National Account Manager - Grocery, West
Description
Key Account Manager, Grocery — West
ABOUT ANTELOPE:
Antelope is revolutionizing pet care with its omnichannel platform, launched in August 2021. Our mission? To elevate the lives of pets by offering the very best in pet products through a bold buy-and-build strategy. The name “Antelope” says it all — “Ante” means raising the stakes, and “Lope” signifies bounding forward together. Backed by Alpine
Investors, Antelope has already made impressive strides, acquiring five standout brands: Bocce’s Bakery, Diggin’ Your Dog / Super Snouts, My Perfect Pet, and Ark Naturals. Antelope has plans to acquire additional all-natural, high-quality brands to become the one-stop shop for pet parents.
OVERVIEW:
Antelope is hiring a National Account Manager, Grocery – West to drive new account acquisition and channel expansion across our full product portfolio in grocery, with a primary emphasis on our pet treat brand, across all states west of the Mississippi River, including Texas — from national and regional banners like H-E-B, Albertsons/Safeway divisions (Vons, Safeway NorCal, Intermountain) and Kroger's western divisions (Fred Meyer, QFC, King Soopers, Smith's) to WinCo, Raley's, Save Mart, Stater Bros., Bashas' and the independents and co-ops across Texas, the Mountain West and West Coast, plus any other accounts or channels assigned. This is a 75% build, 25% maintenance role: our treat business has already established a foothold in grocery, and the mandate is to convert that proof of concept into full regional coverage. The ideal candidate is a hunter who thrives on a long prospect list, builds category cases from syndicated data, and holds broker partners accountable to a plan.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
New account development
● Build and work a prioritized target list of grocery banners in your region, identifying the highest-value white space by geography, banner format and category role.
● Own the full sales cycle from prospecting and first contact through category review, item setup and first ship.
● Secure new authorizations and net-new points of distribution against annual store count and revenue targets for your territory.
● Navigate the mechanics of grocery entry — category review calendars, distributor routes to market, new item paperwork, slotting and deduction structures — without needing them explained.
Pitching and category selling
● Build customer-specific, insight-led selling stories using Circana/IRI, Nielsen and retailer POS data — shopper trends, category gaps, incrementality and space productivity.
● Deliver the presentations personally to buyers and category managers, and defend the assortment recommendation with data.
● Translate the brand's consumer marketing plan into a retailer-facing case for support, including promotional and in-store activation.
● Surface innovation and assortment recommendations to internal teams based on product white space and competitive trends observed in your markets.
Broker network management
● Manage the broker agencies covering your west markets, setting clear objectives, priorities and scorecards by agency and territory.
● Onboard, train and continuously equip broker teams and distributor reps so they can sell the brand story with the same fluency you do.
● Run a consistent cadence of business reviews, market walks and pipeline calls; hold agencies accountable to distribution and revenue commitments.
● Assess coverage gaps and performance in your region, and recommend changes to agency scope, footprint or partnership as the business scales.
Planning, forecasting and accountability
● Build, communicate and execute annual account plans for your territory, including promotional calendars and trade spend.
● Forecast sales volume and spending needs at the customer and SKU level, partnering with Operations and Finance so new distribution is supported by inventory.
● Plan, execute and analyze promotions, reporting ROI and adjusting the approach based on what the results show.
● Operate within an assigned trade and travel budget and report on it.
● Conduct customer business reviews and maintain accurate opportunity tracking in Salesforce.
● Prioritize, plan and organize your own travel and market coverage, and coordinate with your counterpart Key Account Manager and the VP of Sales on any account with national or cross-regional buying authority.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Must-haves:
● Three to seven years of progressive CPG sales results, including recent grocery experience.
● A demonstrated hunter track record — specific new accounts you opened, not accounts you inherited and maintained.
● Existing relationships with grocery buyers in the West that can be leveraged into new business.
● Broker management experience, ideally across multiple agencies or territories.
● Fluency with syndicated data (Circana/IRI, Nielsen) and the ability to build a category story from it independently.
● Strong analytical skills and financial acumen; comfort with trade math, margin structures and promotional ROI.
● Exceptional verbal and written communication and a genuine ability to build relationships; an outgoing, charismatic presence in a buyer room.
● Excellent Microsoft Office skills, especially PowerPoint and Excel, plus Salesforce CRM, Slack and Google Workspace.
● Bachelor's degree.
● Residence within the territory with access to a top 25 airport — ideally Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Southern California or the Pacific Northwest.
● Familiarity with a remote sales environment and a desire to travel, including overnight and air travel. Estimated 25–30% travel.
Nice-to-haves:
● Pet category experience.
● Comfort operating in ambiguity with limited oversight; prior experience at a fast growing consumer company is a plus.
● Must love dogs or cats (& treats!)
WHAT WE OFFER:
● Connected remote-first culture with a highly engaged distributed workforce ● Flexible PTO
● Competitive compensation
● Medical, dental, and vision insurance
● 401K employer match
● Home Office Stipend
● Parental leave including “pawternity”
● Discounted Antelope products and pet insurance