Sr. National Sales Manager K-12 Bid, Foodservice

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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, President 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.

From your PASSION to ours

Midwest Yogurt, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Sr. National Sales Manager K-12 Bid, Foodservice based in Minnetonka, MN.

The Sr. National Sales Manager for K-12 Bid is the subject matter expert responsible for the national K-12 bid strategy, planning, and execution of our Lactalis Midwest Yogurt, Inc. Portfolio (Yoplait, GoGURT, Trix Yogurt, & Mountain High) within the K-12 segment. This is a highly analytical and technical commercial role focused on maximizing our participation and profitability in all state and national school district bid cycles, aligning our product portfolio with USDA SBP/NSLP/CACFP regulations. This Leader works in close cooperation with the Trade & Finance Teams internally to set the multi-year bid strategy, and is a key influencer to Marketing & R&D to establish the innovation pipeline in the K-12 channel. This Leader also works closely with the K-12 Bid Specialist team at the Broker to execute the strategy flawlessly nationwide in each cycle.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

Bid Strategy & Execution: Develop, manage, and implement a comprehensive multi-year K-12 bid strategy, focusing on the top 250 school districts nationwide. Translation of this strategy into tools for the K-12 Bid Specialist team to execute at the Broker in partnership with Marketing. Direct responsibility to call on the top districts across the U.S. with our Broker partners.

Reporting & P&L Management: Work with the sales operations and data and analytics team to code, scrub, and process all bids to report wins/losses/maintenance of bids annually, so we can strategically monitor regional competitive pricing trends and iterate our strategy.

Channels Expertise: Develop and execute tailored sales strategies for the K-12 segment, considering specific nuances of USDA regulation changes, monitoring state legislation closely to influence product renovation needs, and partnering closely with State & National School Nutrition Association.

Collaboration/Internal Influence: Partner cross-functionally with Supply Chain, Finance, and Marketing to align internal resources to meet the complex needs of the K-12 and champion the opportunity to keep kids well fed and ready to learn in schools with our portfolio.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing or a related field
• Minimum of 8+ years of B2B or Foodservice Sales Experience.
• Commercial Acumen: Proven Ability to manage a trade budget and possess a strong understanding or Foodservice procurement mechanics.
• Deep understanding of the K-12 procurement process, including bid cycling, commodity processing, audit materials, meal pattern final rules, and federal funding models.
• Excellent communication, presentation skills, storytelling-strong influencing skills both internally and externally.

Behavioral / Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Agility: Possesses a future-oriented perspective; anticipates complex market shifts in the Non-Commercial space and develops agile, long-term strategies to capitalize on new opportunities and mitigate threats.
• Drives Results: Exhibits a strong sense of urgency and ownership; relentlessly focused on achieving and exceeding P&L and sales targets through rigorous execution and accountability.
• Cultivate Innovation: Challenges the status quo; drives creative ideas and develops unique value propositions to win business and grow market share in mature accounts.
• Influencing & Negotiation: Inspires trust and followership both internally and externally; possesses superior leadership-level communication and negotiation skills to secure profitable agreements and align diverse stakeholder interests.
• Customer Centricity: Builds and sustains deep, collaborative relationships with customers at all levels, acting as a credible partner and industry expert.

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Affirmative Action Employer will comply with all related legal obligations.