Country Sales Manager, UAE

Constantly looking for better ways to nourish the world, General Mills has been operating in the Middle East for almost 20 years. Managing businesses in more than 20 countries, we offer trusted, quality brands and exceptional opportunities for those with the entrepreneurial spirit, initiative and cultural awareness to excel. We have been innovating in significant ways, not just in our brands and products, but also in adapting to the communities we proudly serve. Exceptional employee engagement happens when an organization is conscious and purposeful about it. In a bid to make food the world loves, we pay utmost attention to the capabilities of our people and the strengths of our culture. We ensure a workplace that enables learning to happen anytime, anywhere. Some of our big brands are Betty Crocker, Nature Valley, Green Giant, Old El Paso & Haagen Dazs.
Functional Overview
This is an account management role with full responsibility for the UAE market across retail, convenience, and eCommerce channels. The role is accountable for delivering sustainable net sales, gross margin and share growth for the assigned portfolio.
The Market Manager leads the relationship with local distributors to ensure effective planning, selling and activation at customer level, in line with brand and category strategies, and to unlock the full growth potential of the portfolio.
Position Title Key Responsibilities

• Deliver annual Sales Targets and Gross margin development
• Deliver key financial annual RNS and targets
• Align distributors on commercial targets & measurements through robust Joint Business Plan for each annual fiscal year
• Identify & recommend action plans to accelerate sustainable share and volume growth
• Negotiate with distributors trade terms and activation plans
• Enable Go-to-Market Execution
• Demonstrate strong category expertise and partnership with regional trade to create compelling category stories
• Recommend effective launch model for NPDs within indirect sales model
• Strong trade landscape understanding to support business plans that drives incremental value for the company, distributors & customers
• 
  Build on-going sales & distributor capabilities
• Engage distributors to execute plans perfectly
• Establish strong collaboration to support distributor needs
• Participate and influence key customer negotiations
• Train distributor sales team on Perfect Store approach
• Own the fulfilment of contractual obligations by the distributor
• Business Planning, Insight and Governance
• Lead annual, quarterly and monthly planning for UAE, covering demand, financial outlooks and risk/opportunity assessments
• Analyze market data to identify trends, growth spaces and gaps, translating insights into clear actions
• Drive accurate forecasting with Demand/Supply and distributors to secure availability and minimize write-offs
• Ensure commercial activities, trade investments and distributor agreements comply with company policies, audit requirements and local regulations
  

Professional Experience

• Minimum 7+ years of sales/commercial experience with a leading FMCG company

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• Proven track record in distributor management and indirect route-to-market environments
• Strong experience in P&L management, including pricing, trade investments and mix management
• Demonstrated success working in a multifunctional / matrix environment, collaborating effectively with Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and Category teams
• Exposure to UAE or GCC markets is strongly preferred; deep understanding of local trade and customer landscape is an advantage
  

Skills & Competencies

• Strong commercial acumen with ability to translate strategy into executable plans
• Natural collaborator and influencer, able to build credibility with internal stakeholders, distributors and key customers
• Confident communicator with strong presentation and negotiation skills
• Demonstrated leadership in guiding distributor teams and cross-functional project groups
• Analytical and data-driven, comfortable working with multiple data sources and drawing clear recommendations
• High level of ownership, resilience and agility in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
  

Company Overview
We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what's next.