Director of Sales Distribution

Bimbo Bakeries USA•Cicero, IL

23d•$146,900 - $205,700

About The Position

The Director of Sales - Distribution for the Away-from-Home (“AFH”) channel will play a critical role in driving the strategic vision and profitable growth of Bimbo Bakeries USA’s AFH business through managing the sales pipeline and relationships with broadline distributors, foodservice operators, and broker partners. This role is accountable for leading distributor strategy, strengthening execution across national and regional networks, and ensuring alignment between AFH commercial priorities and field execution. This leader will serve as a central orchestrator across Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain, with ownership of distributor and broker relationships, sales execution, contract negotiations, pricing alignment, and program delivery.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required (Business, supply chain management, marketing, or a related field); MBA preferred.
Minimum 10 years of experience in Away-From-Home / Foodservice sales or distribution with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
Strong experience working with broadline distributors and foodservice operators.
Demonstrated success in distributor management, execution leadership, and cross-functional collaboration.
Strong commercial, analytical, and negotiation skills.
Ability to operate effectively in a complex, fast-moving organization.
Effective communication skills (written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal skills).
Strong ability to lead with and without direct authority; collaboration with cross-functional business partners is critical.
A leader who embodies Bimbo Bakeries USA’s values of integrity, teamwork, resiliency, and continuous improvement, and who can develop and inspire talent at every level.
Willingness to travel (~30–40%)

Responsibilities

Strategic Vision and Growth: Develop and lead strategies focused on enhancing competitive positioning, territory development, and distributor execution to drive sustainable growth across AFH channels.
Distributor Strategy Development: Serve as the lead for key distribution and CMC partners, owning strategy, annual planning, relationship management and long-term partnership development.
Commercial Activation and Delivery: Manage the sales pipeline and drive sales execution by servicing existing accounts, driving case growth, activating new accounts, developing sell stories, identifying new growth opportunities, and overseeing end-to-end execution in market.
Distribution Planning and Execution: Lead joint business planning, program rollout, and execution routines to ensure distributor/CMC activities support operator demand, portfolio priorities, and commercial objectives.
Contract Negotiation, Trade and Pricing Decisions: Manage the commercial pipeline and relationships with customer accounts, including leading contract negotiations, overseeing pricing decisions, and managing trade programs in partnership with RGM and finance.
Performance Management: Monitor partner performance, execution quality, and program results; diagnose gaps and drive corrective actions through disciplined business reviews and follow-ups
Growth Opportunities Assessment: Monitor new product listings, category insights, competitor activities, operator activation, and strategic distributor/CMC programs to identify opportunities to expand Bimbo’s AFH volume and footprint.
Cross-Functional Coordination: Act as the central point of contact across Account teams, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, RGM, Quality Assurance, Human Resources, and our bakeries, to align distributor / CMC execution with internal capabilities, service levels and operational realities and ensure effective program delivery.
Team Leadership and Empowerment: Empower and lead a high-performing team of professionals, turning their potential into performance and fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence.