Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Chemistry, Consumer Products, Supply Chain, or related field required; MBA preferred.
7-10 years of progressive sales or commercial leadership experience in consumer products or retail.
Proven private-label experience with retailer-owned brand programs.
Experience selling directly to various retail sectors including mass, drug, and specialty.
Strong understanding of retail customer development and private-label commercialization.
Demonstrated ability to develop retailer-specific product concepts.
Strong financial acumen in pricing strategy and customer profitability.
Responsibilities
Develop and execute a retail private-label growth strategy for national and regional customers.
Identify and pursue new business opportunities in private-label personal care categories.
Build and maintain an 80/20 target account strategy for revenue and market growth.
Position PLZ as a trusted partner through product innovation and supply chain reliability.
Monitor trends and competitive activity to identify growth opportunities.
Develop and maintain relationships with key customer stakeholders.
Manage broker networks and ensure alignment with strategic growth priorities.
Benefits
Medical, Dental & Vision benefits.
Company paid Life and Short-Term disability.
Voluntary benefits including additional life and disability insurance.
401k with company match.
Paid Time Off.
Bonus incentive programs based on performance.
Full Job Description
The Sales Director - Retail Private Brands, Personal Care Solutions will serve as the architect for building PLZ's retail private-label personal care business from the ground up. This leader will be responsible for building, hunting, and growing the business by developing a prioritized retailer/customer strategy, identifying where PLZ has a right to win, pursuing attractive category and assortment gaps, and differentiating PLZ through its manufacturing, innovation, quality, regulatory, and commercialization capabilities.
The Sales Director will combine an entrepreneurial builder/hunter mindset with strong influence, collaboration, and execution discipline. This role will work closely with the Retail Category Director and other team members to develop and execute the retail private-label growth strategy, convert new business, manage broker relationships, lead retailer-specific product concepts, and bring the broader organization along to successfully launch profitable programs.
Key Responsibilities:
Retail Growth Strategy
Work with the Retail Category Director and other team members to develop and execute a retail private-label personal care growth strategy focused on building PLZ's presence from the ground up across prioritized national and regional retail customers.
Develop a prioritized retailer/customer strategy that defines where PLZ has a right to win, which categories and assortment gaps to pursue, and how PLZ will differentiate its value proposition with each targeted customer.
Identify, prioritize, and pursue new business opportunities in attractive private-label personal care categories, including skin care, hair care, bath and body, sun care, deodorants/antiperspirants, shave, and adjacent personal care segments.
Build and maintain an 80/20 target account strategy focused on customers and opportunities that drive new-business revenue, profitability, margin expansion, and strategic market growth.
Position PLZ as a trusted private-label partner offering product innovation, category insight, regulatory compliance, supply chain reliability, scalable manufacturing capabilities, and speed-to-market execution.
Monitor consumer trends, retailer strategies, competitive activity, and category insights to identify assortment gaps, innovation platforms, and retailer-specific growth opportunities.
Customer Development & Relationship Management
Develop and maintain relationships with retail buyers, private brand leaders, category managers, sourcing teams, procurement leaders, broker partners, and other key customer stakeholders.
Lead customer presentations, innovation reviews, assortment gap discussions, line reviews, RFP/RFQ processes, pricing negotiations, and annual business planning activities.
Develop retailer-specific product concepts and account strategies that align customer needs with PLZ's manufacturing, innovation, quality, regulatory, supply chain, and financial objectives.
Serve as the primary commercial point of contact for assigned customers and prospective accounts while influencing internal stakeholders to support customer priorities and launch requirements.
Represent the organization at industry conferences, retailer meetings, trade shows, and personal care industry events.
Establish performance expectations, account priorities, business development objectives, and opportunity tracking processes.
Ensure partner activities align with strategic growth priorities and targeted customer opportunities.
Drive accountability for customer engagement, pipeline progression, and new business development results.
Pipeline, Pricing, & Commercial Execution
Own the sales pipeline from prospecting through commercialization, including opportunity qualification, RFPs/RFQs, pricing, contract negotiations, customer onboarding, forecasting, and successful business launch.
Drive accountability for new-business revenue, profitability, pipeline development, forecast accuracy, launch readiness, and post-launch performance.
Maintain accurate CRM reporting on opportunity size, probability, timing, financial impact, risks, customer requirements, and next steps.
Partner with Finance and business leadership to evaluate pricing, margins, customer profitability, investment decisions, and commercial trade-offs.
Drive disciplined portfolio and opportunity management to maximize strategic and financial value.
Analyze win/loss performance and implement continuous improvement actions to strengthen commercial effectiveness.
Cross-Functional Commercialization
Partner with R&D, Product Development, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Procurement, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Customer Service teams to successfully commercialize new products and programs.
Translate customer requirements into executable project plans, including product specifications, formulations, packaging, regulatory requirements, testing, launch timelines, and operational readiness.
Ensure customer commitments align with manufacturing capabilities, quality standards, lead times, and service expectations.
Facilitate issue resolution and remove barriers that could impact customer approval, commercialization, or launch timelines.
Support post-launch business reviews and account growth initiatives to expand customer partnerships.
Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Chemistry, Consumer Products, Supply Chain, or related field required; MBA preferred.
Minimum 7-10 years of progressive sales, business development, or commercial leadership experience within consumer products, retail, private label, personal care, beauty, or related industries.
Mandatory: Proven private-label experience, including direct involvement with retailer-owned brand or store brand programs.
Mandatory: Experience selling directly to retailers, including mass, drug, grocery, club, specialty, beauty, or regional retail customers.
Mandatory: Experience managing brokers, sales agencies, or external commercial partners.
Strong understanding of retail customer development, private-label commercialization, category management, line reviews, RFP/RFQ processes, assortment gap identification, and retailer decision-making processes.
Demonstrated ability to develop retailer-specific product concepts and translate customer/category insights into commercially viable programs.
Proven ability to build, prioritize, and convert a strategic sales pipeline within complex retail environments.
Strong financial acumen, including pricing strategy, margin management, customer profitability, demand forecasting, launch economics, and business case development.
Experience working cross-functionally with Product Development, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Procurement, Finance, Marketing, and Customer Service teams.
Strong executive-level communication, negotiation, presentation, influence, and collaboration skills.
Entrepreneurial, highly accountable builder/hunter who can create a new business while bringing the broader organization along and leveraging capabilities already in place.
Personal care experience is strongly preferred, particularly in categories such as skin care, hair care, bath and body, sun care, deodorants/antiperspirants, shave, or related consumer product segments.
Contract manufacturing and branded-product experience are preferred, not required.
CRM proficiency required.
WORK ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Hybrid or remote office environment with extensive use of computer, phone, and video conferencing technology. Preferred location is the Chicago area to support proximity to PLZ headquarters, Coal City, and strategic retail customers; Minneapolis may also be considered.
Travel will be required for customer meetings, broker engagement, training, company events, and manufacturing site visits.
PLZ Corp offers a robust suite of benefits including:
Medical, Dental & Vision benefits.
Company paid Life and Short-Term disability.
Voluntary benefits including additional life, disability, and hospital/accident insurance.
401k & company provided match.
Paid Time Off
Bonus incentive programs (Note, bonuses are subject to the rules governing the program, whereby an award, if any, depends on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance.)
