Key Account Manager

LIPTON Teas and Infusions is the world's largest tea business with a remarkable portfolio of over 30 world-class brands, including iconic names like Lipton, PG Tips, TAZO, Brooke Bond, and B-Corp certified Pukka and T2. Based in the Netherlands and operating in more than 100 countries, we pioneer innovative, premium and sustainable teas and infusions to delight our consumers daily. Our commitment is to drive the entire tea industry upwards and create value for all and the planet, from farmers to consumers, retailers, team members, partners, and shareholders. We take a long-term approach, investing in innovative and sustainable practices that deliver responsible growth, with a keen focus on meeting the needs of our customers and consumers, protecting the environment, and making a positive impact on people's lives.

Job title: Key Account Manager

Location: remote (Germany)

Type: permanent

Who we are and what we do:

LIPTON Teas & Infusions is the world’s leading tea business, home to iconic, purpose‑driven brands like Lipton, Pukka, Tazo, T2, Lyons and PG Tips.

We craft great teas for every occasion, to bring joy and inspire a healthier lifestyle. Guided by our values of people first, ownership, passion for excellence, and consumer and customer centricity, we create long‑term value for our people, trade partners, suppliers, and the communities where we operate.

If you’re a diverse thinker who takes personal ownership to connect ideas and make impactful things happen, someone who shares our values around humanity and courage and someone who enjoys a good cup of tea (on the house!), then we could be a good match! 🍃✨

Your role:

We are looking for a commercially driven Key Account Manager (KAM) to help drive the growth of Lipton across the German retail market.

In this role, you will be responsible for developing and managing relationships with selected key retail customers, building strong customer plans and identifying opportunities to grow our brands, distribution and market share.

You will take ownership of your customer business, including customer negotiations, joint business planning, pricing and promotions, assortment development, forecasting and execution. Working closely with our cross-functional teams, you will turn commercial and category insights into actions that create sustainable value for both Lipton and our customers.

This is an exciting opportunity for an FMCG sales professional who is ready to take meaningful customer ownership and further develop their Key Account Management career.

Your key responsibilities:

• Manage and develop relationships with selected key German retail customers across grocery, discount and/or drugstore channels.
• Take ownership of customer negotiations, including pricing, terms and conditions, assortment, promotions, listings and commercial agreements.
• Develop and execute customer-specific strategies and Joint Business Plans (JBPs) aligned with Lipton's overall German commercial strategy.
• Identify and deliver opportunities to increase distribution, shelf presence, assortment, promotional effectiveness and market share.
• Manage customer performance across revenue, gross margin, trade investment and profitability targets.
• Build compelling, data-driven customer presentations and sell-in stories using market, category, shopper and consumer insights.
• Work closely with Category Management, Shopper Marketing, Revenue Growth Management, Marketing, Supply Chain and Finance to deliver customer plans.
• Develop promotional plans and evaluate promotional performance and ROI to continuously improve trade-spend effectiveness.
• Lead customer sell-in and negotiations for new product launches and innovations, ensuring strong execution.
• Monitor competitor activity, pricing, category developments and changing retailer strategies.
• Provide accurate sales forecasts and proactively identify and manage customer risks and opportunities.
• Build strong relationships across relevant levels of the customer organization and represent Lipton as a trusted business partner.

What we are looking for:

• 3–5 years of relevant commercial experience, ideally within FMCG, beverages, food or another consumer-goods category.
• Experience in Key Account Management, Account Management or Sales, ideally within the German retail environment.
• Experience working with German grocery, discount and/or drugstore retailers.
• Direct experience with customers such as EDEKA, REWE, Schwarz Group (Lidl/Kaufland), Aldi, dm, Rossmann and/or Müller would be a strong advantage.
• Experience in customer negotiations and managing commercial agreements.
• Good understanding of the German retail landscape and its different customer structures.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with confidence working with revenue, margins, pricing, promotions, trade investment and customer profitability.
• Strong analytical capabilities and the ability to translate data and insights into clear commercial actions.
• Confident negotiation, communication, presentation and relationship-building skills.
• Entrepreneurial and proactive, with a strong sense of ownership and a results-oriented mindset.
• Ability to work effectively across functions and influence different stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving and evolving environment.
• Strong Excel and PowerPoint skills.
• Fluent German and English are essential.

What’s in it for you:

Join a team where your contributions matter. We offer a competitive reward package, ongoing learning and development opportunities, career progression paths, and a supportive environment that helps you grow both professionally and personally.

What to expect from us:

We know that the whole recruitment process can be stressful, so we promise to make it as straightforward as possible. Our process is usually 2-3 stages (depending on the seniority of the role) and we are aiming to review every CV within 2 weeks. 

We are an organization committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. We are interested in every individual bringing their whole self to work and this includes you!