Director of Sales
Eagle
Compensation: $130,000 annual base salary, with additional earning potential through performance-based bonuses
Position summary
The Director of Sales leads Eagle's field sales organization to deliver profitable growth, strong customer relationships, and disciplined market execution. This leader turns Eagle, supplier, and marketing priorities into a clear annual plan, focused monthly priorities, and account-level action across chain, independent, On-Premise, and Off-Premise customers.
The Director leads sales managers and works closely with Sales Support, Marketing, Finance, Operations, S&OP, and supplier partners. The role is accountable for the quality of the sales-management system as well as commercial results. That includes sales-plan delivery, gross profit, distribution, retail standards, customer experience, talent development, sales expense, inventory health, and compliance.
What success looks like
- Eagle delivers its approved sales and gross-profit plan through focused field priorities, timely course correction, and accountable execution.
- Sales managers spend their time coaching, inspecting the market, solving root causes, and developing people.
- Priority accounts receive the right coverage, programs are executed to standard, and Eagle earns distribution, space, displays, and lasting customer trust.
- Sales, Marketing, Operations, S&OP, and Finance work from aligned plans that account for customer demand, supplier commitments, service capacity, and inventory risk.
- The sales organization develops capable leaders, maintains a healthy bench, and acts quickly on performance gaps.
Core responsibilitiesCommercial strategy and performance
- Lead the sales organization's annual planning process and own field delivery of the approved plan. Translate company, supplier, and marketing priorities into practical channel, territory, route, and account actions.
- Set a regular operating rhythm that includes weekly sales-leadership reviews, monthly business and P&L reviews, field work-withs, ride-withs, account audits, and documented coaching follow-up.
- Use sales, gross-profit, case-equivalent volume, distribution, display, reset, execution, customer, expense, and market data to find gaps early and lead clear corrective action.
- Manage the sales expense budget. Partner with Finance on forecasts, financial performance, sales-plan risks, and decisions that protect profitable growth.
- Lead territory, coverage, and resource decisions that give each channel and customer segment the attention required to grow the business.
- Partner with Marketing on portfolio priorities, pricing, trade investment, supplier business plans, supply planning, and the marketing calendar. Own sales-side readiness, field adoption, market feedback, and execution results.
Field execution and customer leadership
- Establish and maintain Eagle's retail standards for distribution, pricing, shelf and cooler condition, placements, displays, promotions, resets, rotation, and account condition.
- Lead market work-withs, ride-withs, and audits that improve sales-call quality, manager coaching, execution, and long-term market development.
- Maintain senior relationships with priority customers. Lead business reviews, resolve material customer issues, and identify opportunities that improve mutual growth and profitability.
- Make sure sales leaders and teams execute launches, supplier programs, displays, promotions, and resets as approved and capture useful results for the next decision.
- Monitor competitive activity, customer feedback, and market changes. Turn those signals into specific account, territory, or channel actions.
Leadership and talent development
- Lead assigned sales leaders with clear responsibilities, performance standards, consistent feedback, and timely decisions.
- Hire, onboard, train, coach, develop, and retain sales leaders in partnership with Human Resources. Build succession plans and bench strength for key roles.
- Hold managers accountable for team results, retail-audit quality, training completion, customer-service and operational performance, and talent health.
- Protect managers' time for leadership work. Managers should coach, inspect execution, develop people, and address market problems instead of routinely filling frontline coverage gaps.
- Set clear baseline leadership expectations. Use scorecards and Pay for Performance measures to reinforce results, retail standards, field execution, and people development.
Cross-functional execution and operational stewardship
- Partner with Sales Support on staffing, relief coverage, merchandising, resets, special events, strategic-account support, and cost management.
- Partner with Operations and S&OP on demand plans, new-product launches, inventory availability, forecast accuracy, service requirements, aging inventory, returns, finished product loss, and out-of-code risk.
- Partner with Marketing, Chain/KAM, Portfolio, and supplier teams on annual business plans, account programs, authorizations, customer presentations, and program performance. Sales owns field execution and feedback within those partnerships.
- Communicate material risks, tradeoffs, and decisions to Executive Leadership with enough context to act.
Standards, compliance, and culture
- Embed Eagle's Vision, Values and Ways of Working throughout the sales organization.
- Lead with sound judgment, integrity, respect, and accountability in every customer, supplier, and employee interaction.
- Ensure compliance with applicable alcohol-beverage, trade-practice, safety, privacy, and company requirements.
- Protect confidential customer, supplier, employee, and company information.
Minimum qualifications
- Eight or more years of progressive sales experience in beverage alcohol, beverage, CPG, foodservice, or wholesale distribution.
- Experience leading sales managers or a multi-level sales organization.
- A record of building annual sales plans, running business reviews, and improving performance against revenue, volume, gross-profit, distribution, or execution goals.
- Financial fluency with P&L statements, budgets, sales forecasts, and commercial performance data.
- Strong written, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills with customers, suppliers, and internal leaders.
- Ability to travel regularly within the assigned market for customer, supplier, and team meetings.
Preferred qualifications
- Direct experience in beverage-alcohol distribution across On-Premise, Off-Premise, chain, and independent accounts.
- Experience with supplier business planning, pricing and promotion execution, category or account strategy, and inventory-risk management.
- Experience using sales, ERP, CRM, and reporting systems such as Encompass or comparable platforms.
- Knowledge of applicable alcohol-beverage and trade-practice requirements.
- Bachelor's degree in business or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Work setting
This leadership role regularly works in the market with customers and sales teams and also performs planning and business-review work in an office setting. Eagle will consider qualified applicants who can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.
