Retail Market and Activation Manager

The Retail Market and Activation Manager role is to create, lead and report on the standards of execution aligned with brand standards across selling platforms. Including strategy for brand placement, merchandising, store execution standards, POS placement, selling playbooks and partnering outside of commercial with Field Activation and Trade Shows. Leading the strategy of execution includes annual business planning of the company's strategy to increase brand presence and awareness. 

In collaboration with with our brand and product marketing teams, you will ensure cohesive communication and campaign execution to support success at retail with our Sales, Distribution, and Trade teams and align POS execution with key account priorities and performance goals.  

You will be responsible for developing new standards of executional excellence, educating the broader organization on merchandising and executional best practice, and tracking that impact to make sure that our products stand out and resonate with consumers at the point of purchase.  

 This is a hybrid position and must be willing and able to work 2-3 days a week on-site in our Sebastopol, CA office.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Strategy to hone and refine awareness and availability. Where the brand should play (Channels), how it should play in the channel and channel prioritization and timing. 

POS 

• Management. Planning, purchase, inventory, quality control and distribution 

• Includes POS strategy, planning, ordering, and maintenance  

• Identify POS cost reduction opportunities and secure necessary producer partnerships to reduce cost/item to allow for expansion of POS assets into a larger base of accounts to improve in-store brand visibility. 

• Research – Stay on top of trends and trade marketing best practices to ensure we deliver relevant and effective materials/items. Identify, research, and evaluate vendors, ensuring all adhere to the company purchasing policy guidelines, and will meet our quality and timing needs.  

• Cost Analysis – Obtain goods at the right costs without sacrificing quality or values. Work with Sales, Marketing and Finance teams to ensure all projects stay within budgetary boundaries 

• Inventory Control – Partner with fulfillment teams to manage inventory, ordering, and tracking coordination. Monitor collateral inventory, confirm receipt of deliveries and re-order when supplies run low. Ensure timely receipt of Product, BOLs/Packing Slips, & Invoices 

• Quality Control - Inspect and evaluate the quality of purchased items and resolve shortcomings. Monitor supplier performance and resolve issues and concerns. Ensure company purchasing and sustainability guidelines are being followed.  

• Negotiating Contracts – Create and manage contract terms and conditions that have been negotiated with vendor. Checks supplier invoices against original PO to confirm quantity & price, approve and submit documents to Accounting for payment. 

• Projecting Future Needs – Manage current inventory while strategizing with various departments and suppliers to ensure the organization’s future needs are met without disruptions. 

• Measure and report POS effectiveness. Both execution and effectiveness. Analyzing consumer insights into POS recognition, trail and awareness, and purchase intent. 

Sales Resources 

• Work with commercial strategy and category management team to feed consumer and customer insights into resources for commercial sales and distribution teams. 

• Partner with BI director to accelerate our data, reporting and analytics capability. Transforming data reporting into sales stories that increase instore execution that increase VPO and expand distribution. Owner of all sales sheets. 

• Prepare, maintain and evolve playbooks for Distribution Sales Teams (FSM/DPM/CSR/Field Scout). Own Rainforest Sales and Distribution site to maintain updated sales resources, reporting, and execution standards. One stop shop for all Sales and Distribution. Help facilitate trainings for latest sales programs. 

• Sales Blitz strategy and execution. Develop tools, resources, and planning to execute high performing market blitzes aligned with key account & distribution team monthly priorities 

• Own Independent instore merchandising agreement (IMA) program. Annually plan, assemble, track, and measure the performance of the companies IMA program. Align with Trade Pricing & Finance Lead to build and manage all IMA trade spend budgets. 

• Performance Management of instore execution. Distribution reporting. 3PDP performance, all self-distribution reporting needs, total distribution scorecards and rankers. 

• In store execution guidelines, evaluations, and reporting. To include priority placements, brand flow, display guidelines, POS placement 

Trade Shows 

• Work with marketing team on annual trade show program. Aligning key trade shows that intersect marketing programs and commercial retailer events.  
• Lead commercial retailer trade shows that benefit brand presence at events. Work with Key Accounts team to determine priority events during annual business planning. Leading to include all coordinating of event activation materials and onsite participation. 

Here’s what you’ll provide:

• High school diploma or GED
• Excellent sales skills
• Good mathematical skills
• Organizational skills and the ability to develop and maintain relationships with customers
• Must be at least 21 years old
• Preferred Prior Data Management in CPG Environment
• Additional Language skills an advantage

Travel & Physical Requirements:

• Travel is as needed for market support.
• Employee is regularly required to use hands to handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.
• Employee frequently is required to walk and sit.
• Employee is occasionally required to stand and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 25 pounds as needed.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
• Exposed to moving mechanical parts and outside weather conditions.
• Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• Various vehicle and equipment operations.

What we offer:

Yerba Madre—formerly Guayakí Yerba Mate—is the nearly 30-year pioneer of regenerative yerba mate [yer-bah ma-tay] and the category leader in ready-to-drink mate beverages across North America. The name Yerba Madre, meaning “Mother Herb,” is a tribute to Mother Earth and the ancestral wisdom of the Indigenous communities who have cultivated yerba mate for generations —a reflection of the values the brand has championed since day one. 

Headquartered in Sebastopol and Venice, California, Yerba Madre sources organic, shade-grown yerba mate in direct partnership with 255 family farmers and Indigenous communities across Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Using its Market Driven Regeneration™ model, every purchase helps reforest the Atlantic Forest, support fair trade premiums, and build long-term economic resilience for grower communities. 

In 2025, the brand became the world’s first yerba mate to achieve Regenerative Organic Certified™ Gold® status——setting a new global standard for ecological integrity, cultural respect, and environmental restoration. 

As an original founding member of the B Corp community and a founding member of the Purpose Pledge, Yerba Madre is committed to ethical business practices across ten key pillars, including climate positivity, living wages, circularity, and inclusion. Yerba Madre is available in over 45,000 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit www.YerbaMadre.com. 

Yerba Madre is an equal-opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will be treated with respect and receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, genetic information, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, uniform service, Veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law, including those with a criminal history, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the CA Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.