Trade Manager, Foodservice

Description

Ready for more than just a job? Build a career with purpose. At Lactalis in the USA, we’re committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive—whether you’re just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we’re proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani® Italian cheeses and ricotta, Président® specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft® natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone’s® cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond® cheddar, and Parmalat® milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi’s®, Stonyfield Organic®, Brown Cow™, Oui®, Yoplait®, Go-Gurt®, :ratio®, Green Mountain Creamery®, and Mountain High®, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun®, Gopi®, and Arz®.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values—Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone’s unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

Requirements

From your PASSION to ours

Midwest Yogurt, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Trade Manager, Foodservice based in Minneapolis, MN or Buffalo, NY preferably. 

The Trade Manager for our Foodservice business at Lactalis Midwest Yogurt, Inc. (Yoplait, GoGurt, Oui, Ratio, Mountain High) is the financial engine behind our entire Foodservice commercial operation. This leader is responsible for the overall strategic design, financial modeling, governance, and control of all trade promotional funding and spending across every Foodservice channel of business. This includes managing trade spend for National Broadliners (e.g., Sysco, US Foods), National Chains, Power Regional Distributors, Buying Groups (UniPro), FMCs/GPOs, and all highly regulated channels (WIC, K-12). The primary objective is to maximize the Return on Investment (ROI) of every trade dollar, ensure forecasting accuracy, and instill best-in-class trade compliance and deduction management practices across the sales organization.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include: 

Trade Investment Strategy & Planning: Own the annual and quarterly trade budget for the entire Foodservice P&L. Design, model, and recommend optimal trade structures by channel (Broadline, Chain, Regional, FMC, GPO, WIC/K-12) to align with commercial objectives and maximize net revenue.

Trade Governance & Compliance: Establish, document, and enforce company policies for all trade spending. Serve as the gatekeeper for all exceptions, ensuring that programs align with legal requirements, internal controls, and trade reporting standards.

Trade System Ownership: Oversee the end-to-end functionality and data integrity of the Trade Management system. Drive continuous improvement in trade planning, forecasting, and reporting capabilities across the organization.

Deduction Management & Leakage Control: Lead the cross-functional effort to minimize unauthorized deductions and trade leakage. Work closely with Finance and Sales to validate, investigate, and resolve all claims from distributors and customers in a timely manner.

Commercial Performance & ROI Analysis: Conduct robust post-contract analysis on major programs and promotions, providing the Vice President of Sales and executive leadership with actionable insights on where to reallocate funds to drive higher ROI and profitable growth.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance or a related field, MBA preferred
• Experience: 7+ years in Trade Management, Sales Finance, or Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), with significant experience in a high-volume, promotional industry (Foodservice, CPG, or related Food Manufacturing).
• Technical Skills: Expert-level Excel modeling and mandatory hands-on experience as a power user of a major TPM platform      (e.g., Vistex, SAP, BluePlanner, Blacksmith).
• Financial Acumen: Deep understanding of the P&L from Gro