National Account Manager

Most NAMs I speak with are farmers not hunters. They've inherited a book, a plan and a buyer, and kept the plates spinning.

Nothing wrong with that. But it's a very different story on a CV to "I built it."

I'm working with a 100-year-old, family-owned European confectionery manufacturer. Proper heritage stuff: caramel recipes made the same way for a century, a €7m new plant and warehouse built three years ago, and group turnover north of £150m.

They've traded in the UK for over a decade through a consultancy model. UK sales already sit at £10–12m, with a plan to hit £15–20m in the next two years. So they're doing what a lot of my European clients are doing right now: backing the UK properly, with their own directly employed team.

This is the first NAM seat in that team. Which means:

• You're not inheriting someone else's habits, you're setting the standard
• A reduced-calorie snacking brand plus a growing own-label range to sell
• 8–12 retailers across discount, grocery and own label, with the German discounters a priority
• A business that values hunger and curiosity

That last point matters, to be fair. They're open to someone who has not done mults or hard discounters but who wants the opportunity to step up and learn this part of retail.

Key points:

• 3–5 years as a National Account Manager
• Confectionary or Snacking experience
• Confident negotiating trading plans, price increases and service levels
• Home based, ideally within c1.5 hours of Manchester
• Base salary and Car and Bonus (give me a call for more details)

PS. Plenty of doom about the UK as a place to do business right now. My client book tells a different story.