Senior Manager of National Accounts

The Senior Manager of National Accounts leads Tulkoff Foods’ Foodservice national accounts strategy, with responsibility for profitable growth across existing and prospective regional and national chain customers. This role builds executive-level customer partnerships, develops and executes account plans, identifies and converts new business opportunities, and coordinates cross-functional resources from concept through commercialization. The Senior Manager also leads and manages the customer, owns the sales budget, forecast, pricing, and portfolio profitability, and ensures customer commitments align with Tulkoff’s capabilities, service standards, and long-term growth objectives.

Primary Responsibilities:

The duties for this position include but are not limited to the following:

• Profitably Grow Existing Accounts:
  Own and expand long-term, executive-level relationships with Tulkoff’s regional and national chain customers by understanding their business priorities, operational needs, and growth opportunities. Partner with customers to drive competitive differentiation, innovation, and profitable growth in volume, profit, and customer service KPIs, while serving as the voice of the customer within Tulkoff.
• Secure New Business and Target Key Customers:
  Lead the new National Account and Distribution business development strategy in partnership with the VP of Sales and the commercialization team, setting priorities to identify, develop, and target key regional and national chain customers based on Tulkoff Foods’ current capabilities and future growth opportunities. Focus on securing profitable incremental volume through solution-based selling, customer-specific innovation, and a clear understanding of customer and company objectives.
• Lead the Internal and External Customer Team:
  Build, lead, coach, and develop a high-performing national accounts team, and serve as the executive sponsor for strategic customer projects from start to finish, coordinating multiple internal and external departments, including project management, purchasing, finance, QA, culinary, manufacturing, supply chain, and customer stakeholders. Lead cross-functional collaboration to advance customer satisfaction, move relationships from transactional to strategic partnerships, and achieve the overall goals of both the customer and Tulkoff.
• Strategic Planning and Commercial Execution:
  Develop annual operating plans for each strategic customer, aligning customer priorities with Tulkoff Foods’ capabilities, commercialization resources, demand forecasting, and profitability goals. Ensure plans support mutual success, strengthen customer partnerships, and create a clear path for execution from concept through commercialization. Own the national accounts sales budget, forecast, and pricing strategy, and regularly report performance, risks, and opportunities to executive leadership.

Key Deliverables:

Performance in this role will be measured against the following deliverables:

Budget Attainment: Achieve or exceed 100% of the annual national accounts and business development budget for revenue, volume, and gross profit dollars; maintain timely, reliable quarterly forecasts and clearly communicate material risks and opportunities.

New Business Contribution: Build and convert a qualified pipeline of profitable new and incremental business each fiscal year, with all new programs meeting or exceeding Tulkoff’s approved gross-margin standards.

Margin Improvement: Improve gross margin across the account portfolio year over year through pricing discipline, timely cost pass-throughs, favorable product and customer mix, and value-engineering opportunities.

Pricing and Profitability Management: Ensure pricing, bids, RFPs, and new customer programs are evaluated against approved margin thresholds; review account-level profitability with Finance at least quarterly and implement corrective action plans where performance falls below target.

Customer Plan Execution: Deliver and execute an annual operating plan for each strategic customer, tracking revenue, volume, margin, innovation, service, and key initiatives, and reporting results to the Vice President of Sales – Food Service.

Qualifications:

To be eligible for this position, candidates should meet the following requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• 10 years of experience in national account management or sales, including at least 3 years in a sales leadership role, within the food manufacturing or foodservice industry, with a strong focus on regional and national chain accounts and customization.
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding sales goals and driving account growth through innovation, foodservice distribution, custom manufacturing, and private label opportunities.
• Experience developing executive-level customer relationships and building and executing sales strategies, pricing strategies, RFPs, bids, proposals, and innovation-driven growth initiatives.
• Strong negotiation skills, financial acumen, and analytical capabilities.
• Proven ability to respond effectively to evolving market dynamics, changing customer needs, and major competitive activity.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, organizational, and planning skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Salesforce, with the ability to quickly learn and adapt to new systems and applications.
• Willingness to travel as needed to meet with customers and attend industry events, up to 50%.
• Collaborative leader with a track record of building, coaching, and developing high-performing teams, who welcomes cross-functional partnership and contributes to the success of teammates and the broader organization.