Retail Sales & Distribution Manager – UAE

About MadGood

MadGood is a modern snacking and confectionery brand building differentiated, indulgent products for contemporary consumers, with a focus on innovation, taste, and modern retail and distribution. The UAE is a key market for the brand, and we are looking for a commercially driven, hands-on Retail Sales \& Distribution Manager to build and scale the business on the ground.

Role Overview

The Retail Sales \& Distribution Manager will own the UAE retail business across distributors and retailer accounts. The role combines sales, distribution, trade marketing, merchandising, account management, commercial planning, and P\&L ownership. The candidate will work closely with distributors and key retail partners to build joint business plans, drive sell-in and sell-out, improve distribution and visibility, and ensure strong execution across stores and channels.

Key Responsibilities1. Retail Sales \& Key Account Management

· Own sales and business development across assigned UAE retail accounts, including modern trade, supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience, specialty retail and other relevant channels.

· Build and maintain strong commercial relationships with retailer buying, category, trade marketing and merchandising teams.

· Lead commercial negotiations covering listings, pricing, promotions, visibility, trade terms, displays, launches and annual business plans.

· Develop account-level sales plans and deliver monthly, quarterly and annual revenue targets.

· Track sell-in, sell-out, stock levels, distribution, rate of sale and promotional performance by account.

2. Distributor Management \& Distribution

· Manage MadGood's UAE distributor relationships and act as the primary commercial interface between the company, distributor and retail accounts.

· Set distributor targets, channel plans, assortment priorities, inventory norms and execution KPIs.

· Build Joint Business Plans (JBPs) with distributors covering revenue, distribution, new listings, promotions, inventory, working capital and marketing investments.

· Review distributor performance regularly and drive corrective actions where required.

· Ensure effective order planning, stock availability, replenishment and distribution across priority retail outlets.

· Monitor distributor inventory, ageing, returns, expiries and receivables to protect business economics.

3. P\&L \& Commercial Ownership

· Own and manage account/channel-level commercial P\&Ls and understand revenue, gross margin, trade spends, discounts, promotional investments and contribution economics.

· Track actuals versus budget and identify opportunities to improve revenue quality and profitability.

· Evaluate promotional ROI, retailer investments, listing fees, visibility spends and distributor margins.

· Work with finance and management on forecasts, budgets, sales plans and commercial decisions.

4. Trade Marketing \& Joint Business Planning

· Develop retailer-specific and distributor-specific annual and quarterly Joint Business Plans.

· Plan and execute trade marketing calendars across promotions, launches, sampling, activations, displays and in-store visibility.

· Coordinate with marketing teams to translate brand campaigns into effective retail execution.

· Identify category growth opportunities and recommend relevant activations, offers and visibility initiatives.

· Measure the commercial impact of trade marketing investments and continuously improve ROI.

5. Merchandising \& In-Store Execution

· Own in-store visibility and merchandising standards across key retail accounts.

· Ensure correct shelf placement, planogram compliance, secondary displays, POSM deployment, pricing visibility and promotional execution.

· Conduct regular market/store visits and identify gaps in availability, visibility, pricing and execution.

· Work with distributors and merchandising teams to close execution gaps quickly.

· Build a strong understanding of the UAE retail landscape, including store formats, shopper behaviour and category dynamics.

6. New Business Development

· Identify and open new retail, convenience, specialty and institutional opportunities relevant to MadGood.

· Develop retailer pitches, commercial proposals and launch plans for new accounts.

· Build a pipeline of prospective retail partners and manage the full process from prospecting to listing and execution.

· Support expansion into new channels and emirates as the business scales.

7. Reporting \& Business Reviews

· Prepare weekly and monthly sales and distribution reports covering revenue, sell-out, inventory, distribution, promotions and key account performance.

· Lead periodic business reviews with distributors and retailer partners.

· Provide management with clear market intelligence, competitor activity, pricing observations and account-level opportunities.

· Use data to identify gaps and convert insights into specific commercial actions.

Required Experience \& Qualifications

· 4–7 years of relevant experience in UAE sales, retail sales, distribution, key account management or trade marketing.

· Mandatory on-ground UAE experience with established relationships and practical knowledge of the UAE retail ecosystem.

· Experience in FMCG, snacking, confectionery, food \& beverages, nutrition, consumer products or a closely related category.

· Experience working directly with UAE distributors and major retail accounts.

· Demonstrated experience in negotiating retailer terms, promotions, listings, merchandising and joint business plans.

· Strong commercial understanding of P\&L, margins, trade spends, distributor economics and promotional ROI.

· Strong analytical, negotiation and relationship-management skills.

· Excellent communication skills in English; Arabic is an advantage.

· Willingness to travel extensively across the UAE and spend significant time in-market and in stores.

· UAE driving licence is preferred.

Ideal Candidate Profile

· Commercially aggressive but relationship-oriented, with the ability to build long-term retailer and distributor partnerships.

· Hands-on operator who is comfortable spending time in stores, meeting buyers and distributors, and solving execution issues personally.

· Entrepreneurial and comfortable working in a high-growth, fast-moving brand environment.

· Strong ownership mindset with the ability to manage both top-line growth and profitability.

· Data-driven and detail-oriented, while being capable of moving quickly and independently.

· Strong understanding of how modern trade, distributor-led sales and trade marketing work in the UAE.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

· Net sales and sell-out growth

· Retail distribution and numeric distribution

· New account and new listing acquisition

· Rate of sale and SKU productivity

· Distributor target achievement

· Retailer and distributor Joint Business Plan delivery

· Gross margin and contribution/P\&L performance

· Trade marketing ROI

· In-store availability and merchandising compliance

· Inventory health, stock cover and expiry/returns management

What This Role Offers

· Opportunity to build and scale a high-growth consumer brand in the UAE.

· High ownership across sales, distribution, trade marketing and commercial strategy.

· Direct exposure to distributors, major retail accounts and senior management.

Opportunity to shape MadGood's UAE go-to-market and retail expansion strategy

Pay: AED10,000.00 - AED15,000.00 per month

Work Location: In person