Distributor Development Head

Job Overview

• The General Trade Head is responsible for leading the overall General Trade strategy and execution for both the Mars Confectionery and Kellanova portfolios. The role is accountable for delivering revenue, market share, distribution, profitability, and execution excellence objectives while building a strong and future-ready General Trade organization.
• The associate will drive business growth through distributor development, route-to-market optimization, customer engagement, trade investment management, category development, and sales capability building. The role also champions the adoption of digital tools and analytics to enhance sales productivity, distributor effectiveness, and in-market execution.
• The General Trade Head is responsible for leading the overall General Trade strategy and execution for both the Mars Confectionery and Kellanova portfolios. The role is accountable for delivering revenue, market share, distribution, profitability, and execution excellence objectives while building a strong and future-ready General Trade organization.
• The associate will drive business growth through distributor development, route-to-market optimization, customer engagement, trade investment management, category development, and sales capability building. The role also champions the adoption of digital tools and analytics to enhance sales productivity, distributor effectiveness, and in-market execution.

Key Responsibilities:

Business Delivery & Growth

• Deliver AOP targets across Sales-In, Sales-Out, NSV, Volume, Market Share, and Profitability.
• Develop and execute annual and medium-term General Trade growth strategies for Mars Confectionery and Kellanova.
• Drive category growth through effective commercial and channel strategies.
• Lead monthly business reviews and performance management routines.
• Ensure robust demand forecasting and business planning.

Distribution & Route-to-Market Excellence

• Design and implement an efficient and scalable Route-to-Market strategy.
• Drive numeric and weighted distribution growth across all priority brands and categories.
• Optimize distributor network, territory coverage, and sales force productivity.
• Improve outlet penetration, availability, and assortment compliance.
• Lead distributor capability development and performance management.

Execution Excellence

• Establish and monitor best-in-class execution standards across all retail touchpoints.
• Ensure compliance with merchandising, visibility, assortment, and availability standards.
• Drive Perfect Store execution through effective field governance and coaching.
• Monitor and improve key retail execution metrics.

Trade Marketing & Commercial Excellence

• Lead General Trade commercial planning and execution.
• Manage Trade Expenditure (TE) to maximize ROI and channel profitability.
• Ensure flawless implementation of promotions, category initiatives, and innovation launches.
• Evaluate promotional effectiveness and recommend improvement

Customer & Distributor Management

• Lead Joint Business Planning with strategic distributors and key trade partners.
• Build strong relationships with distributors, wholesalers, and sub-distributors.
• Ensure effective implementation of pricing, trade communication, and commercial policies.
• Drive distributor profitability, service levels, and governance.

Financial Management

• Own GT channel P&L delivery and profitability objectives.
• Manage forecasting, planning, budget controls, and trade investments.
• Drive productivity initiatives that improve commercial returns and channel efficiency.

Digital & Analytics Leadership

• Drive adoption of Sales Force Automation (SFA), reporting tools, and digital sales processes across the GT organization.
• Leverage data and analytics to improve decision-making, forecast accuracy, distributor performance, and execution effectiveness.
• Develop KPI dashboards and performance scorecards to enhance business visibility.
• Partner with IT, Sales Operations, and Commercial Excellence teams to implement digital solutions that improve productivity and route-to-market effectiveness.
• Build a data-driven culture and strengthen digital capabilities within the sales organization.

People Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, coach, and develop Distributor Development Leads, Sales Executives and DB frontline sales teams.
• Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, execution excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Develop succession plans and strengthen organizational capability.
• Drive engagement, recognition, and talent development initiative

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Collaborate closely with Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Demand Planning, and Revenue Growth Management teams.
• Ensure alignment of commercial plans, innovation launches, and growth initiatives.
• Lead channel development plans that support long-term business objectives.

Governance, Quality & Food Safety

• Ensure compliance with company policies, commercial governance standards, and ethical business practices.
• Uphold quality and food safety standards throughout the sales and distribution network.
• Ensure timely reporting, audits, and business review

Key Requirements:

• College Graduate - Degree in business or any relevant discipline
• MBA Preferred
• Must have a driver's license
• Minimum 15 years in Sales in FMCG
• Minimum 7 year in Sales in FMCG handling General Trade Sub Distributors
• At least 2 years in National level position/Senior Leadership
• Strong experience in Distributor Management and Route-to-Market development
• Experience across Confectionery, Snacks, Food, or Impulse categories preferred