Director, Channel Brand Management

Grainger Businesses • Lake Forest, IL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

W.W. Grainger, Inc., is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products and solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. Known for its commitment to service and award-winning culture, the Company had 2024 revenue of $17.2 billion across its two business models. In the High-Touch Solutions segment, Grainger offers approximately 2 million maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products and services, including technical support and inventory management. In the Endless Assortment segment, Zoro.com offers customers access to more than 14 million products, and MonotaRO.com offers more than 24 million products. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required
• 10+ years of experience in related field preferred
• 3+ years managing an operational function preferred
• Demonstrated leadership skills and problem solving capabilities
• Effectively communicates with all levels of organization, reads audience, understands where they are and adapts approach to ensure understanding and bring others along
• Leading Change - Provides clear, compelling vision to drive engagement and performance through change, communicates and connects change to greater outcome, drives sustainable adoption, monitors and makes corrections to drive result
• Inclusive - brings others along, ensures diverse perspectives are heard, considered, and incorporated to drive better results
• Cross-functional influence – understands key leverage points, works across organizational functions to remove barriers, and drive resolutions
• Proven ability to manage large-scale cross functional teams and projects
• Ability to operate in a complex, rapidly changing environment while adhering to tight schedules and lean budgets
• Ability to develop compelling business cases with an identified ROI.
• Financial acumen/ability to manage budgets
• Strong people management ability to lead, motivate, develop and manage for results
• Proven track record of execution and driving results
• Strong strategic / innovative thinking with a developed understanding of continuous improvement, strong knowledge of metrics and how to influence them.
• Extensive MRO Industry knowledge and strong understanding of the Grainger business and customers.
• Strong presentation skills, ability to communicate to all levels of the organization
• May be some travel required approximately 30%

Nice To Haves

• Master's Degree MBA preferred

Responsibilities

• Developing approaches, tactics, and governance model to support ~$1B business generated by a broad set of channel partners
• Builds roadmaps and identifies requirements for training, processes, tools & technology needed to support the growth of 90+ channel partners at the best cost to serve for Grainger
• Interfaces with the enterprise sales and channel organizations partners to identify needs and/or investments; partners internally to develop business cases to test and prove value; implements scalable and measurable models
• Delivers an integrated sales and marketing strategy and leverage digital optimization to accelerate reach and achieve channel sales goals.
• Implements scalable and measurable channel segmentation campaign models across the business for high growth; establishes and reports KPIs for overall program measurement and continuous improvement to sales leadership; site and channel view
• Builds and implements a disciplined approach to develop, deploy, and drive adoption of investments (training, programs, resources, etc.) with our partners. Measures the impact of those programs to continually refine our channel go-to-market programs and improve our yield YOY
• Owns and executes processes targeted at ensuring Grainger is in the best cost position when identifying, signing, onboarding, and implementing channel partners. Ensures alignment w/ organization strategy for channel partners.
• Develops and effectively communicates the value proposition of channel partners to our internal audiences and externally to the market Collaborates and enables execution of focused strategies and tactics to help channel partners position key differentiators in the market that help win more profitable deals faster
• Designing and executing techniques and processes to ensure Grainger's execution of channel business partner contracts follows stated terms and conditions.
• Developing strategies to ensure appropriate system of internal controls and maintenance are in place for risk management, internal control, and governance; helping field execution teams obtain its strategic, financial, operational and compliance goals and objectives with optimal efficiency and effectiveness
• Uses and surfaces data to leadership; improving decision making of both internal and channel partners, identifying opportunities to improve revenue growth and cost to serve
• Conducts independent and objective evaluation of ROI of investments made (e.g. volume, people, margin, technology), providing visibility to leadership, inform progress, and highlight opportunities focused on improved outcomes
• Continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of how we empower channel partners over time
• Analyzes new business opportunities that might accelerate the enterprise business, providing recommendations on these opportunities, and closing new partnerships where appropriate
• Works to develop deep understanding of changing customer behaviors and requirements, and the competitive landscape related to each support function.
• Considers processes, enablement models and technology solutions in the overall strategy and support model design.
• Works cross functionally to develop aligned objectives and performance levels and determines functional support to be provided, defines processes, and desired performance levels through collaboration with leadership partners.
• Directs the creation, documentation, and maintenance of standard, repeatable processes for all routine and major activities performed across the channel businesses and reseller programs
• Leads the development of governance models that enabling a flexible scalable approach, adapting to changes in demand while improving quality, compliance and cost to serve.
• Participates in the strategic planning process to develop results oriented goals and coordinate activities across functional areas.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
• 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
• 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
• Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
• Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director