Customer Marketing Manager, Foodservice at Ajinomoto Foods North America, Inc. – Ontario, California

The Customer Marketing Manager supports the development and execution of customer- and segment-specific marketing strategies across national accounts, regional chains, convenience, and deli. This role translates consumer insights, menu trends, and portfolio priorities into customer-ready stories, selling tools, and activation plans that enable Sales and cross-functional partners to win in market.

The Customer Marketing Manager partners closely with Sales, Culinary, R&D, Ops, Category, and Finance to support commercialization efforts, customer planning, and private label initiatives, while ensuring all materials and recommendations are grounded in operator realities and aligned to AFNA’s broader portfolio strategy.

Customer & Segment Support

• Support the development of customer and segment strategies by analyzing market trends, consumer insights, and operator needs.
• Assist in opportunity sizing, customer segmentation work, and prioritization efforts to guide portfolio focus.
• Help translate high-level customer strategies into actionable platforms, frameworks, and recommendations for Sales.
• Serve as a day-to-day marketing partner to assigned customers or segments, ensuring consistency and relevance in all customer-facing work.

Portfolio & Commercial Support

• Support portfolio prioritization efforts by connecting customer needs with AFNA product capabilities.
• Develop and commercialize Private Label products for customers, support current private label items
• Assist in evaluating innovation concepts, menu applications, and white-space opportunities for priority customers.
• Partner with Finance and Category to support pricing analysis, cost inputs, and margin considerations for customer initiatives, including private label.
• Help maintain private label tools, trackers, and supporting materials

Sales Enablement & Customer Materials

• Develop and maintain customer-facing presentations, selling stories, menu ideation materials, and business review content.
• Support Joint Business Planning (JBP) materials, customer reviews, and new item pitches.
• Ensure all materials align to AFNA’s brand standards, portfolio priorities, and strategic narrative.
• Adapt core selling tools for specific customers, channels, and selling occasions as needed.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Sales, Culinary, R&D, Category, FSQA, and Ops to support customer initiatives and commercialization timelines.
• Assist with launch readiness activities, ensuring marketing inputs are accurate, timely, and aligned with cross-functional plans.
• Support project management for customer initiatives, helping track timelines, deliverables, and next steps.

Team & Process Contribution

• Contribute to the development of repeatable tools, templates, and best practices for the Customer Marketing function.
• Support internal communication and knowledge sharing related to customer strategies, insights, and learnings.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining attention to detail and stakeholder alignment.

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field required.

• 5–8 years of experience in foodservice marketing, customer marketing, category management, or sales enablement.

• Experience supporting national or regional foodservice customers preferred.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to synthesize insights into clear, actionable recommendations.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable creating executive-ready and customer-facing materials.

• Proven ability to work cross-functionally and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Range of Pay $120,000 - $155,000 annually. Plus, 20% annual bonus potential.
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