Head of Sales Development

Jackson Family Wines•Santa Rosa, CA

About The Position

The Head of Sales Development is responsible for driving the commercial effectiveness, operational excellence, financial discipline, and organizational capability of the U.S. Sales organization. Reporting directly to the SVP U.S. Sales, this role serves as the strategic architect and operational leader behind commercial planning, sales operations, pricing strategy, distributor investment management, sales enablement, education, reporting, analytics, and technology innovation. This role will ensure alignment across Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain while building the processes, capabilities, and technology necessary to execute both near-term business objectives and long-term growth strategies. This leader will oversee the planning and management of sales budgets, pricing governance, and Distributor Allowance investments while ensuring the sales organization is equipped with the training, tools, protocols, and insights needed to achieve sustainable, profitable growth.

Requirements

12+ years of progressive leadership experience within sales operations, commercial planning, sales enablement, strategy, or related commercial functions.
Experience leading large-scale planning, sales operations, and organizational effectiveness initiatives.
Strong understanding of distributor management and three-tier beverage alcohol sales environments preferred.
Experience implementing and managing sales technology platforms, CRM systems, analytics tools, and commercial planning solutions.
Proven success leading cross-functional teams and driving organizational change.

Responsibilities

Lead the annual, quarterly, and monthly commercial planning processes for the U.S. Sales organization.
Partner with senior sales leadership to establish and align short-term priorities with long-term strategic objectives.
Develop planning frameworks that integrate sales goals, brand priorities, distributor execution plans, inventory considerations, and financial targets.
Collaborate in the development and lead communication of the corporate priority calendar to the sales force, ensuring timely updates, revisions, and alignment to drive consistent execution in the field.
Ensure effective cross-functional coordination among Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, and Supply Chain.
Monitor business performance against budget and forecast, proactively identifying risks, opportunities, and corrective actions.
Own the national pricing strategy and governance process, ensuring pricing decisions support revenue growth, margin expansion, competitive positioning, and brand strategy.
Lead the pricing function, including pricing architecture, annual price increases, distributor pricing management, market pricing consistency, and strategic pricing initiatives.
Oversee Distributor Allowance (DA) planning, budgeting, administration, and effectiveness measurement to maximize commercial return on investment.
Develop frameworks and controls that improve transparency, accountability, and decision-making around distributor incentives, programming, and trade investments.
Partner with Sales and Finance leadership to evaluate promotional effectiveness, pricing elasticity, and distributor performance to optimize commercial investments and drive profitable Sales Operations & Business Performance.
Lead all sales operations functions including forecasting support, sales processes, reporting, analytics, KPI development, and performance management.
Define and monitor critical business metrics that measure commercial effectiveness and sales productivity.
Oversee the development of executive dashboards, reporting tools, and business intelligence capabilities.
Deliver actionable insights and recommendations to sales leadership based on performance trends and market analysis.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives that simplify processes and enhance organizational efficiency.
Lead the team responsible for developing and executing best-in-class sales enablement programs.
Create and standardize sales protocols, playbooks, tools, and operating procedures across the organization.
Oversee planning and execution of national sales meetings, distributor meetings, business reviews, and sales conferences.
Lead the development of training programs that strengthen selling skills, commercial acumen, and execution capabilities.
Partner with Wine Education leadership to ensure consistent, impactful wine education across the field sales organization and distributor network.
Establish onboarding and continuous learning programs that accelerate productivity and capability development.
Own the strategic roadmap for sales technology platforms and capabilities.
Evaluate, implement, and optimize tools that improve planning, communication, reporting, training, customer engagement, and execution.
Identify opportunities to leverage emerging technologies, automation, AI, and advanced analytics to enhance productivity and decision-making.
Partner with IT, Digital, and Business Intelligence teams to ensure technology investments support business objectives.
Drive adoption and utilization of sales technologies across the organization.
Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team across commercial planning, sales operations, sales enablement, analytics, and technology functions.
Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Establish clear performance expectations and development plans for direct reports.
Serve as a strategic advisor and trusted business partner to U.S. Sales leadership.