Trade Specialist

Trade Specialist

The Trade Specialist serves as a critical liaison between the centralized trade organization, client-facing sales teams, and internal shared services. This role provides analytical, systems, and reconciliation expertise to support trade investment accuracy and effectiveness across Grocery, Natural, and Small Format channels. The Trade Specialist independently manages complex client systems, drives exception resolution, and ensures alignment between contractual agreements, customer execution, and financial settlement processes.

Responsibilities include:

• Serving as a subject matter expert in client trade systems, ensuring accurate setup, maintenance, and interpretation of contracts, rates, dates, and product details.
• Performing detailed contract and system comparisons to proactively identify discrepancies, risks, and downstream financial impacts.
• Auditing customer trade events and deductions at a predefined depth to validate compliance with contract terms and trade policies.
• Leading timely and accurate reconciliation efforts by aligning customer deduction timing, client requests, and internal balance management.
• Owning key performance indicators related to open deductions, providing routine and ad hoc reporting to Sales, Clients, and Global Business Services.
• Analyzing trends in trade discrepancies and deduction activity to identify root causes and recommend process improvements.
• Partnering closely with Global Business Services to resolve issues, provide customer documentation, and refine Standard Operating Procedures.
• Facilitating recurring cross-functional operating cadences (daily, weekly, monthly) to ensure transparency, alignment, and issue resolution.
• Acting as a trusted point of escalation for complex trade and deduction inquiries, exercising sound judgment and commercial acumen.

Qualifications include:

• Associate's degree preferred; concentration in Business, Finance, Accounting, Supply Chain, or 3-5+ years related field preferred.
• An equivalent combination of relevant education, training, and professional experience will be considered in lieu of degree.
• Demonstrated experience working with trade management systems, financial reconciliation, or customer accounts within a CPG or consumer business environment preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel (data analysis, reconciliation, reporting).
• Strong analytical and critical-thinking capabilities with the ability to interpret complex data and draw actionable conclusions.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound business judgment, prioritize competing demands, and work independently.
• Proven problem-solving skills with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex trade concepts to cross-functional partners.

Acosta is a part of Acosta Group – a collective of the industry's most trusted retail, marketing, and foodservice agencies reimagining the way people connect with brands at every point in their shopping journey. Specializing in retail sales services, digital strategy, and business intelligence, Acosta empowers brands to thrive in the world of omnichannel shopping. Our sales and digital teams build lasting relationships, ensuring our client brands get the space they deserve in stores and outperform the competition online, while our merch reps make brands shine in retail locations across the world. But it's not just about what we do – it's about who we are. With a team of over 20,000 associates, we're a community of forward-thinking, value-driven professionals committed to an unmatched level of trust and transparency in the industry. And, we understand the importance of work-life balance, which is why many of our field roles provide our associates with flexible scheduling options. Join us and be a part of a team that values growth and making a real impact for our clients, retail partners, and their customers.