Sales Director, Strategic Department Stores
About The Position
The Columbia Sales Team is a key driver of our brand’s growth, partnering closely with national retailers, independent boutiques, and internal partners across Merchandising, Marketing, Planning, and Product. Together, we translate consumer insights and marketplace realities into strategies that elevate our presence and performance. As the Strategic Account Director, you will lead our national department store business, including some of our largest and most complex accounts, and shape how Columbia shows up with these critical partners. You will own the performance of this business, set a clear vision, and develop strategies that drive sustainable growth across both traditional and digital channels. Your leadership will strengthen senior-level relationships, guide a high-performing team, and help evolve how we operate within the department store channel to ensure long-term success in a competitive and rapidly changing environment. This is a role for a strategic thinker, a commercially-minded operator, and a leader who thrives at the intersection of business ownership, customer partnership, and enterprise collaboration.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
- 10+ years of progressive sales leadership experience, including managing major accounts and leading high-performing teams.
- Proven success owning and growing complex wholesale or retail partnerships, preferably within the department store channel.
- Strong understanding of the department store business model, including financial levers such as pricing, markdowns, and inventory management.
- Experience operating across both brick-and-mortar and digital environments; familiarity with dropship or similar fulfillment models is a plus.
- Proven ability to operate within a matrixed organization and influence cross-functional partners.
- Strong financial, analytical, and business acumen.
- A demonstrated commitment to Columbia’s core values: Compete to win, Relentless improvement, Honesty, respect, and trust, Doing the right thing for consumers, customers, employees, and the company.
Nice To Haves
- A clear, confident communicator who can influence at all levels, including senior external partners.
- A strategic thinker who can zoom out to set direction and zoom in to manage complex, detail-oriented business dynamics.
- Commercially driven, with a strong sense of ownership and accountability for business performance.
- Skilled in persuasion, negotiation, and executive-level relationship building.
- A leader who organizes, energizes, and elevates teams to deliver results.
- Adept at analyzing market conditions and translating insights into actionable strategies.
- A problem-solver with a bias for action and forward momentum.
Responsibilities
- Own and drive the performance of key department store accounts, developing and executing strategies to improve revenue, profitability, and long-term growth.
- Create and execute strategic account plans that expand market share, strengthen partnerships, and unlock new opportunities across national department store retailers.
- Lead senior-level relationships with key customers, influencing merchants and executives to grow the business and address performance gaps.
- Define and evolve the business model for the department store channel, including pricing, markdown strategy, returns, and digital/dropship execution.
- Monitor customer, consumer, and market trends to inform strategy and influence cross-functional decision-making.
- Partner across the enterprise to build aligned go-to-market strategies, channel programs, and support models that elevate our brand.
- Build an empowered sales culture by coaching, developing, and inspiring a high-performing team to achieve ambitious goals.
- Champion a high-performance mindset that encourages innovation, accountability, and enterprise thinking.
Benefits
- 401k plan plus a generous company match
- medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings account
- an assortment of voluntary benefit offerings (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and legal services)
- EAP + which is free and confidential 24/7/365 counseling services
- extensive wellness benefits
- employee discounts
- a generous time off program
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
