Associate Director, Sales and Business Development

Job Type

Full-time

Description

At Kaspien, when our partners grow, we grow. We empower brands to reach their e-commerce goals through innovative creative assets, proprietary technology, tailored strategies, and mutually beneficial relationships. Through the incredible passion, tenacity, and bootstrap mentality of our employees, Kaspien has grown into the ultimate online growth partner, and our team remains energized by the hard-working, curious, spirited culture we've nurtured since day one.

Founded in 2012, Kaspien-a pioneer in online reseller and agency sales-leverages its experience, technology, and services to manage our partners' 3P ecommerce marketplace presence on Amazon, Target+ and Walmart. Kaspien provides its retail and agency brand partners with seller account management, online advertising management, search strategy, business planning, compliance support, and performance reporting services. Our target partners in this space range from small, first-to-market brands to full-scale, enterprise brands.

At Kaspien, we are constantly seeking creative and highly motivated employees who take ownership of their work, want their contributions to foster meaningful growth for the company as well as for their own careers, and look for an environment where they can have a little fun while working. We aspire to build an elite, growth-minded team where everyone looks forward to getting to tackling problems, are open to new ideas, and are equally adept at issue spotting and problem solving. We think big, we run towards challenges and not away from them, we learn from our mistakes, and we try harder.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Associate Director, Sales and Business Development, is responsible for identifying, prospecting, pre-qualifying, and negotiating new partner relationships. You will efficiently negotiate terms and close deals with new partners. Internally, you will work with departmental stakeholders including compliance, marketing, account management, operations and tech to assess operational, economic and technological feasibility prior to committing to new partnerships.

We are looking for candidates who exhibit strong analytical and interpersonal skills with the ability to work in a fast-paced climate with significant autonomy. You will communicate with senior stakeholders within the Kaspien leadership team, as well as work with decision makers at companies outside and within our sales pipeline. The candidate is as comfortable working on sales strategy and design, as they are rolling-up their sleeves and driving implementation. They have demonstrated the ability to build customized ecommerce partnership solutions, drive process improvement, standardize procedures and negotiate effectively.

The Associate Director also serves as the people leader within the Sales and Business Development team, and reports into the Vice President, Revenue. This role is responsible for leading our business development and lead generation team through strategic planning, process management, business reviews, performance management, and partner negotiations / escalations management. The Associate Director serves as a true player/coach, as this role is responsible for driving both new partner-attributed revenue through conversions, as well as championing the Sales and Business Development team within the broader Kaspien organization.

Essential Job Functions:

• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the ecommerce industry, including competition. Strong experience hunting and closing enterprise-level partnerships
• Build and maintain a pipeline of opportunities and provide key metrics and regular forecasts
• Meet or exceed new-business revenue targets. Measure performance, articulate root-cause analysis, and link to specific improvement areas
• Earn trust of partners and recommend product / service solutions that fit their ecommerce business needs. Negotiate with external partners on contract terms
• Engage with internal and external business teams and stakeholders to identify opportunities to streamline pipeline process while maintaining sufficient scrutiny to properly pre-qualify partner prospects
• All other duties as assigned

Requirements

Knowledge, Education, and Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing or related field
• 3+ years of successful quota carrying sales within the retail and/or ecommerce industries

Required Skills:

• Confidence utilizing P&L/retail math/sales performance data (dashboards and raw, unfiltered spreadsheet data) to assess account health and growth opportunities
• This job will require strong communication skills while having the ability to work independently in a high-pressure, and often ambiguous, work environment. Confidence communicating up, down and across the organization
• Experience with Netsuite CRM, Asana, Power BI, PacVue and/or SmartScout
• Excellent time manager and task prioritizer (as an individual contributor and people leader)
• Expert conflict resolution skills - creating calm out of chaos
• Thrives working in a remote / WFH environment

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Train, mentor, coach and develop a team of 5-7 business development representatives ("BDR") and lead generation specialists
• Conduct weekly 1:1s, lead weekly team meetings
• Establish quarterly performance goals, monitor progress, and course correct with each team member as needed
• Participate in hiring loops
• Provide support on initiatives impacting our full agency, partial agency and/or SaaS partners or processes, as needed

Work Environment:

• Work from home/remote work-eligible role (Spokane, WA-based candidates may choose to work at our headquarters facility or work remotely)
• To maintain appropriate productivity and performance, remote employees should choose a work environment that is free from distractions, has a reliable internet connection, and supports the employee's ability to dedicate their full attention to their job duties during working hours
• Remote employees must be reachable and responsive by telephone, web meeting sites and email during work hours
• Employees are expected to participate fully, regularly and consistently in company meetings, team meetings and check-ins with management and their teams

Physical Demands:

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to regularly talk, hear, see and operate a computer, keyboard and mouse
• Occasionally lift, pull/push and carry up to 15 pounds
• Occasional travel for business purposes - tradeshows, in person appointments with potential partners, HQ staff visits

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer. Kaspien, Inc., uses E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility of all newly hired employees.