Customer Solutions Manager, Control States

At Suntory Global Spirits, we craft spirits of the highest quality and deliver brilliant experiences to people around the world. Suntory Global Spirits has evolved into the world's third largest leading premium spirits company ... where each employee is treated like family and trusted with legacy. With our greatest assets - our premium spirits and our people - we're driving growth through impactful marketing, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. Suntory Global Spirits is a place where you can come Unleash your Spirit by making an impact each and every day.

What makes this a great opportunity?

• Organizational impact: Play an integral role in enhancing connectivity between SGS commercial teams and Control States agencies by delivering solution-based recommendations, steeped in robust analytics and Consumer/Shopper Insights to influence strategy, support planogram execution, and enable performance tracking.
• Cross-functional exposure : Opportunity to collaborate across the organization, including exposure to analytics & insights, category development, commercial teams, distributor partners, and key retail partners.
• Process Improvement : Opportunity to refine and establish optimized ways of working, ensuring timely delivery of category focused planogram recommendations.

Role Responsibilities

As the Customer Solutions Manager – Control States , you will be responsible for providing expertise, leadership, and strategic guidance to key customers in the Control States Region. By positioning Suntory Global Spirits as a premier thought leader and preferred strategic partner in the distilled spirits and Ready-To-Drink (RTD) categories, this role will drive category growth and strengthen retailer partnerships. Additionally, you’ll produce analytically sound store specific planogram recommendations to support our strategic partnerships and partnership development in various states.

Location : Remote / Home Office – preference is North Carolina

Role Responsibilities:

• Develop Customer Partnership and Influence:
  • Serve as a trusted advisor to retailers, impacting all aspects of their category plans, including:
    • Assortment analytics.
    • Category and shelf placement optimization.
    • Post-promotion and post-execution analytics.
    • Delivery of actionable consumer/shopper insights and trends in the beverage alcohol category.
  • Establish Suntory Global Spirits as the go-to partner for strategic collaboration and category expertise.
• Internal Collaboration and Support:
  • Provide analytical insights and support to Suntory Global Spirits' state sales teams and broker teams.
  • Contribute to ad-hoc meetings, selling presentations, broker meetings, and internal business reviews by delivering data-driven insights and impactful recommendations.
  • Translate research and analytics into actionable strategies that drive execution excellence.
• Market Focus:
  • Primary focus market: North Carolina (NC).
  • Support Pennsylvania's (PA) annual planogram process.
  • Priority secondary markets: Virginia (VA) and Oregon (OR).
  • Provide additional support as needed for all other remaining Control States.

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years’ experience in category management or associated work experience, experience in Category Advisor role an advantage
• Experience working in beverage alcohol industry an advantage
• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or related discipline
• Omnichannel experience preferred
• Strong commercial acumen and knowledge of retail practices and store environments
• Advanced skillset with MS Office, Space Planning Software and data visualization
• Extensive experience with syndicated data, such as NielsenIQ, Circana, Numerator, NABCA ProDiver, or relevant shopper data
• Strong presentation and communication skills, both oral and written
• Ability to travel when needed

While relocation, immigration, and/or tax compliance support are not guaranteed, we may offer assistance to successful candidates depending on factors such as role requirements in accordance with company guidelines.

At Suntory Global Spirits, people are our number one priority, and we believe our people grow together in diverse and inclusive environments where their unique insights, experiences and backgrounds are valued and respected. Suntory Global Spirits is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, military veteran status and all other characteristics, attributes or choices protected by law. All recruitment and hiring decisions are based on an applicant’s skills and experience.