General Summary:

Storck is seeking a detailed oriented and proactive individual to support the continued growth of our business with our largest and most strategic customer in the US.  This dynamic role spans across various business functions, including Sales, Marketing, Product Commercialization, Supply Planning, and involves managing both strategic and administrative responsibilities. The main responsibility of the role is to assist in managing and strengthening the day-to-day relationship with our Strategic Retail Customer. The ideal candidate will have a customer-focused mindset, a problem-solving attitude, and be highly detail-oriented. This role is a perfect opportunity to expand your business acumen, grow your analytical toolkit, and engage with a strategic retail customer. 

Supervisory Responsibilities: This position does not have supervisory responsibilities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:   

General Business Management

• Manage the administrative tasks for our Key Customer and Account Manager
• Support our annual contract process with our international colleagues in Berlin
• Handle confidential information with extreme confidentiality and sensitivity 
• Understand and fully support the needs of the Customer and proactively provide insights to support the continued development of the business 
• Manage our sample process, which includes management of fresh inventory at office, coordination of new product shipments from Germany to our customer, purchasing and shipping of competitive samples
• Assist with the preparation of internal presentations 

Sales

• Assist in preparing for Customer sales presentations by organizing presentation content, project specific details, findings from store visits
• Conduct ad-hoc analysis on item performance, new item launches, and seasonality trends
• Create, update, manage and maintain internal files, including price lists/tools, weekly advertisements, and business performance tools/files
• Lead the national branded promotional activities bi-annual process by putting together recommendations for in and out and seasonal branded items, working cross functionally to commercialize ideas and help create the sell in strategies for the promotions to the customer

Marketing

• Assist in new product commercialization process that requires cross functional collaboration between internal international colleagues, external vendors, and the Strategic Retail Customer
• Assist Marketing Lead in mining consumer and category insights to identify customer opportunities
• Evaluate competitive landscape including competitive/category analysis and competitive launch review
• Partner with Market Research/Insights on research projects to support marketing objectives and brand strategies
• Assist in reviewing consumer packaging from a compliance and marketing perspective

Retail Visits

• Maintain working knowledge of Key Customer confection set and provide updates on an ongoing basis – product offerings, pricing, etc. 
• Act as the go-to resource for all trends related to the Strategic Retail Customer, developing perspective on both candy and a total store trends 
• Complete weekly store checks at customer and key competition and create plan to communicate key findings to business stakeholders 
• Monitor and report on retail pricing
• Lead real-time Customer store audit/research projects, while incorporating findings in larger retail share  

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• High proficiency with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Precise attention to detail.
• Knowledge of either IRI and/or Nielsen data and SAP beneficial 
• Energetic, proactive, and action-oriented individual  
• Customer focused mindset
• A curiosity to learn more about the candy category and retail landscape
• Cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity; experience working with Global/International business preferred
• Excellent problem-solving ability with demonstrated experience managing situations through facts and data to recommend and/or make business decisions
• Interest in growing analytical aptitude with focus on data analytics
• Strong communication skills with the ability to adapt to different levels and communication requirements of the internal organization
• Proven track record for resourcefulness and the ability to work independently
• Has the ability to work cross-functionally with a diverse team and effectively communicate at all levels of an organization, both within the US and Internationally

Education and Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Marketing, or related field, or equivalent experience required 
• The ideal candidate will have 3-5 years of experience in the CPG industry in either sales or marketing
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, especially showing the ability to work with a diverse group of individuals
• Experience with private label products and/or chocolate confectionery is highly desirable

Working Conditions: Hybrid Work Model, including Monday and Friday Work from Home, and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in normal working conditions for an office environment downtown Chicago, IL.

Travel: 5-10%, including occasional international travel

Other Qualification, Safety Procedures: Must be willing to follow and comply with communicated Company, Travel, and Retailer safety procedures, which may include COVID-19 testing or following other safety procedures in order to attend meetings, travel domestically or internationally, comply with Retail Partner safety procedures, and/or follow other workplace health and safety requirements to fulfil job duties.

Additional Information: 

Storck USA is not currently hiring individuals for this position who now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status.

What We Offer:

The salary range for this position is USD $100,000-$115,000 annually at the time of this posting.  Pay is based on several factors, including but not limited to position offered, education, skills, work experience, and other factors permitted by law. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range.  This position is also eligible for bonus pay. 

In addition to your salary, Storck offers a comprehensive total rewards package, including a 6% employer 401(k) plan contribution, Health benefits on day 1 including a 100% employer paid option for medical and dental, Hybrid flexible work schedule including reduced Friday hours all year round, Paid maternity/paternity leave, Monthly wellness stipend, and more. This position is also eligible for PTO ranging from 35-45 days based on our Company PTO Policies and paid Sabbaticals ranging from 5-20 days based on tenure. Plus, we can’t forget to mention the supply of delicious candy!! 

Additional information regarding the benefits for this position can be found in the Benefits Summary that is available from our Human Resources Department.