Director, Sales Strategy & Execution

Jack Link's Protein Snacks•Minneapolis, MN

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

This Director of Sales Strategy & Execution is a key commercial leader responsible for developing and operationalizing the sales strategy that drives Jack Link’s growth across all U.S. retail channels. This leader owns the MAPS strategy – Merchandising, Assortment, Pricing, and Shelving – to ensure Jack Link’s protein snacks win at shelf, drive category growth, and deliver superior results for retail partners. The ideal candidate is a highly analytical, collaborative, and execution-focused CPG leader with experience in commercial strategy, sales planning, category insights, and revenue growth management. A strong understanding of the snacking category, high-impulse merchandising, and retailer-specific execution standards is essential.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, or related field.
8+ years of CPG commercial experience (Sales Strategy, Category Management, RGM, Sales Leadership, or Commercial Planning).
Demonstrated expertise in MAPS principles – Merchandising, Assortment, Pricing, and Shelving – within major CPG retailers.
Strong analytical skills with deep experience using syndicated data (Nielsen/IRI/Circana), retailer POS systems, and pricing tools.
Proven track record of developing sales strategies and driving execution in fast-paced, growth-oriented CPG environments.
Exceptional leadership, communication, and cross-functional influence skills.

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced degree preferred.
Experience in snacks, meat snacks, protein snacks, or other high-velocity, impulse-driven center-store categories preferred.
Experience working in a privately held, entrepreneurial organization preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop the annual sales strategy that integrates MAPS fundamentals – optimizing assortment, pricing, shelving, and merchandising to drive category and brand growth.
Lead cross-functional commercial planning with Marketing, RGM, Category Management, Finance, and Supply Chain to align on channel strategies, pricing architecture, trade investment, and new item launch plans.
Translate consumer, shopper, and category insights into customer-specific growth strategies across convenience, mass, grocery, club, eCommerce, and emerging channels.
Identify white-space opportunities, distribution gaps, and innovation platforms that drive incremental growth.
Establish standardized processes and toolkits for MAPS recommendations, sales playbooks, distribution priorities, pricing guidelines, and merchandising execution expectations.
Oversee the development of customer-ready stories leveraging category insights to support shelf optimization, display activation, pricing recommendations, and assortment enhancements.
Ensure flawless execution of distribution gains, new item launches, promotional windows, shelf resets, planograms, and seasonal merchandising opportunities.
Work closely with customer teams to ensure consistent application of MAPS strategies across all retail partners.
Build and manage tools and scorecards that track performance across MAPS dimensions: distribution, shelf placement, velocity, pricing competitiveness, display execution, and promotional ROI.
Lead analysis of category trends, promotional lift, price elasticity, competitor activity, and retailer-specific performance to inform strategic adjustments.
Partner with RGM to optimize the price-pack architecture (PPA), evaluate trade spend efficiency, and shape long-term pricing and promotional strategy.
Partner with Category Management to build compelling retailer-specific category growth stories that highlight Jack Link’s leadership in assortment, pricing, merchandising, and shelving.
Collaborate with Marketing and Innovation teams to ensure brand plans, campaigns, and new products translate into winning retail strategies.
Work with Sales Planning and Supply Chain to manage execution readiness, service levels, and inventory availability to support customer plans.
Lead and develop a high-performing Sales Strategy & Execution team, including analysts, planners, and commercial strategy managers.
Build organization capability in MAPS fundamentals, data literacy, forecasting, and customer planning.
Create a high-performance culture centered on accountability, collaboration, speed, and continuous improvement.
Perform other duties as assigned.