Sr. Manager, Sales Operations - Premier Nutrition

Here's what all the hype is about: Premier Nutrition Company (PNC) is one of the fastest-growing companies in the convenient nutrition space showing clear leadership in the category of protein shakes and protein powders. We make the brands Premier Protein, Dymatize, and PowerBar, which is sold internationally, and we are part of our holding company, BellRing Brands (NYSE: BRBR).

We have a simple, yet powerful, formula for our success, which we’ve been nailing for over 15 years. We start off with an organization powered by our company purpose—Changing Lives with Good Energy. Then our purpose-driven people are given the support and autonomy to develop and grow. Next, we are super-intentional about designing a culture where everyone feels like they truly connect and belong, which is one of our five company core values. Purpose-driven, connected employees who are consistently mastering new skills deliver amazing business results. And winning companies with amazing people and thriving cultures attract and retain top talent, so the cycle becomes self-reinforcing or what we call our regenerative culture.

We don’t mind sharing our formula since, as people who we believe in the power of changing lives with good energy, we think the world would be a better place if more workplaces treated adults like adults and gave them the platform to do the best work of their lives—alongside some truly amazing colleagues. Why don’t more companies do this? It takes deep-in-your-bones conviction to your people, products, and purpose to pull it off. It also takes resisting the urge to try to control people, and instead trusting them to make the right decisions. The results of our vibrant culture speaks for themselves: We were certified as a Great Place to Work™ for the 8^th year-running in 2024. And we currently rank #2 on Fortune Magazine’s Best Workplaces in our category, and in the top 12 for each of the last 5 years.

We have a long list of ways we take care of our people, but here are some crowd-pleasers that our employees often say they love most: Year-round ½ day Fridays, in-office massages, free lunches & snacks, dogs in the office, month-long cultural and diversity celebrations, monthly over-the-top in-office events like bring your kids to work day, 6% 401k match after 1 year, as-needed sick leave, generous paid family leave regardless of gender, all positions bonus-eligible, company-wide volunteer days, company-matched charitable donations, no employee handbook, no dress code, coaching conversations instead of performance reviews, walking meetings, free exercise classes, and company-paid gym membership for Emeryville-based employees.

PNC seeks individuals who will flourish in this type of work environment and will add to our culture and help build this high-growth company for the next phase in our amazing journey. Does this sound like you? Then read on…#LI-hybrid

The role you’re interested in…

The Sr. Manager of Sales Operations will be responsible for ensuring the effective operations of the Sales Team, both internally and externally.  They will own communication flow of key internal priorities to Field Sales, and external priorities to Cross-functional stakeholders.  They will be responsible for building and managing all the necessary platforms to do so (Sales Town Halls, Sales Communications, Sales Micro-site, CRM, etc.).  They will also be the key touch point and liaison between the Sales Function and Operations.  They will be responsible for analyzing, facilitating, managing and owning various processes that maximize/optimize the flow of products sold from our production facilities to the end customer/retailer.

Areas of responsibility include:

• Own the build-out and execution of various Sales Communications Platforms (WHAT & HOW) for delivering Field Sales Deliverables (Sales Communications, Sales Town Halls, CRM, etc.).
• Lead the training and pull-through of those resources/portals with Field Sales team
• Management of Command Center process and monthly/quarterly/FY delivery of our financial sales targets across the warehouse network and customer base, and provide C-Suite level communication of those deliverables
• Management of the Sales function inputs and deliverables for the Long-Range-Planning (LRP) process
• Lead the Company’s E&O (short-dated inventory) process to maximize financial outcomes
• Partner as the Sales Lead with Operations on any supply constraints, inclusive of warehouse inventories, allocation needs, etc.
• Collaborate with Brand Marketing & Operations to ensure delivery and smooth execution of all display vehicles, packaging refreshes, item discontinuations, case pack changes, etc.

The work environment…

So, what’s it like to work here? If you’re based in the greater Bay Area, you’ll walk into our Emeryville office each Tuesday morning and start the in-person portion of our hybrid work week at our weekly all-company meeting and find close to 200 of your colleagues sitting on sofas, beanbag chairs, or the floor excitedly talking through the week ahead and watching a newer teammate tell their personal life and career journey followed by a quick update on any hot topics that might be relevant to the week ahead.

We are a dynamic, HYBRID workplace so every employee who lives within 100 miles of our offices is expected to come in each TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY. We aligned on those two common days way back in 2021 to be intentional about connecting in person for things like innovation, impromptu collaboration, having respectful challenges to get to better decisions, leadership role-modeling, and culture building. Great work cultures are built on stories about what great looks like in practice, and great stories on Zoom meetings are few and far between.  The expected pay scale for this role is $150k to $160k, which may vary based on relevant experience, qualifications, geographic area (if applicable), and internal equity for the role.

Our modern 50,000 sq. foot headquarters straddles the border of the cities of Emeryville, Oakland, and Berkeley, California with free onsite parking and many transportation options.

