Distributor Deductions and Chargeback Specialist (UNFI / KeHE)

Company: True Sea Moss (DIVA FAM, Inc.) Type: Part-time to start (~15–20 hrs/week), contract/1099, remote - potential to expand to full-time Reports to: VP of Finance / CFO Works closely with: Accounting (controller, AP), Operations/Fulfillment, Sales/Broker management

Role objective

True Sea Moss sells DTC and is scaling its retail footprint through major distributors and brokers - UNFI, KeHE, Pod Foods, and Wegmans, among others. These distributors deduct chargebacks, billbacks, and commissions on a rolling basis, and our internal review has found these deductions are frequently unclear, unreconciled to actual orders, and in some cases overstated. Uncontested, UNFI and KeHE deductions can run ~3% of turnover.

The objective of this role is simple and measurable: recover and prevent invalid distributor deductions. This person owns the end-to-end deductions workflow for UNFI and KeHE - monitoring the portals, validating every charge against source documents, disputing what isn't owed, and giving Finance a clean, reconciled picture each week. The expected recovery is significant relative to its cost; this is treated as a margin-recovery function, not overhead.

Key responsibilities

• Monitor distributor portals daily/weekly. Track all incoming chargebacks, deductions, and billbacks in the UNFI and KeHE vendor portals in real time; register and maintain portal access.
• Validate every deduction against source documents. Reconcile chargebacks to the originating purchase orders, invoices, and EDI/SPS Commerce order data. Flag any deduction that does not tie out to an actual order or a contractual term.
• Dispute invalid and unsupported charges. Prepare and submit disputes, recalls, and claims through each distributor's required process; track each dispute to resolution and follow up on aging items.
• Reconcile commissions and billbacks. Confirm that broker/distributor commissions are calculated only on amounts contractually owed (e.g., on money actually received, excluding late-arriving billbacks where the contract specifies), and challenge miscalculations.
• Maintain a deductions log and recovery tracker. Keep a single source of truth: deduction type, amount, status, dispute date, outcome, and dollars recovered vs. written off.
• Reconcile to the books. Ensure deductions and recoveries are correctly recorded in the accounting system and reconcile to distributor remittances/statements; surface discrepancies to Accounting.
• Drive periodic reviews. Request and work through annual/periodic account reviews with UNFI and KeHE to understand and document the full deduction structure and additional conditions.
• Report to Finance. Provide a concise weekly summary of new deductions, disputes in flight, recoveries, and net exposure.
• Document the process. Build and maintain SOPs so the workflow is repeatable and auditable as volume grows.

Required qualifications

• Hands-on UNFI and/or KeHE accounting experience - direct experience working their vendor portals, deduction/chargeback processes, and dispute mechanisms (non-negotiable).
• Deductions/chargeback/claims management experience in CPG, food & beverage, or grocery distribution - understanding of how distributor deductions, billbacks, MCBs (manufacturer chargebacks), spoils, shortages, and post-audit claims work.
• EDI / SPS Commerce familiarity - ability to pull and reconcile order data to deductions.
• Strong reconciliation skills and advanced Excel/Google Sheets - comfortable matching large transaction sets, building trackers, and spotting anomalies.
• Persistence and a disputing mindset - willing to push back on distributors, follow up relentlessly, and document the case for each contested charge.
• Clear written communication - for distributor correspondence and concise internal reporting.
• Detail orientation and discretion - accurate work with confidential financial data, and reliable self-management in a remote, part-time arrangement.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience across multiple distributors/retailers (Pod Foods, Wegmans, Whole Foods / Greenspoon, Faire, etc.).
• Familiarity with QuickBooks Online.
• Understanding of retail/broker commission and trade-spend structures and how to read distributor agreements for deduction terms.
• Prior experience standing up or improving a deductions function from scratch.

Tools & systems

UNFI and KeHE vendor portals · SPS Commerce / EDI · QuickBooks Online (transitioning to NetSuite) · Excel / Google Sheets · email and the company's project/communication tools.

Success metrics (how the role is judged)

• Dollars recovered from disputed/invalid deductions (primary).
• Deduction rate trend - reduction in net UNFI/KeHE deductions as a % of turnover over time.
• Dispute cycle time - speed and win rate on contested charges.
• Reconciliation coverage - % of deductions tied to source documents within the period; no unexplained charges carried forward.
• Clean weekly reporting delivered to Finance on schedule.

Engagement & logistics

• Hours: ~15–20 hours/week to start, scaling with deduction volume; the role may transition to full-time if recovery and workload justify it.
• Arrangement: Contractor (1099) / part-time, remote.
• Onboarding priority: Register for portal access, build the initial deductions log, and complete a first reconciliation of recent UNFI and KeHE deductions against orders.

Note: This role is expected to pay for itself. Internal estimates suggest recoverable/avoidable distributor deductions exceed the cost of the position - and potentially exceed the marketing spend used to drive the underlying sales - making disciplined deduction management one of the highest-ROI finance functions in the business.