Veetee Group
Sales Lead (World Foods and Ethnic) - UK & Europe
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Reporting To:
Sales Director
Direct Reports:
TBC
Why Join Veetee:
Veetee is an entrepreneurial, fast-growing family business and one of the UK’s leading rice brands, with operations in the UK, Europe, USA and India. This role offers the opportunity to work across a broad range of strategic and operational projects, making a visible impact on the future growth and success of the business.
Job Purpose:
To own and grow Veetee Foods' presence in the ethnic foods and cash & carry channel across the UK, and to lead ethnic rice sales across the EU. The role combines strategic account planning with hands-on execution: bringing structure and discipline to a market that has traditionally been relationship-led, while building the coverage, promotional and pricing plans needed to grow volume, margin and distribution. The role holder will manage a defined portfolio of accounts, and will lead a small team, ensuring a single, consistent commercial approach across the whole channel.
Responsibilities:
Coverage & Account Strategy
- Define and maintain a clear account coverage plan for the ethnic foods and cash & carry channel in the UK, making deliberate choices about which accounts to prioritize, invest in, or step back from, based on value, growth potential and fit.
- Look to change the status quo in terms of who we sell to and how we sell to them, developing new customers and building on existing ones.
- Directly manage a portfolio of key accounts in the South, building senior relationships while introducing more structured, data-led account management.
- Set direction and targets for the Senior Commercial Manager (North), who manages Booker and Bestway, ensuring consistent standards of planning and execution across both territories.
- Lead and develop ethnic rice sales across EU markets, identifying priority customers and routes to market.
Annual & Quarterly Planning
- Build a clear, structured annual coverage and promotional plan for the channel, setting out account priorities, volume and margin targets, and promotional calendar.
- Translate the annual plan into quarterly execution plans, with clear activity, ownership and review cadence, bringing rigor to a market that has historically run on relationships rather than process.
- Report progress against plan to the COO and SLT on a regular cycle, flagging risks and opportunities early.
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Commercial Execution
- Negotiate and manage trading terms, listings and promotional activity with cash & carry, wholesale and ethnic foods customers.
- Own the promotional plan for the channel, ensuring spend is targeted, ROI-driven and phased to maximize impact.
- Work closely with supply chain, finance and marketing to ensure forecasts, pricing and promotional mechanics are deliverable and profitable.
Market & Competitor Intelligence
- Maintain a strong, current understanding of competitor activity, pricing and promotional weight across the ethnic foods and rice category, in both the UK and EU.
- Use competitor and market intelligence to inform account strategy, pricing decisions and promotional investment, keeping Veetee competitive without over-spending.
- Identify white space and emerging opportunities within the ethnic foods and cash & carry channel, and within EU rice markets.
Leadership
- Manage, coach and develop a small team, setting clear objectives and holding them accountable for performance.
- Act as a role model for a more structured, planned approach to account management, while retaining the relationship skills the channel requires.
Work Experience
- Essential: 5 – 10 years of proven success in FMCG sales, with deep knowledge of the UK and EU markets.
- Proven sales experience within ethnic foods, essential; direct experience of the cash & carry channel (e.g. Booker, Bestway, Bidfood, or independent cash & carry) strongly preferred.
- Track record of managing major UK wholesale/cash & carry accounts and delivering against volume, distribution and profit targets.
Desirable:
- Experience selling rice or rice-based products is highly desirable, given the category's specific dynamics and customer base.
- Experience operating in, or selling into, EU markets is an advantage, particularly within ethnic or ambient grocery.
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Education:
Master’s / Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Marketing, or a related field.
Technical Skills & Management Competencies
- Demonstrated ability to bring structure and process to a relationship-driven market, building coverage plans, promotional calendars and account prioritization frameworks rather than relying on informal account management.
- Strong commercial and analytical skills: comfortable using sales, margin and competitor data to make account and investment decisions.
- Experience managing or mentoring direct reports with accountability for their customer performance.
- Strategic thinker who is equally strong on execution, able to set the plan and then personally drive delivery of it, quarter by quarter.
- Strong negotiation skills and the gravitas to operate at senior buyer level within wholesale and cash & carry customers.
- Leadership - Demonstrated ability to lead, influence, and inspire teams and partners.
- Entrepreneurial Drive - Passion for building businesses, with resilience, creativity, and a relentless work ethic.
- Strategic Thinker - Ability to balance short-term sales execution with long-term brand growth.
- Adept at cultivating and managing relationships across all levels of the organization and with external customers.
- Proven expertise in influencing and negotiation, capable of driving successful outcomes in diverse business scenarios.
Flexibility
- Do what is required to be successful, which will vary according to business priorities.
- Comfortable working with a degree of ambiguity in a fast-moving, relationship-oriented channel, while still bringing rigor and discipline to planning.
- Be willing and able to undertake travel as required to manage customer relationships.
How to Apply
Interested candidates are invited to share their updated CV along with current location, current CTC salary, expected CTC salary and notice period.
Email ID: rmudahi@veetee.com
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