National Account Manager

Starting Salary: £50,000 - £60,000 per annum + Car Allowance + Bonus Working Pattern: Monday to Friday | Site-based A growing food manufacturing business is looking to appoint a National Account Manager to join its Commercial team. This opportunity has arisen through continued business growth and offers the chance to take ownership of major retail accounts across both branded and own-label products. Reporting directly to the Head of Commercial, you will be responsible for developing long-term customer partnerships, delivering profitable growth and identifying new commercial opportunities across your accounts, whilst leading a team of two National Account Executives. Working closely with Supply Chain, Operations, Technical and the wider Commercial team, you will play a key role in ensuring excellent customer service, delivering successful product launches and balancing customer expectations with business objectives. This is a highly commercial leadership role where you'll influence key retail relationships, develop your team, lead negotiations, and help shape the future growth of the business. What You'll Be Doing • Manage a portfolio of major retail accounts across both branded and own-label products • Lead and develop two National Account Executives, supporting their development and performance • Build strong customer relationships to deliver long-term profitable growth • Identify and develop new commercial opportunities within existing accounts • Lead customer negotiations, ensuring agreements align with strategic business objectives • Work closely with Supply Chain to maximise service levels and product availability • Develop promotional plans and commercial initiatives to drive sales growth • Coordinate price increases and manage commercial discussions with customers • Deliver successful new product and seasonal product launches across your accounts • Work collaboratively with Operations, Technical and other internal teams to ensure customer expectations are consistently achieved What's In It for You • The opportunity to manage major UK retail accounts within a growing food manufacturing business • Leadership responsibility for two NAE, giving you the opportunity to coach and develop a growing commercial team • Exposure to both branded and own-label product portfolios • A highly commercial role with genuine influence over customer growth and business performance • The opportunity to work closely with the Head of Commercial as the business continues to expand Your Background • Experience as a National Account Manager within food manufacturing • Strong experience managing major UK grocery retailers, ideally Tesco or Aldi • Experience across both branded and own-label products • Strong commercial negotiation and relationship management skills • Excellent understanding of joint business planning and profitable account growth • Formal negotiation training such as GAP or an equivalent advanced programme • Previous experience leading, mentoring or developing others would be advantageous Join a Business That Invests in You This is an opportunity to join a growing food manufacturing business where you'll have genuine ownership of key customer relationships, develop a small commercial team, and play an important role in driving future commercial success. If you enjoy building long-term partnerships, leading people, negotiating commercially sound agreements and delivering growth across major retail accounts, we would love to hear from you.