Peets Coffee and Tea

Sr. Director, Sales

Peets Coffee and Tea$180K — $200K *
Food & Beverages
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Minimum 10 years of professional sales leadership experience, with a proven track record building and leading a direct, relationship-based sales team.
  • Coffee, specialty food, beverage, or hospitality industry background strongly preferred.
  • Experience working in ERP systems, using data to inform decisions.
  • Bachelor’s Degree required, or equivalent work experience.
  • Demonstrated experience as a coach-first leader who prioritizes team enablement and cross-functional collaboration.
  • An entrepreneurial, self-starter mentality with high adaptability and creative problem-solving skills.
  • Exceptional verbal, written, and executive-level communication skills.

Responsibilities

  • Drive decisions using metrics and analytics to forecast performance and make strategic choices.
  • Formulate and execute scalable sales strategies to achieve revenue targets and expand market share.
  • Own the sales budget and partner with finance to ensure accountability to financial targets.
  • Serve as an active coach and mentor, teaching essential sales skills and supporting team growth.
  • Inspire and motivate the team to deeply understand and execute company goals and processes.
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with key accounts, distributors, and retail partners.
  • Develop and implement go-to-market strategies for new product offerings.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental and vision insurance
  • Company-paid long & short-term disability and life insurance
  • Paid vacation and sick time
  • 401(k) eligible after 90 days of employment with company match after one year
  • 8 Paid holidays per year
  • Commuter benefits
  • Free bag of coffee each week with a discount on other items
  • Employee Assistance Program
Full Job Description

Worker Type:

Employee

Job Description:

The Senior Director of Sales leads our wholesale sales team, most of whom sell directly to independent coffee shops, restaurants, cafes, and hotels, along with a smaller distributor relationship and a small portfolio of specialty grocery accounts. We aren't just looking for someone to fill the top sales job; we need a leader with a builder mentality who inspires and motivates the team to understand our goals, execute our processes, and achieve extraordinary results. 

Most sales leadership roles ask you to manage an existing pipeline and keep the engine running. This isn't that job.  We’re looking for a Growth Builder - a strategic, data-obsessed leader who thrives on potential and market dominance. We deliver extraordinary coffee to the world, and we need a leader who brings that same unyielding commitment to excellence to our sales organization. 

If you’re driven by coaching talent, leveraging data to outmaneuver the competition, and scaling revenue systems, let’s talk.

Role is based in New York (NYC), Chicago or Los Angeles.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Pipeline Management 

  • Drive Decisions: Utilize pipelines, metrics, and analytics to forecast performance, manage the sales funnel, and make sound, objective strategic decisions. 

  • Execute Strategy & Growth: Formulate and execute scalable sales strategies to achieve revenue targets, expand market share, and optimize lead generation, conversion, and retention. 

  • Sales Budget Ownership: Own the sales budget and partner with finance to stay accountable to financial targets. 

  • Adaptability & Execution: Manage key performance indicators; pivot quickly when results are off to sort through real data versus excuses to resolve underlying obstacles.

2. Magnify Your Power

  • Active Coaching: Serve as an active coach and mentor who teaches essential skills, guides strategy, and supports the team, resisting the urge to jump in and close deals for them.

  • Inspire & Motivate: You turn strategy into inspiration. You make sure every person on your team deeply understands the why behind our goals and the how of our processes.  They execute flawlessly with our customers to show “every detail matters.”

  • Coach & Scale: Hire and lead your top-tier sales talent aligned with our values. Nurture high-potential individuals and facilitate career progression.

3. Market Expansion & Partnerships

  • Key Account Management: Build and maintain strong, strategic relationships with major key accounts, distributors, and retail partners.

  • Go-to-Market Execution: Develop and implement comprehensive go-to-market strategies for new initiatives, including expanded foodservice distribution and our new product lines including Ready-to-Drink.

  • Brand & Product Alignment: Champion brand standards across all sales touchpoints and maintain a tight feedback loop between the sales team, marketing, and product innovation. 

Qualifications & Requirements

  • Minimum 10 years of professional sales leadership experience, with a proven track record building and leading a direct, relationship-based sales team.

  • Coffee, specialty food, beverage, or hospitality industry background strongly preferred.

  • Experience working in ERP systems, using data to inform decisions.

  • Bachelor’s Degree required, or equivalent work experience.

  • Demonstrated experience as a coach-first leader who prioritizes team enablement, cross-functional collaboration, and active mentoring over individual selling.

  • An entrepreneurial, self-starter mentality with high adaptability, creative problem-solving skills, and a passion for revenue and growth.

  • Exceptional verbal, written, and executive-level communication skills.

  • Ability to travel, sometimes on weekends or evenings.

  • Driver’s license is required

Work Environment / Physical Requirements

  • Regularly required to see, talk, and hear

  • Frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, and stoop, kneel, or crouch

  • Office and retail environments,

  • Noise level is generally moderate

  • Fine hand manipulation (keyboard use)

  • May require more than 40 hours per week to fulfill essential duties

Benefits

  • Medical, dental and vision insurance

  • Company-paid long & short-term disability and life insurance

  • Paid vacation and sick time

  • 401(k) eligible after 90 days of employment and a company match after one year

  • 8 Paid holidays per year

  • Commuter benefits

  • Free bag of coffee each week with a discount on other items

  • Employee Assistance Program

Compensation

The pay rate for this position is $180,000-200,000 as base pay. This role carries an additional incentive eligibility of $50,000-60,000 between commissions and the annual bonus plan.

To counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity, we are publicizing salary information for this role.   This is also required by multiple state laws in which we operate.  From a candidate’s perspective, our salary range takes into account a number of factors, including skill sets, experience, education and the training needed for the role.  From a company perspective, it includes organizational needs, budgets and internal equity considerations.  It is not typical for an individual to be hired at the top of our range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.  We are honest and open about our pay and hope that you will be, too, to avoid miscommunication or frustration at the offer stage.

If you reside outside of the Chicago/LA/NYC areas, please include a cover letter regarding your plans to relocate. Only candidates in these cities will be considered otherwise. Applicants must be currently authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa.

About Peets Coffee and Tea

Peet's Coffee is a specialty coffee roaster and retailer headquartered in Emeryville, California. The company was founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California. Peet was an early tea authority who later became widely recognized as the grandfather of specialty coffee in the United States. Peet's Coffee offers freshly roasted beans, brewed coffee and espresso drinks, as well as a variety of pastries, sandwiches, and other food items. The company operates more than 200 stores in the United States and abroad.
Learn more about Peets Coffee and Tea
Size
5,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1966

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Peets Coffee and Tea

More Food & Beverages Jobs

Find similar Sr. Director, Sales jobs: