Vice President Grocery North in Eden Prairie, Minnesota at Mueller-Yurgae Associates Inc

Position Summary

The Vice President is responsible for leading the sales strategy, customer relationships, client partnerships, and growth initiatives for MYA’s Northern-based business.

This position provides strategic leadership to protect and grow existing business while identifying new opportunities across clients, customers, categories, and channels. The Vice President serves as a senior relationship leader with key customers and clients and works closely with MYA leadership and internal teams to develop and execute strategies that drive distribution, sales growth, and long-term partnerships.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The essential functions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Lead the sales strategy and overall commercial direction for the Minnesota business in alignment with MYA's broader business objectives.

• Serve as a senior-level relationship leader for assigned key customers.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key customer decision-makers, clients, and industry partners.

• Maintain a strong understanding customer strategies, processes, category priorities, organizational changes, and business opportunities.

• Protect and grow existing client and customer business through proactive relationship management, strategic planning, and execution.

• Identify and pursue new client, customer, category, and business development opportunities.

• Develop and maintain a pipeline of prospective business opportunities and provide leadership with visibility into potential revenue and growth.

• Lead or participate in key customer meetings, business reviews, client presentations, line reviews, and strategic planning sessions.

• Provide leadership and direction to the sales team, establishing clear expectations and ensuring alignment with client, customer, and company priorities.

• Recruit, onboard, coach, develop, and retain high-performing sales professionals in partnership with Human Resources.

• Establish sales goals and monitor performance against key business objectives and customer expectations.

• Utilize sales data, customer insights, market trends, and analytics to identify opportunities and support strategic recommendations.

• Collaborate with MYA Sales, Marketing, Analytics, Operations, and other internal teams to develop effective selling strategies and deliver strong client and customer support.

• Facilitate communication and collaboration between the Minnesota team and the broader MYA organization.

• Monitor industry, competitive, customer, and market trends and communicate relevant opportunities and risks to leadership.

• Represent MYA professionally at customer meetings, client meetings, trade shows, industry events, and other business functions.

• Perform other duties as required or assigned.

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
• At least 10 years of industry-related work experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong supervisory and leadership skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite or related software.

Core Competencies

• Strategic Thinking -- The ability to analyze the organization’s competitive position by considering market and industry trends, existing and potential customers (internal and external) and strengths and weaknesses as compared to competitors.
• Building Collaborative Relationships -- The ability to develop, maintain, and strengthen partnerships with others inside and outside the organization who can provide information, assistance, and support.
• Entrepreneurial Orientation -- The ability to look for and seize profitable business opportunities; willingness to take calculated risks to achieve business goals.
• Developing Others -- The ability to delegate responsibility and to work with others to coach direct reports to develop capabilities.
• Managing Change -- The ability to demonstrate support for innovation and organizational changes needed to improve organizational effectiveness; initiating, sponsoring, and implementing organizational change; helping others to successfully manage organizational change.
• Communication --- The ability to ensure information is passed on to others who should be kept informed, express oneself clearly verbally and in writing, and understand others.
• Time Management -- The ability to spend time appropriately among people and projects to ensure goals are met.
• Thoroughness -- The ability to ensure that one’s own and others’ work and information are complete and accurate; carefully preparing for meetings and presentations; following up with others to ensure agreements and commitments are fulfilled.
• Decisiveness -- The ability to make difficult decisions in a timely manner.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers; handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate.

Note

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship.