Strategic Retail Manager - Cross-Channel Planning

Company:

David creates tools to increase muscle and decrease fat. Our first product is a protein bar. More broadly, David is a platform to develop high-protein, low-calorie, blood-sugar-friendly foods that are craveable.

This is a rare opportunity to join a breakout food brand at a pivotal stage of growth. Led by CEO Peter Rahal, Cofounder and Former CEO of RXBAR, David is working to become the leading consumer food brand focused on high-protein foods in North America and beyond.

Role and Responsibilities:

The Cross-Channel Planning Manager drives alignment across all retail channels, building the systems, analytics, and strategies that enable us to operate as one cohesive, high-performing retail organization.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Retail, this role is central to our evolution from a fast-moving challenger brand to a category leader. You will define the frameworks, processes, and ways of working that allow us to scale efficiently, make better decisions, and collaborate more effectively with retail partners.

What You’ll Own:

• Cross-Channel Demand Planning
• Act as the primary conduit between Retail and Finance, providing a cross-channel, market-level perspective on demand planning and forecasting.
• Partner with Finance to refine account prioritization and scenario modeling across channels, supporting expansion into a multi-line, multi-pack portfolio.

• Cross-Channel Retailer Planning
• Coordinate with Marketing and R&D to align campaign and innovation roadmaps, intentionally allocating these investments across retailers to drive growth, strengthen partnerships, and maximize total market impact.
• Lead product launch and rollout strategy by retailer, including assortment, pack configuration, and timing.
• Partner with Retailer Teams to ensure national and digital campaigns are carried through to effective, consistent store-level execution.

• Trade Spend Strategy & Management
• Provide market-level perspective to ensure promotional activity at one account does not negatively impact performance at others.
• Measure, test, and optimize trade spend by quantifying promotional ROI and price elasticity, running controlled tests, and balancing investment across products, packs, and channels.
• Develop clear, retailer-facing materials that communicate insights and data-backed rationale behind promotional and pricing strategies.

• Retail Revenue Growth Management
• Own the source of truth for cross-channel retail reporting by integrating syndicated data, retailer POS, and shipment data into a unified, decision-ready framework.
• Build and maintain financial and commercial models to evaluate SKU, pack, and channel performance across pricing, promotion, and distribution scenarios.
• Partner with Finance to refine forecasting, scenario modeling, and account-level P&L visibility.

• Joint Business Planning & Category Reviews
• Partner with Channel and Retailer teams to strengthen planning processes and ensure annual plans are designed to outperform prior-year results.
• Support annual and quarterly planning cycles, JBPs, and category reviews by leading performance and category analysis.
• Translate retailer-level P&L and category insights into compelling, data-driven narratives / materials that reinforce David’s leadership.

• Cross-functional Projects
• Lead go-to-market execution for new items, partnering with the Retail and Finance team to define channel-specific pricing and economics, develop sell-in materials, establish distribution plans, and support negotiations with distributors and retailers.
• Define and enforce trade practice standards, pricing controls, and MAP policies to protect brand equity and profitability.
• Implement and manage the systems that power retail operations, including CRM, trade spend management, inventory, and order management tools.
• Oversee in-store display strategy and execution, including catalog development, production, forecasting, and inventory management.

• Category Management (future state)
• Build a formal category management function, including a headquarters-based Director and retailer-specific Category Captains.
• Category Captains (embedded at key retailers such as Walmart and Target) will drive analytics, modular planning, and planogram influence.

Requirements:
• 5+ years of experience in Sales Planning, Category Management, or a related commercial role at a large CPG organization, ideally followed by experience at a fast-growing food or consumer startup.
• Deep expertise in channel management, retailer negotiations, and commercial strategy, with the ability to operate as a subject-matter expert and elevate team capabilities.
• Strong foundation in classical CPG best practices, with the ability to translate industry-standard processes into a high-growth, entrepreneurial environment.
• Demonstrated willingness to operate hands-on, work through details, and support the team during high-intensity periods typical of a scaling organization.
• Highly analytical, disciplined, and process-oriented, with a proven ability to turn data into clear, decision-ready outputs for commercial and executive audiences.
• Strong ownership mindset with excellent organizational rigor and the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Low-ego, collaborative leader who enjoys teaching, mentoring, and acting as a force multiplier for the broader team.
• Comfort stepping into a highly visible, senior role on a lean team, with the potential to grow into broader leadership responsibility as the organization scales.

Benefits:
• This is a full-time, in-office role based in New York City. We work onsite five days a week — when the culture fits, it is fun to be in the office together.
• Compensation: $150-200k per year. Compensation is inclusive of bonus. Ability to trade salary for equity compensation will be offered.
• 100% covered Health, Vision, Dental Insurance.
• 401(k) with 4% match.
• Additional perks, such as covered gym expenses.
• Substantial and required PTO.