Customer Development Manager - Pet Specialty

COMPANY OVERVIEW We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one another and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.​ 
 About the Role As Customer Development Manager, you’ll own the commercial strategy and day-to-day relationships for regional distributors and key customers supporting General Mills’ Pet business in Canada. You’ll work closely with distributor managers, retail buyers, and merchants to grow sales, strengthen distribution, and bring effective promotions and customer programs to life.

Own the strategic direction and relationship for regional distributors and regional key account customers across Canada. Lead customer conversations from sell-in through execution, including business reviews, line reviews, innovation discussions, distribution opportunities, promotional planning, and performance follow-up. Build annual merchandising and customer plans that connect analytics, customer strategy, trade strategy, and Pet's long-term business priorities. Lead joint business planning sessions and negotiations with regional key accounts and distributors. Develop and execute promotional plans, distribution programs, and customer activities, working with distributors to implement them in the field. Own customer-specific trade investment and promotion planning, evaluate return on investment, and manage the financial performance of the business. Lead events and customer initiatives from initial opportunity through final execution, including item selection, customer offers, point-of-sale execution, confirmation of in-store activity, and retail feedback. Use Excel, Tableau dashboards, point-of-sale information, Nielsen or other category data, and customer data to identify trends and opportunities, turn insights into clear, persuasive selling stories, and recommend promotions, assortment, distribution, pricing, and other growth initiatives. Identify new accounts and routes to market that can expand the regional business. Partner with Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Category and Insights, pricing and revenue-management teams, and national retail teams to maximize in-store presence, consumer impact, inventory availability, and profitable growth. Complete customer requirements such as deal sheets, promotional execution materials, customer presentation decks, innovation reviews, forecasts, and post-promotion analysis. Share customer learnings and sales trends with the broader Pet business and identify process improvements that increase executional effectiveness.

Bachelor’s degree. 4+ of customer-facing experience in consumer packaged goods (CPG), grocery, retail, key account management, customer development, retail buying, distributor management, or a related commercial role. Experience managing customer or distributor relationships and leading plans from selling through execution. Strong analytical skills, including the ability to aggregate and interpret internal and external data sources such as point-of-sale, Nielsen, syndicated, category, and customer data. Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, with the ability to turn analysis into a compelling customer presentation and recommendation. Experience with promotions, trade investment, merchandising, forecasting, financial analysis, or customer-specific business planning. Strong planning, organization, negotiation, decision-making, and communication skills. Ability to work effectively in a matrixed, cross-functional organization with partners in Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain, Category and Insights, Revenue Management, Legal, and Sales.