Director, North America Sales

Vitamix is unquestionably the premium brand of high-performance “blenders,” and known for its top-notch company culture and climate. It is an important component of what makes Vitamix unique and successful, and the reason why Vitamix is recognized as a Top Workplace, NorthCoast99 Winner, and Smart Culture Award recipient.

Throughout its 100 year history, Vitamix has encouraged and promoted healthy lifestyles for both its customers and employees. Employees enjoy multiple wellness programs and perks, a free Vitamix machine, and an onsite fitness center. Vitamix also offers a flexible work environment, great work culture, healthy living initiatives like fitness reimbursements, and opportunities for advancement.

For consumers, Vitamix can be found domestically in places like William Sonoma, Sur la Table, Crate & Barrel, Target, Amazon, and at Vitamix.com, and is in over 130 countries around the world.

Ultimately, Vitamix is the Global-leader in high-performance blending solutions for home and commercial use, is preferred by chefs and is found in many of top restaurants around the world. It is relied upon by culinary schools in the U.S. and has been used to train thousands of students and master chefs worldwide. If it is not a Vitamix, it’s just a blender.

Vitamix is seeking a Director, North America Retail Sales who will be responsible for designing, leading, and implementing overall strategic direction of the NA Retail Sales team in alignment with Vitamix goals and objectives in order to drive sales velocity, improve profitability, and expand brand awareness. The Director will lead a team of internal and external account representatives who ensure that our machines are strategically placed in retailers to encourage end-user purchase. This strategic leadership role involves collaborating with internal teams, developing tailored business strategies, and ensuring the successful execution of retail programs to meet company goals and maximize profitability. The successful candidate will have prior experience leading a progressive sales team while managing key customer relationships and closing strategic opportunities.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategic business plans to achieve sales budget and targets, maximize profitability, and ensure alignment with company objectives.
• Analyzes customer, market and competitor activity, develops strategic recommendations and/or solutions (e.g. promotions), and drives the implementation of initiatives.
• Provides detailed and accurate sales forecasts based on POS and data-driven assumptions to Finance, Planning and Operations. Oversees sales forecasting team.
• Develops and manages key customer relationships and identifies additional strategic opportunities. Oversees key Retailers across North America, inclusive of Costco, Target, Best Buy and Williams Sonoma.
• Negotiate and manage contracts, pricing structures, and promotional initiatives with key retail partners to ensure mutually beneficial agreements.
• Generates and directs selling strategies that align with Vitamix’s vision and strategy while minimizing channel tension.
• Interfaces with and advises senior executives on customer, market and competitor activity to ensure alignment on strategies, culture, policies and business priorities.
• Collaborates with Marketing to design and execute channel-specific promotions and merchandising strategies.
• Ensures optimal product assortment, placement, and visibility across all relevant retail store formats.
• Monitor and report on key performance metrics, providing insights and recommendations to senior leadership for continuous improvement.
• Cultivate and nurture strong, long-term relationships with retail executives, ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including marketing, product development, and logistics, to deliver customized retail solutions and drive product distribution.
• Builds talent and develops high performing and motivated teams to carry out the strategic plan.
  
  

The Ideal Candidate Will Also Possess

• Alignment with Vitamix’s culture and Guiding Principles which defines its Purpose, Mission, and Values.
• Proficient in Tableau (or alternative BI tool), Microsoft Office, especially Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel
• Possesses and displays excellent verbal and written communication skills with ability to convey information in a clear, focused and concise manner
• Strong leadership skills to broadly influence and effectively forge partnerships both internally and externally
• Strong people leadership including setting a vision, motivating people toward it and the delivery of exceptional results under tough conditions
• Possesses presentation skills for communication to various internal groups
• Expert level understanding of the retail industry (consumer goods is preferred)
• Possesses dynamic presentation skills for communication to external organizations and groups, as needed, on employment or Company topics. Must have experience making effective presentations to large and varied groups
• Demonstrated ability to identify, understand, and drive resolution of complex critical issues
• Proven strategic planning skills with ability to create and direct major change initiatives
• Ability to collect data, define problems, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions
• Ability to travel up to 25%
• Bachelor's Degree in Business or related field
• Master’s Degree is preferred
• 5 years of successful experience leading a team
• Progressive experience in managing key customer relationships and closing strategic opportunities
• Extensive experience in sales, preferably within Consumer Goods
• Experience with national retailer accounts preferred, experience with Canada and Mexico is a plus
  
  

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.