Sr. Director, Foodservice; Sales

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, Break stone’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.

Midwest Yogurt, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Sr. Director, Food service, based in Minnetonka, MN.

The Sr. Director, Food service is the leadership team architect Lactalis USA’s Yogurt go‑to‑market strategy in Food service. This leader holds full P&L accountability for the entire U.S. Food service channel, spanning both Commercial (National Chains, Broadline Distribution) and Non‑Commercial (FMCs, GPOs, K‑12) segments.

The leader will be responsible for defining the long‑term vision, scaling the organizational infrastructure, and driving high‑margin growth for the Lactalis U.S. Yogurt portfolio. This role requires a sophisticated leader who can navigate complex supply chain dynamics, negotiate multi‑million dollar contracts, and inspire a high‑performing, multi‑tiered sales organization to outperform the market.

The key responsibilities for this position include:

• Develop and execute a 3–5 year strategic roadmap for the total Food service division, ensuring alignment with corporate financial objectives and channel share leadership goals.
• Full P&L responsibility for the Food service channel; managing revenue, volume, margin expansion, and a significant trade and marketing budget to maximize ROI.
• Direct the channel strategies to ensure an authentic voice for each unique space in Food service, to demonstrate industry leadership separation from competition.
• Lead the "Sales & Operations Planning" (S&OP) collaboration for Food service to ensure demand forecasting accuracy and supply chain synchronization.

• Act as the executive face of the company with C‑Suite leaders at Distribution Broad liners (Sysco, US Foods, PFG), Power Regionals, Uni Pro, FMC’s, GPO’s, all Food service industry events.
• Oversee the strategic evolution of the Broker network, ensuring field‑level execution matches national contract wins and channel penetration strategies.
• Champion the "Value‑Added" selling proposition, leveraging R&D and Culinary insights to secure proprietary placements and custom solution partnerships.
• Monitor competitive landscapes and M&A trends to pivot strategy and defend/gain market share.

• Lead, mentor, and scale a high‑caliber leadership team, fostering a culture of "Extreme Ownership" and commercial excellence.
• Design and implement incentive structures and KPIs that drive the right behaviors across different sales channels.
• Partner with HR on succession planning, executive development, and building a diverse talent pipeline for the Food service organization.
• Serve as…