National Key Account Manager at AVI Limited

• An exciting opportunity exists for a National Key Accounts Manager at I&J. As the successful incumbent you will lead the strategic and commercial management of the Shoprite Checkers national account, ensuring sustainable growth, profitability, and category leadership for I&J’s portfolio. The role is accountable for building long-term partnerships, driving joint business planning, and delivering excellence in pricing, promotions, innovation, and supply chain execution within the perishables and frozen food categories.            

Reporting Structure:

Reports to: Head of Sales
Key Areas of Impact:
Strategic Account Leadership

• Develop and implement the Shoprite Checkers national account strategy, aligned with I&J’s business objectives and growth ambitions.
• Lead the Joint Business Planning (JBP) process with Shoprite category and buying teams, ensuring alignment on volume, value, and category objectives.
• Establish a structured customer engagement rhythm - operational, category, and top-to-top meetings with clear agendas, scorecards, and follow-up actions.
• Proactively manage long-term customer relationships, building trust at all levels to secure sustainable competitive advantage.

Sales and Profitability Delivery

• Own and manage the account Profit and Loss (P&L), ensuring achievement of sales value, volume, gross margin, and profitability targets.
• Negotiate annual trading terms, price increases, and promotional investments, balancing customer competitiveness with business returns.
• Manage discounts, rebates, and trade spend to ensure maximum return on investment (ROI)
• Drive budget adherence and forecasting accuracy to meet AVI financial standards.
• Develop and capture rolling sales forecasts based on bottom-up demand predictions for the short-term forecast horizon - 1 to 6 months.
• Manage the sales delivery against the sales forecast and identify potential shortfalls against the financial sales budget.
• Develop demand generation - trade marketing & sales plans to close the gap against financial sales budget shortfalls.

Category and Customer Development

• Partner with Shoprite to grow frozen fish and protein categories, shaping assortment, shelf strategy, and pack architecture.
• Influence listing decisions and shelf-space allocations, ensuring compliance with Must-Stock-List (MSL) and expansion of numeric and weighted distribution.
• Collaborate with I&J Marketing and Category teams to deliver innovation launches, securing on-time listings and impactful activations.
• Support category performance reviews and make data-driven recommendations to enhance category growth and shopper relevance.

Supply Chain and Execution Excellence

• Provide accurate demand planning inputs to improve forecast accuracy and support factory production planning.
• Ensure Distribution Centre (DC-to-DC) supply efficiency with high case-fill rates, minimal shorts, and strong order adherence.
• Drive on-shelf availability (OSA) and service metrics across all Shoprite banners, including e-commerce platforms for example Sixty60.
• Oversee the execution of promotional campaigns, ensuring compliance with agreed plans and flawless in-store and digital execution.

Market and Customer Insights and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Leverage retailer data syndicated data - Circana, and internal systems to identify risks, opportunities, and trends.
• Prepare regular performance reviews, customer scorecards, risk and opportunity assessments for leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, and Quality to align customer requirements with internal capabilities.
• Act as the internal advocate for Shoprite, ensuring that customer needs and market dynamics are understood and acted upon across the business

What It Takes to Succeed:

Experience that set you up for success:                       

• Minimum 5 years’ FMCG experience, with at least 3 years managing key accounts at a national level
• Demonstrated success in managing trading terms, price negotiations, and promotional calendars.
• Exposure to forecasting, demand planning, and supply chain coordination, particularly in high-volume retail environments.

Qualifications & Certifications that will contribute to your success:

• Grade 12 with good passes in Mathematics, English and one Social Science and / or Science
• Bachelor’s Degree or National Diploma in Commerce, Business Management, Marketing, or related field.                                                        

Additional Requirements:

• Strong in numerical analysis and problem solving
• Business Administration and Customer Relationship Management experience
• Sales Planning and Forecasting
• Strong communication skills
• Own reliable vehicle