Vice President, Grocery

Company Description

At Link Snacks, we show up hungry, roll up our sleeves, plaid or otherwise, and dive straight into the hard work. We don’t hide from challenges; we hunt them down. We push harder, move faster, and take the kinds of big swings that built this business in the North Woods of Wisconsin four decades ago.

We’re everyday people who deliver extraordinary results. Innovation, creativity, and urgency aren’t buzzwords, they’re expectations. And just like the real protein snacks we make across our global house of brands: Jack Link’s®, Lorissa’s™ Organic Snacks, Golden Island®, BiFi®, Peperami® and KOOEE!® to name a few, there’s nothing artificial about us. What you see is exactly what you get: humble, gritty, passionate people who show up every day ready to not just be a participate in the meat snack industry that the Link Family created, but to move faster, innovate harder and keep raising the bar so high, the rest of the world needs a ladder just to see it.

Dominating this space across the world takes a team. A team that runs together, succeeds together, and celebrates together. A team that’s full of relentless energy and spirit that can only be fueled by one thing: a fist full of our delicious meat snacks.

Real Meat Protein. Real People. Real Results. THAT is Link Snacks.

Job Description

The Vice President of Grocery, is a senior commercial leader responsible for the strategy, retailer relationships, and profitable growth of Link Snacks across the Grocery, Dollar, and Drug channels.  This role owns driving top and bottom-line results for this important portfolio – setting channel strategy, leading joint business planning, and building the team and capabilities required to win across the snacks, front-end, pet, deli, and shelf stable food categories.

The ideal candidate is a proven people leader with a strong track record of building retailer partnerships, expanding distribution and share, and delivering revenue and margin commitments. They bring deep knowledge of grocery (national, regional, & independent), value/dollar, and drug channel dynamics and the ability to lead through both direct sales teams and broker networks. They will possess a strong financial acumen and fluency in Revenue Growth Management, Category Management, and forecasting.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Channel Strategy & Leadership

• Own and lead the enterprise commercial strategy for the Grocery, Dollar, and Drug channels, aligned to the Link Snacks growth agenda.
• Set annual and long-range channel plans that grow distribution, velocity, revenue, gross margin, and market share across all three channels.
• Define and continuously optimize the customer coverage model, including direct headquarter selling and broker-managed grocery independents.
• Serve as the senior leader and escalation point for the channel's most strategic retailers.

Customer & Account Management

• Lead top-to-top relationships with Grocery accounts (e.g., Kroger, Publix, Hy-Vee, and regional chains), Dollar accounts (Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Five Below), and Drug accounts (CVS, Walgreens).
• Own and grow the Grocery Independents business through effective broker management, clear expectations, and performance accountability.
• Ensure each account team develops and executes winning joint business plans that deliver mutual, profitable growth.
• Represent Jack Link's at customer top-to-tops, industry events, and category reviews.

P&L Ownership

• Own the channel P&L, delivering annual gross sales, net sales, and gross margin commitments.
• Partner with RGM on pricing, promotion, mix, and trade investment strategies tailored to grocery, dollar, and drug economics.
• Drive disciplined trade-spend management and ROI—minimizing leakage while funding profitable growth.
• Partner with Sales Planning to deliver accurate forecasts each period and lead the sales inputs into S&OP and demand planning.

Joint Business Planning & Customer Strategy

• Lead the development of data-driven JBPs that integrate distribution, pricing, promotion, merchandising, and innovation.
• Partner with Category Management and Insights to build compelling, retailer-specific selling stories.
• Champion new item launches and distribution expansion across all three channels.
• Collaborate with Sales Strategy to align brand, innovation, and shopper strategies with channel plans.
• Coordinate with the Private Label team where store-brand programs intersect shared customers, presenting one aligned face to the retailer.
• Partner with the Digital Commerce team to build & execute strong retail media plans to drive digital penetration and share across key strategic retailers (e.g. Kroger).

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing sales organization spanning across account leaders and broker partners.
• Set clear goals, coach for performance, and build bench strength and succession across the team.
• Foster a culture of customer obsession, analytical rigor, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, or a related field.
• 12+ years of progressive CPG sales experience, including significant headquarter account management in Grocery, Dollar, and/or Drug channels.
• 5+ years of people leadership, including leading managers and/or multi-level sales teams.
• Demonstrated success owning a channel or customer P&L and delivering net sales and margin growth.
• Experience managing broker networks and both direct and indirect routes to market.
• Strong command of syndicated data (Nielsen/IRI/Circana), POS data, and financial/JBP modeling.
• Proven ability to build executive-level retailer relationships and influence in a matrixed environment.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and business storytelling skills.
• 50%+ travel

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or advanced degree.
• 15+ years of progressive CPG sales experience, including significant headquarter account management in Grocery, Dollar, and/or Drug channels.
• Experience across all three channels (Grocery, Dollar, Drug) and with grocer independents / brokers.
• Snacking, food, front-end or center-store category experience.
• Familiarity with RGM principles and Trade Management systems.

Key Competencies

Channel & Customer Expertise: Deep understanding of grocery, dollar, and drug retailer dynamics and shopper behavior.

Commercial & P&L Acumen: Strong financial fluency and trade investment management.

Executive Relationship Building: Establishes trusted top-to-top partnerships that unlock mutual growth.

Strategic Leadership: Sets vision and translates it into executable channel and customer plans.

Team Leadership: Builds capability, develops talent, and leads through complexity and change.

Execution Excellence: Converts strategy into measurable distribution, revenue, and margin outcomes.

Influence & Collaboration: Aligns Sales, Marketing, Finance, RGM, and Supply Chain around shared goals.

Additional Information

The pay range for this role is $260,000.00k - $285,000.00k (Annual). Actual wage will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, location, and candidate skill set and experience. Base pay is just one component of Link Snacks Total Rewards package for Team Members. Other rewards may include annual incentive and program-specific awards. Link Snacks provides a variety of benefits to eligible Team Members, including medical, dental and vision benefits, life and disability insurance, 401k participation, paid holidays, and paid time off.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a Team Member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The work environment is an office setting with varying degrees of temperature and noise levels. The vast amount of work is conducted in a climate-controlled office. Travel may be required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an Team Member to be successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

While performing the duties of this job the Team Member is regularly required to sit, use hands and fingers, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The Team Member is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms. The Team Member must occasionally lift and/or more up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision. 

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer
Link Snacks is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

E-VERIFY:
Link Snacks is a participant in the federal E-Verify program to confirm the identity and employment authorization of all newly hired employees.  For information about the E-Verify program, please visit:  http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify/employees

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines