Sr. Manager, Trade Marketing

Role Purpose

The Trade Marketing Manager partners with Pillar Leadership, Brand Marketing, Sales, and Finance to deliver the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) through disciplined management of trade investment, customer programming, and innovation execution. This role translates brand and category strategies into customer-ready plans that drive profitable growth, optimize trade spend, and support revenue and innovation targets across assigned categories and brands. The role also serves as the primary voice of Sales within the S&OP process, ensuring customer and channel insights are embedded into forecasting and go-to-market execution.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of trade marketing strategies that enable field sales teams to deliver brand and category growth objectives.
• Own trade marketing plans, including promotional strategy, customer programming, and trade investment optimization.
• Partner with Sales, Finance, Brand Marketing, and Supply Chain to develop customer programs that drive incremental volume, improve ROI, and remain within approved trade spend budgets.
• Serve as an integral participant in Demand Reviews and S&OP, contributing customer and channel insights to support accurate monthly consensus forecasts.
• Manage trade spend to ensure alignment with brand strategies and delivery of short-term and long-term financial targets.
• Provide the execution lens for innovation, including customer launch strategies, key account targets, and tracking launch compliance and performance.
• Develop, implement, and monitor channel pricing strategies to ensure consistency, competitiveness, and margin delivery.
• Act as the key liaison between field sales and internal cross-functional teams to ensure alignment, clarity, and strong execution of plans.
• Monitor in-market performance and execution, proactively identifying risks and driving course-correction actions to ensure revenue, volume, and brand objectives are met.
• Serve as a steward of go-to-market strategy, ensuring the customer and channel perspective is consistently represented in brand and category planning.

Qualifications

Education and/or Experience

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in trade marketing, sales planning, customer finance, field sales, or equivalent commercial roles.
• Prior trade marketing experience or 2–3 years of field sales experience.
• Minimum of 2 years of CPG experience. 

Preferred:

• MBA or advanced business degree. 

Competencies and Proficiency Requirements

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into insights and actionable recommendations.
• Proven project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience using syndicated and customer data tools (e.g., IRI, Nielsen, SPINS, customer-specific POS data).
• Ability to quickly develop expertise in internal sales and trade reporting systems.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; strong working knowledge of Word.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with a strong sense of urgency.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with demonstrated success working cross-functionally.
• Results-driven mindset with a strong bias toward execution and accountability.

 

Scope

Financial/Budgetary Responsibility:  Accountable for managing and optimizing trade marketing investment and supporting delivery of revenue, volume, and profitability targets within approved budgets.

Team Size: None

Conditions of Role:

• Travel Requirements: Ability to travel as required to support customers, field sales teams, and business needs.
• Physical Conditions: Primarily remote based, with occasional office presence.