Director Business Development

Director Business Development

At our Company, we grow People, Brands, and Businesses! We are seeking a highly dynamic & talented Director of Business Development.

Take this opportunity to join North America's leading business solutions provider and build your career working with amazing people in a growing industry! Apply today!

What we offer:

Full-Time Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life)
• 401(k) with company match
• Training and Career Development
• Generous Paid Time-Off

Responsibilities:

Strategic Growth & Business Development

• Lead development and execution of strategic growth plans across key retail channels, leveraging category insights to identify whitespace opportunities and emerging trends.
• Drive new business acquisition and expansion within existing accounts by integrating consumer, shopper, and category data into compelling business cases.
• Partner with retail customers to co-develop growth strategies aligned to their category vision and merchandising priorities.

Category Management & Shopper Insights

• Oversee category management initiatives-including assortment optimization, planogram development, promotional analysis, and price pack architecture-to support customer growth strategies.
• Translate syndicated data (NielsenIQ, Circana/IRI, retailer POS, panel data) into actionable insights that shape brand and customer strategies.
• Lead category business reviews, "state of the category" presentations, and joint planning meetings with retail partners.
• Develop and implement training programs to elevate internal and external teams' category management capabilities.
• Champion data-driven selling by integrating shopper behavior insights, competitive analysis, and macro trends into long-range planning.

Customer & Retailer Leadership

• Serve as primary strategic partner to major retail accounts, delivering thought leadership grounded in category analytics and market performance.
• Collaborate closely with retailers' category management teams to secure distribution, improve shelf placement, and optimize promotional strategy.
• Build influential relationships with senior retail leaders to advance joint business plans and category growth agendas.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Marketing, Sales, Trade, Finance, and Supply Chain to align category strategies with brand activation plans and operational execution.
• Lead cross-functional teams in developing customer-specific innovation launches supported by category trends and shopper insights.
• Provide strategic guidance on product positioning, pack formats, pricing, and promotion architecture informed by category dynamics.

Analytics, Reporting, & P&L Ownership

• Oversee business performance analysis, including sales forecasting, consumption trends, retail performance metrics, and P&L management.
• Manage trade spend through ROI analytics and category-driven promotional planning.
• Build tools, dashboards, and scorecards to enhance visibility into category performance and customer KPIs.

Training, Development & Thought Leadership

• Lead training for internal sales and marketing teams on category management principles, syndicated data literacy, and datadriven selling frameworks.
• Develop best practices for category storytelling, assortment recommendations, and retailer insights communication.
• Act as a subject matter expert on category management, advising senior leadership and customer teams on trends, risks, and strategic opportunities.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience required; MBA Degree or equivalent experience preferred
• 8+ years of general/leadership experience in an operations environment, including P&L responsibility (budgeting, forecasting, etc.)
• Previous experience managing 10+ direct reports; Ability to manage and develop a team of 10 or more employees, including direct and indirect reports
• Experience working with major retail chains, and/or experience in consumer-packaged goods industry
• Excellent strategic thinking and process development skills
• Must be able to effectively handle multiple tasks and projects simultaneously in a highly complex environment

Job Will Remain Open Until Filled

The Company is one of North America's leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management and marketing services to manufacturers, suppliers and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The Company services a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass merchandise, specialty, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware, consumer electronics and home centers. We bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers, providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace today.

Position Summary:
The Director, Operations is responsible for executing overall operational strategy, overseeing the Business Unit P&L and business metrics and driving accountability of back-office teams in support of the Business Unit. The Director, Operations leads performance management, strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting initiatives, in addition to problem solving and process development. Focus on defining measurable results for the organization that enable and support outstanding program execution for our clients. Results will be attained through ensuring alignment between the operational capabilities of the organization with the business performance goals.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership:
Participate and contribute to all growth components of assigned division. This includes but is not limited to merger and acquisitions diligence, business development opportunities, cross team collaboration opportunities and product development. Responsibilities will include research, validation and optimization of operations data from due diligence during M&A, creation of business development materials, identifying opportunities across clients and being involved in the development of new products within the division (project management, design, product testing, etc.). Will aid in managing annual planning cycles and annual planning meeting to align with growth objectives.

Tactical Leadership:
Harness the operational capabilities of the organization to drive programs and processes while driving budgetary discipline; lead contract management; establish asset management capabilities within teams; provide monthly support to team through forecast and client invoicing process; act as liaison between division teams and back-office functions (TA, Finance, IS&T, etc.).

Operational Leadership:
Build processes and infrastructure to enable scalable, measurable and profitable growth; set expectations and interface closely with all stakeholders in the division on performance against execution goals; lead, track and manage a monthly performance scorecard for each team. Capture and manage data for teams around forecasting, financials actuals, employee retention, revenue per employee, YOY financials and operational trending and customer satisfaction.

Optimization:
Make adjustments and optimize service quality to maximize our one-to-one consumer interactions; work closely with other business leaders (i.e. Talent Acquisition, Finance, Legal, etc) to maximize processes; identify gaps and best practices in operational support to improve overall performance.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Direct Reports
- Hires, retains, trains, coaches, guides, directs, and develops direct reports using company-wide processes, tools and resources

Indirect Reports
- May delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports

Travel and/or Driving Requirements

- Travel and Driving are not essential duties or functions of this job

Minimum Qualifications:

The following are the minimum job-related qualifications which an individual needs in order to successfully perform the essential duties and responsibilities of the job

Education Level: (Required): Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
(Preferred): Master's Degree or equivalent experience

Field of Study/Area of Experience:

• 8+ years of general/leadership experience in an operations environment, including P&L responsibility (budgeting, forecasting, etc.)
• Previous experience managing 10+ direct reports
• Experience working with major retail chains, and/or experience in consumer package goods industry.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:

• Expert level influencing skills - ability to manage internal and external boundaries, set expectations, and build alignment at varying management levels/client interface
• Expert level execution skills - ability to coordinate mutually agreed expectations of what is promised to the customer into measurable business results
• Expert level credibility skills - ability to use personal effectiveness to link relationships, processes, and business methodologies with cost-saving activities
• Excellent strategic thinking and process development skills
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Must be able to effectively handle multiple tasks and projects simultaneously in a highly complex environment
• Team player with good people skills
• Ability to manage and develop a team of 10 or more employees, including direct and indirect reports

Environmental & Physical Requirements:

Office / Sedentary Requirements:
Incumbent must be able to perform the essential functions of the job. Work is performed primarily in an office environment. Typically requires the ability to sit for extended periods of time (66%+ each day), ability to hear the telephone, ability to enter data on a computer and may also require the ability to lift up to 10 pounds.

Additional Information Regarding The Company Job Duties and Job Descriptions

Job duties include additional responsibilities as assigned by one's supervisor or other manager related to the position/department. This job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for the position. The Company reserves the right at any time with or without notice to alter or change job responsibilities, reassign or transfer job position or assign additional job responsibilities, subject to applicable law. The Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable a qualified applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.

Any estimate, schedule, or guideline provided to associates in this job description or elsewhere in connection with their jobs is only intended to help describe job duties and for planning purposes. Regardless of any such estimate, schedule, or guideline, associates must always record all time worked for our company (which includes but is not limited to on-site work time in an assigned store, office, or other work location; required waiting time; administrative time; and work-related travel time).

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of associates so classified.

The Company is committed to providing equal opportunity in all employment practices without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental disability, or any other category protected by law. As part of this commitment, the Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable an applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.