contracts, renewals, requests for proposal, service expectations and other commercial terms within approved authority and escalation guardrails.
- Prepare accurate rolling forecasts and opportunity assumptions by item and customer; communicate demand changes early and partner with S&OP to support supply continuity.
- Monitor contract compliance, deductions, rebates, claims and customer-specific costs, escalating material financial or service risks promptly.
- Demonstrate Accountability by taking ownership of commercial commitments, financial performance, forecasts and customer deliverables, ensuring appropriate follow-through and timely escalation when required.
- Apply sound business judgement and financial discipline when making recommendations and negotiating customer agreements.
**Customer Solutions and Commercialization **
- Translate customer strategies, consumer insights and menu trends into clear development briefs and commercially viable solution opportunities.
- Lead customer-facing innovation activity from concept through approval and launch, including samples, timelines, specifications, pricing, forecasts and implementation readiness.
- Coordinate cross-functional launch plans and ensure customer commitments, risks, dependencies and decision dates are understood and actively managed.
- Partner with Quality, Supply Chain and Operations to resolve significant service or product issues, provide timely customer communication and confirm corrective actions.
- Demonstrate Entrepreneurship by proactively identifying new business opportunities, challenging existing approaches and bringing forward creative solutions that create value for both the customer and Solina.
- Encourage speed, collaboration and practical problem-solving to move opportunities from concept to successful commercialization.
**Business Discipline and Cross-Functional Leadership **
- Maintain accurate account plans, contacts, opportunities, activities, risks and forecasts in the Solina Canada CRM platform.
- Analyze customer, category, competitor and market information to improve account decisions and identify emerging risks or opportunities.
- Lead internal account meetings with clear ownership, priorities and follow-up, influencing cross-functional contributors without direct authority.
- Build effective collaboration across Sales, Culinary/R&D, Marketing, Commercialization, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality and Finance to ensure customer commitments are delivered.
- Take ownership of challenges and outcomes, demonstrating Accountability and ensuring actions are followed through to completion.
- Promote a results-oriented and collaborative approach consistent with Solina's PACE culture.
- Represent Solina Canada professionally at customer meetings, industry events and customer locations across Canada, and collaborate with Solina colleagues in other regions when required.
**PACE Leadership Expectations **
- As a key commercial representative of Solina Canada, the National Account Manager - QSR is expected to bring the PACE culture to life through day-to-day actions and decisions:
- Performance: Deliver strong, measurable results and continuously seek opportunities to improve growth, profitability and execution.
- Accountability: Take ownership of decisions, commitments and outcomes while communicating transparently and following through on agreed actions.
- Customer Focus: Place customer needs and long-term partnerships at the centre of decisions while balancing customer expectations with Solina's business objectives.
- Entrepreneurship: Act proactively, identify opportunities, challenge the status quo and turn ideas into commercially viable solutions.
**Qualifications and experiences **
- Minimum 7 years of progressive business-to-business sales or account management experience with a food manufacturer, including at least 2 years of direct responsibility for Canadian Tier 1 national QSR accounts. This national QSR experience is required.
- Demonstrated ownership of complex, high-value national accounts and a record of retaining business, delivering profitable growth and closing new opportunities.
- Direct experience working with national QSR procurement and cross-functional customer stakeholders; distributor-only, broadline territory or regional foodservice experience alone does not meet the requirement.
- Proven capability in commercial negotiation, pricing, contract management, budgeting, forecasting and margin analysis.
- Experience leading customer-specific product development and commercialization in a food manufacturing environment, from brief through launch.
- Strong understanding of Canadian QSR supply chains, including the roles of distributors, specifications, quality requirements and launch execution.
- Strong executive communication, presentation, influence and relationship-management skills.
- Advanced working ability in Excel and PowerPoint and disciplined use of CRM and reporting tools.
- Bachelor degree in Business, Marketing or a related field is preferred; an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience will be considered.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; French is a strong asset.
- Valid driver licence and ability to travel regularly across Canada, with occasional travel outside Canada as business needs require.
**Measures of success **
- Achievement of account revenue and gross-margin objectives.
- Customer retention, share growth and qualified pipeline conversion.
- Forecast accuracy and timely communication of material demand changes.
- On-time delivery of customer commitments, commercialization milestones and launches.
- Quality of senior customer relationships, business reviews and account plans.
- Contract, pricing and CRM discipline.
**Working conditions **
- Full-time position, Monday to Friday, with flexibility required to support customer and business needs.
- Regular travel to customer meetings, Solina facilities and industry events across Canada.
- Home-office, hybrid or office expectations to be confirmed based on the successful candidate's location and bus