You’re excited about this opportunity because your time will be filled with…

Lead/Own Operational effectiveness of Field Sales deliverables: 60% of TIME

• Owner of Sales Town Hall meetings
• Owner of Sales communication portals (MS Teams channel, Sharepoint site, etc.)
• Owner of Sales comms process (HOW) & Sales deliverables that flow through that process (WHAT = price increase letters, announcements to the trade, disco letters, case pack changes, packaging refreshes, etc.)
• Lead the training and pull-through of those resources/portals with Field Sales team
• Future state: owner of CRM platform
• Lead/ manage and communicate up to C-Suite level, delivery of monthly/quarterly/FY sales deliverables
• Lead PNC E&O (short-dated products, etc.) & Allocation processes, maximizing financial outcomes & minimizing supply chain complexity

Sales Lead for Long-Range-Planning (LRP) Process: 30% of TIME

• Own “voice of customer” from Field Sales & Sales Strategy, into the LRP
• Lead the bottoms-up LRP build across each fiscal year
• Manage updates and amendments to the LRP, based on changes to Customer BPs and Sales strategic initiatives
• Ensure sales inputs for new items, display vehicles, etc. are effectively captured in LRP

Develop/Build Sales Ops team of Future for PNC: 10% of TIME

• Approaching Sales Operations with a “Builder Mindset” and working directly with Senior Director of Sales Planning & Operations to design the most effective and efficient Sales Operations team @ PNC:
  • Responsibilities under Sales Operations
  • Necessary head count and talent levels required to build a high-performing Sales Operations Team
  • Future state of operational effectiveness for Sales Function (CRM, Sales micro-site, etc.)

What are we looking for?

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree required

Experience:

• 7+ years of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) experience within Sales Planning/Strategy, Field Sales and Sales Operations
• 5+ years of Field Sales & Internal Sales (Sales Planning/Strategy) experience
• 2+ years of people management experience

Skills and mindset:

• Strong knowledge base of Sales Effectiveness tools (CRM, Sales Micro-sites, etc.)
• Lead/Partner on Business Planning/LRP processes
• Team oriented with great ability to build relationships and work cross-functionally
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time

So, if after reading through this long list you’re thinking—I’m not sure I meet 100% of these requirements, should I still apply? YES—if you embody a growth mindset, see challenges as opportunities to develop, and find innovative ways to get the real work that matters done, you sound like our kind of candidate!

The 5 capabilities or mindsets most relevant to this role:

• Be a builder by creating for the future
• Embody a strategic mindset
• Challenge ideas respectfully by sharing your real opinion with conviction; disagree in a way people feel heard
• Bring people along by providing context and cascading information; share openly and inclusively
• Play to win—exceed stretch goals and have fun doing it along the way

You will thrive here and may just do the best work of your life if…

• You want to be an integral part of shaping an amazing work culture and being a culture-add
• You know when good enough is good enough, or the rare times when execution needs to be flawless
• You can be flexible in your approach and abandon past practices if they don’t make sense
• You are comfortable being natural, casual, open, and even a bit playful at work
• You don’t have a big ego and give credit and praise freely
• You like to get sh*t, I mean—stuff done
• You can be both clear and kind—empathetic yet hold people accountable
• You can hold the tension of being both warm and self-deprecating, and also super credible as a professional
• You can do periods of focused, deep work on projects that drive the business forward

This may not be your ideal next career move if…

• You like a lot of structure, rules, and uniformity
• You like hierarchy, and command and control management
• You like a “big company” impersonal, cog-in-the-machine vibe—that ain’t us
• You want to build a beautiful, orderly bureaucracy
• You like things to not change much (we suggest the elevator business for that)
• Dealing with ambiguity or experimentation is not your jam
• You try to resolve challenging interpersonal situations over instant messaging
• You want to work in your own silo-of-excellence
• You prefer engaging with your camera off, better yet, on mute, and demonstrating excellence through email
• You tend to chase whatever shiny object presents itself during the day instead of real results through focus

Here’s the deal with our not-so-standard, um…standard  interview process because we know you are the curious type, which is why you’re still reading this…

• Quick 30 min phone chat with a high energy member of our Talent Acquisition team to do a quick overview of your background and answer any burning questions you have
• Team interviews are kept to a minimum to foster a more efficient, candidate-friendly process (too many interviewers yields little value and drags out the process for you—and who wants that, right?):
• A short series of in-person or video interviews in a 1:1 setting; these are usually with the hiring manager, one or two other team members, and a person from another team to get broader perspectives (note: we don’t do panel interviews because they don’t give interviewers a chance to ask you unique questions, and we assign interviewers different roles so we’re probing different capabilities)
• A case study or job task to simulate what you’d actually be doing in the role (since your job is not actually to be interviewed for a living, why is that the thing companies rely on so much?) Yes, there will be a small panel for this one so you don’t have to do it more than once, and yes, they might ask you some kind yet probing questions at the end after the raucous applause stops.
• Once your interview concludes, the team will meet for an in-depth consultative process to ensure we are hiring the right person for the right job. Interviewers must come in with a strong yes or no vote beforehand to avoid groupthink with supporting reasons. The collective thoughts on your candidacy will be discussed in an environment of safety to challenge ideas respectfully, debate. and be open to all important qualifications of the candidates.  A trained, disinterested bias blocker will be present to help mitigate bias so the team can make a sound hiring decision. The moment of truth arrives when the hiring manager makes the big decision. If you nailed the interviews and the case study was brilliant, guess what? The offer is all yours! And the ball is in your court. Will you accept? We sure hope so because this place is the real deal, and don’t just believe us—just ask the 93% of our people who said this is a great place to work in our most recent employee survey.                                                                                          

We strive to create an equitable and inclusive environment to contribute to the success of our organization.  Premier Nutrition provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, status as a covered veteran and any other category protected under applicable federal, state, provincial and local laws.