Senior Sales Operations Manager, Foodservice

Description

Ready for more than just a job? Build a career with purpose. 

At Lactalis in the USA, we’re committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive—whether you’re just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we’re proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani® Italian cheeses and ricotta, Président® specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft® natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone’s® cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond® cheddar, and Parmalat® milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi’s®, Stonyfield Organic®, Brown Cow™, Oui®, Yoplait®, Go-Gurt®, :ratio®, Green Mountain Creamery®, and Mountain High®, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun®, Gopi®, and Arz®.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values—Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone’s unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

Requirements

 From your PASSION to ours

Midwest Yogurt, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Senior Sales Operations Manager, Foodservice  based in Minnetonka, MN.

The Senior Sales Operations Manager is the operational backbone of the Foodservice sales organization. This high-impact role is responsible for driving sales effectiveness, process excellence, and commercial intelligence across the entire team. The Manager serves as the "Voice of Sales" in critical cross-functional processes (Demand Planning, Launch to Win, Monthly Business Reviews, and more), owns all corporate-level customer communications (pricing, allocations, etc), and orchestrates the seamless execution of key industry events (SNA ANC, NACUFS, AHF, IFDA, SDA, AAHOA, IFPA, & the Hospitality Show). The primary goal is to empower the sales force and broker teams, ensure highly accurate business forecasts for supply chain excellence, and optimize the go-to-market engine for sustainable growth. 

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

Forecasting & Demand Planning Insights: Serve as the Voice of Sales in the Demand Review process. Key contributor to the monthly consensus forecasting cycle, consolidating field intelligence, promotional plans, wins/losses, industry volatility into a single, cohesive volume forecast for the S&OP process. 

Innovation Pipeline & Sales Release Process: Act as the Voice of Sales in the "Launch to Win" process. Partner with Marketing and R&D to define commercial requirements, assess market readiness, and ensure the innovation and renovation pipeline is commercially viable and aligned with customer needs.  Translate these plans into Sales ready materials with the support of the marketing team, and lead the Sales Release process of all Promotion, New Items, and Trade Strategies for our Direct Sales Teams & the Brokers. 

Communications: Lead all Corporate Communications to Foodservice Customers. Draft, review, and send time-sensitive communications, including price changes, product discontinuations, and program announcements, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and brand consistency. 

Industry Event Leadership: Lead the planning, budget, and execution of all key industry events (e.g., SNA ANC, NACUFS, AHLA). Coordinate cross-functional teams (Sales, Marketing, Culinary) for booth design, lead capture, customer meetings, sponsorships, and culinary demos. 

Process Optimization & Reporting: Design and implement standardized sales processes, policies, and metrics. Develop executive-level dashboards and reporting packages (KPIs, Win/Loss analysis, sales cycle length) to provide actionable insights to senior leadership. 

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

•  Bachelors Degree in Business, or other related field 
•  5+ years of progressive experience in Sales Operations, Sales Analysis, or Commercial Planning, preferably within the Foodservice or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries. 
• Simplifier: Proven ability to manage complex cross-functional projects and distill complex data sets into clear, executive-ready insights. 
• Communication: Proven track record in professional business writing, editing, and content creation for external audiences. 
• Industry Exposure: Direct experience in Foodservice segments (e.g., K-12, Healthcare, Hospitality).

Behavioral / Leadership Competencies 

• Cross-Functional Integrator: Skilled at serving as a neutral, data-driven liaison between high-stakes functions like Sales, Finance, Supply Chain, and Marketing, driving consensus on shared goals. 
• Process Obsession: Possesses a meticulous focus on documentation, standardization, and process design to ensure efficient, scalable, and repeatable sales workflows. 
• Strategic Communicator: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex financial and operational concepts clearly to both field reps and executive management. 
• Calm Under Pressure: Proven ability to manage the high-stakes logistics of large industry events and the tight deadlines of monthly forecasting cycles with composure and precision. 
• Service Mindset: Committed to enabling the success of the field sales team, recognizing that the operations role exists to reduce friction and increase selling time for revenue generators. 

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Affirmative Action Employer will comply with all related legal obligations