Upward Farms designs and operates complete ecosystems of plants and fish in vertical farms, supplying these organic products to local grocers. In 2021, we opened a new company Headquarters and cutting-edge, fully automated production facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In 2022, we announced that we are constructing the worlds largest vertical farm, a 250,000 sqft facility in Northeast Pennsylvania, opening in 2023. More and larger farms are in the works. Our mission is to heal the broken food system and reconnect eaters with flavorful and nutritious local food.

In this role, you will report to the Vice President of Marketing & Sales and work cross functionally to inspire the team to take product ideas from concepts to shelf. This person will have leadership and tenacity to drive forward projects and products, while having a team-first orientation that makes them a pleasure to work with. Over time your team will include Sales Planners, Sales Operations and Category Management experts.

Success in this position looks like:

Leading development of annual sales planning and long-term sales strategy that ties into the overall company's strategies and goals. This role's success is determined by how well the Field Sales team is set up to succeed and achieve their business objectives through setting highly effective go to market MAPS principles and a deep understanding of marketplace and category management dynamics. This role will depend on creating a power alley conduit between Field Sales and other functions like Marketing, Operations and Finance ensuring collaboration and alignment around strategic priorities to drive growth for Upward Farms while also reflecting key customer needs. Success in this role will hinge on creating high impact plans and gaining alignment between Field Sales and internal functions to deliver annual sales targets within spending and budget parameters. Success also hinges on implementing strategies by activating them through setting optimal trade spending, product assortment, pricing, merchandising and promotional support that sets us up to win across channels and with our key customers.

Requirements

Establish Strategic Priorities

• Create a detailed understanding of the retail salad aisle through in-depth 3Cs analysis to ensure we have a strategy designed and built to win with all customers.
• Support the development of insight/shopper led category management plans and world class MAPS (merchandising, assortment, pricing, shelving) principles.
• Build out best practices processes to set the Customer Development Field Sales teams up for success. Additionally, ensure internal Marketing, Operations and Finance teams are aligned with Field Sales priorities, strategies and activities.
• Support annual plans by managing trade budgets and forecasting, and ensure the customer experience is smooth and efficient from order to receipt.
• Implement a Trade Promotion Management system that fits within the Upward Farms ERP platform.
• As Upward Farms grows - build, inspire, and coach effective Sales Planning, Operations and Category Management teams that consistently deliver against goals, with clearly defined roles, trajectories, and employee success strategies.
• Demonstrate leadership that promotes exemplary teamwork, personal accountability, and mutual support and respect.

Plan Building and Execution

• Ensure alignment to plans and forecasts throughout the business to deliver Annual Operating Plan revenue and profit targets.
• Drive execution of trade programs that maximize ROI and share within assigned trade-spending limits. Leverage both category and trade insights to work collaboratively with the field selling organization and directly with our customers.
• Develop and execute innovative merchandising vehicles that maximize ROI and support brand strategies.
• Analyze, evaluate and recommend course of action on Customer Business Team requests for incremental programming and funding.
• Lead demand planning routines and rituals - effectively collaborate with Supply Chain and Demand Planning with a keen understanding of sales drivers insights.
• Leverage sales and industry expertise in development and execution of new product launches - distribution & shelving objectives, executable pricing strategies and detailed merchandising plans.
• Provide guidance to Marketing in the development of future innovation pipeline.
• Create dashboards and trackers to provide visibility of performance with actionable insights to identify course corrections and uncover opportunities
• Through category management best practices identify actions to drive retailer and Upward Farms growth.

Requirements

• Completed Bachelors degree required.
• Minimum of 15+ years of progressive CPG selling experience in a variety of roles that includes directly managing teams.
  • 3+ years experience in CPG Sales Planning role
  • One strategic oriented Sales role (i.e. Cat Man, Sales Strategy)
  • And deep understanding of internal and customer operations
• Extensive hands-on experience with POS (IRI or Nielsen) data.
• Track record of superior execution, ability to navigate complexity and multiple priorities, and delivering results.
• Strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
• Works well across multiple functions with a track record of problem solving and innovative plan development.
• Question-driven, curious, open minded. Collaborative and values the expertise of others. Willing to challenge assumptions with a builders mindset. Eager to give, receive, and integrate feedback.
• We are open to remote / work-from-anywhere for this role, so long as you have the ability to travel to company headquarters in Brooklyn or to visit customers on an as-needed basis.
• A love for sustainable, healthy food.

Preferred Skills + Experience

• Experience selling branded CPG products to regional or national grocery retailers.
• Experience in packaged salad or another high growth produce category.
• Sales experience at a high growth Certified Organic or company with a footprint in the natural/specialty retail channel.

Benefits

We offer a dynamic work environment and benefits that include:

• Aetna Medical, Aetna and MetLife Dental, and Aetna Vision insurance; FSA/HSA plans; and HIPAA-compliant health advocates. Upward Farms contributes 78-100% of the premium for Medical benefits for employees and their families.
• Unlimited paid sick time. For extended illness, we offer short term disability.
• Up to 20 days paid time off per year, depending on experience, in addition to paid holidays.
• For new parents, an extension of New York States paid family leave for up to 18 weeks of fully paid parental leave. This leave is in addition to Disability leave available to pregnant and postpartum mothers.
• 401(k)
• Commuter benefits, discounted bike shares, and other perks.
• Fresh salad, and lots of it!

Working Here

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our needs are unique and varied so we value colleagues with diverse backgrounds. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and/or protected veteran status.

Please note we do not provide immigration sponsorship for this position; applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.