"Alerted.org

Senior Sales Operations Specialist, FM

Location:

Chicago, US, 60654

At Barry Callebaut, we are on a journey to transform the cocoa and chocolate industry. As the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, our actions truly shape the future of our industry. We are a business-to-business company, serving the entire food sector, from the cocoa bean to the finest chocolate product. We are a company with a purpose, we believe in doing well by doing good and reinvesting in the communities we operate. We have a long-standing commitment to sustainability and our goal is to shape a sustainable cocoa and chocolate future. We are headquartered in Zurich, and have more than 12,000 passionate Employees working in more than 40 countries worldwide. We are very proud of who we are and what we do. And of course, we are always looking for talented people to help us have a positive impact on our industry and beyond!

Job Description

The Senior Sales Operations Specialist plays a vital role in elevating the customer experience and enabling the commercial team to focus on strategic growth. This position serves as the operational backbone for key food manufacturing accounts—connecting people, processes, and data across Sales, Customer Service, Pricing, R&D, Planning, and Global Business Services (GBS). With a focus on executional excellence, the Senior Sales Operations Specialist ensures that customer initiatives and internal workflows are managed seamlessly, efficiently, and with urgency. This role requires a balance of big-picture thinking and precise tactical execution, supporting business development through proactive coordination, issue resolution, and data-driven insights. By bridging cross-functional gaps and anticipating customer needs, the Senior Sales Operations Specialist contributes directly to delivering best-in-class service and sustained commercial success.

Responsibilities

- Serve as the operational backbone for the FM Sales team, ensuring seamless execution of workflows across Sales, Customer Service, Pricing, Supply Chain, and GBS.

- Monitor customer forecasts, proactively identifying gaps versus contracted volumes and flagging issues for Account Manager follow-up.

- Lead resolution of escalated service issues, including orders, samples, documentation, and other customer-facing needs.

- Manage the pricing process by requesting quotes, coordinating approvals, and ensuring accurate and timely bookings.

- Submit requests to GBS partners (e.g., samples, documentation, master data updates) and follow up to ensure timely and complete execution.

- Support Account Managers with contract management, pricing inputs, item setup, and reporting.

- Generate and maintain sales and customer reports (e.g., volume tracking, pricing files, open orders, contract usage).

- Assist with development and refinement of reporting tools and dashboards that provide actionable insights to the Sales team.

- Track and analyze performance metrics such as opportunity conversion and forecast accuracy to support account reviews.

- Contribute to S&OP and demand planning processes by providing accurate inputs, historical insights, and commercial context.

- Act as a Salesforce champion—ensuring proper pipeline stage management, opportunity entry, and system hygiene.

- Identify process improvements and opportunities to increase team efficiency and customer satisfaction.

- Proactively flag internal or customer-facing execution risks and coordinate cross-functionally to drive resolution.

- Build strong internal relationships and serve as a key resource for operational support, enabling commercial teams to focus on growth.

Qualifications & Experience

- Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, operations, or related field.

- 5+ years in sales operations, commercial support, or customer-focused project coordination.

- Proven ability to support B2B commercial teams in a cross-functional environment; food or CPG experience is a plus.

- Proficient in Salesforce or an equivalent CRM tool.

- Strong Excel skills required; proficiency in PowerPoint and data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) is a plus.

- Excellent communication and organizational skills with high attention to detail.

- Ability to balance tactical responsibilities while understanding and aligning with broader commercial strategies.

- A strong sense of urgency, accountability, and ownership.

- 3+ years of experience in B2B sales operations, preferably within the food or manufacturing industry.

- Experience supporting B2B sales teams with data, processes, and cross-functional coordination.

- Proven track record of driving efficiency, accuracy, and process improvement.

- Skilled at navigating matrixed organizations and managing competing priorities.

- Familiarity with the chocolate industry or related sectors is a plus.

- Proficiency in Salesforce.com or similar CRM platforms is preferred.

What you can expect from Barry Callebaut:

+ Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package

+ Paid time off, plus generous holiday timEnvironment that welcomes workplace flexibility

+ An atmosphere where diversity is embraced, and inclusivity is second nature. We call it #OneBC! Just ask our champions with the Americas Women’s Forum and the Racial Equality Forum!

+ Ability to grow personally and professionally within an organization that values development and internal career growth

+ Be part of our mission in making sustainability the norm through Forever Chocolate with priorities centered around prospering farmers, zero child labor, carbon and forest positive, and creating 100% sustainable ingredients in all of our products.

At Barry Callebaut, we are committed to Diversity & Inclusion. United by our strong values, we thrive on the diversity of who we are, where we come from, what we’ve experienced and how we think. We are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where people can truly be themselves, grow to their full potential and feel they belong. #oneBC - Diverse People, Sustainable Growth.

If you want to learn more about Barry Callebaut, please find further information here.

Were you missing anything in this job ad? Please share your feedback with us by clickinghere (https://app.talenthub.io/feedback/ad81b0fb66d2416990060452e7511e45?default\_lang=en) .