Customer Experience Specialist | GASTRO - Full-time

div class="content-intro"pspan style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;"strongABOUT ALBERT USTER IMPORTS/strong/span/p pspan style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;"Albert Uster Imports, Inc. (“AUI”) is a privately held gourmet food company headquartered in the Washington, DC area (Gaithersburg, MD) with warehouse locations in Kansas City, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Gurnee and Gaithersburg. AUI falls under the Vestar Capital Partners portfolio with affiliate organization, Roland Foods, LLC./span/p pspan style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;"Founded in 1968, the company offers over 1,400 products from around the world. We serve leading hotels, restaurants, casinos, cruise lines, airlines, and manufacturers with innovative, high quality products and solutions to their most demanding culinary challenges. We operate a network of distribution centers across the U.S. and serve select international markets as well. AUI has a national direct selling organization of over 60 sales professionals and a staff of culinary experts (chefs and food scientists) adept at custom product solutions./span/p pnbsp;/p/divpspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongABOUT THE ROLE /strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"The strongCustomer Experience Specialist | GASTROnbsp;/strongprovides additional administrative, operational, and analytical support to the Customer Experience Gastro Team as well as general support for inbound customers./span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"This role reports to the Customer Experience Manager and partners closely with them to provide operational and administrative support to the CE Associate team as directed by the CE Manager. nbsp;nbsp;/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"The CE Gastro Specialist will be assigned specific tasks related to specialized operational needs within the CE Gastro team. These tasks may include but are not limited to management of special orders, handling resolution of highly escalated customer issues, and management of supervisor overrides for emergency shipping situations etc./span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"The ideal candidate must be able to multi-task and prioritize multiple projects across varying segments in a busy environment accurately, efficiently, and with a high level of attention to detail. They must be able to balance and satisfy competing deadlines while maintaining professionalism under pressure and in sensitive and difficult situations./span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"emAs a response to the pandemic, Albert Uster Imports office employees have transitioned to a hybrid working schedule, requiring employees to report in-person Monday through Wednesday, with the option to telework on Thursday and Friday each week. Due to the collaborative, cross-functional nature of the organization, employees at the Gaithersburg office are required to work in-person for the abovementioned days, outside of any People amp; Culture-approved disability accommodation request./em/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongnbsp;/strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongRESPONSIBILITIES/strong/span/p ul li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Provide operational support to the Gastro Territory Manager team by timely and accurately entering and updating customer orders, quotes, and sales activities in the CRM platform/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Process orders. Communicate and follow up on all aspects of order entry including item availability, pricing, shipping timelines, special requirements, labeling, and delivery changes/charges/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Ensure data integrity within the CRM platform by routinely reviewing and updating customer profiles/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Provide support for communication between Territory Managers and their respective customer base, including inquiries related to orders, deliveries, logistics, sampling, pricing, and products/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Proactively identify customer issues and communicate with internal teams (Distribution, Purchasing, Quality, Finance, etc.) and the assigned Territory Manager to resolve any order discrepancies or delays/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Responsible for timely invoice uploading on customer platforms, including Coupa, Sodexo, SPS Commerce/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Manage logistics and shipping exceptions, including filing and resolving claims related to damaged or lost shipments/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Assist with order entry for iFi Gourmet Provisions website/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Act as point of escalation, review, and decision making for Associates, including but not limited to override requests for overnight shipping, price adjustments, and high-cost orders (over $2,000.00), ensuring accuracy and timely processing/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Independently manage and resolve escalated customer issues to successful resolution/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Provide real-time coaching and mentorship to Associates on call handling and customer interactions, taking the lead on training for current and new team members/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Additional ad-hoc responsibilities as requested/span/li /ul pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongnbsp;/strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongQUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS/strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongRequired/strong/span/p ul li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"3-5 years’ experience in customer service, customer operations, purchasing/logistics associate or relevant roles that required comfort in both over the phone and email communication/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Ability to gain Microsoft Dynamics proficiency rapidly with adequate training/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Excellent written and oral communication skills/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Excellent relationship-building skills/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Experience working cross-functionally to solve problems/span/li /ul pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongPreferred/strong/span/p ul li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Associate’s degree plus relevant experience in a sales organization/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Fluency in the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint)/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Experience with other CRM platforms and SharePoint/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"A true desire to solve problems and support customers/span/li li style="font-size: 10pt;"span style="font-size: 10pt;"Familiarity with hospitality and/or foodservice industry a plus/span/li /ul pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongnbsp;/strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongSALARY RANGE/strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"AUI Fine Foods hires exceptional people to perform a wide variety of important functions that contribute to the success of the Company. One of the ways AUI Fine Foods does that is through a competitive compensation package. The base hourly rate for this role will be $28.00 – $33.00./span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"strongThis role is bonus eligible./strong/span/p pspan style="font-size: 10pt;"Based on your qualifications, previous experience, and transferrable skills, the Company will determine at its sole discretion the salary offered./span/pdiv class="content-conclusion"pspan style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;"Founded by immigrants, AUI amp; Roland Foods knows that diversity is the spice of life. We believe in the power of food to open minds, spark adventure, and bring diverse people together.nbsp;nbsp;All are welcome at our table! We know the transformative value of food in individual lives and communities. Because of this, we insist on obtaining the highest-quality ingredients and talent!/span/p pspan style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;"AUI is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. AUI considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. AUI is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at a href="mailto:peopleandculture@rolandfoods.com"peopleandculture@rolandfood.com/a./span/p pspan style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;"Please read Albert Uster Import’s California Job Applicant Privacy Policy a href="https://secure.auifinefoods.com/privacy-policy-for-california-job-applicants"span style="text-decoration: underline;"here/span/a./span/p pnbsp;/p/div