VP of Commercial Sales (CT)

Pronghorn•New York, NY

5h•Remote

About The Position

Our client, an upscale rum brand based in New York City, is seeking an experienced and highly entrepreneurial Vice President of Commercial to lead the brand’s commercial strategy, sales execution, distributor management, field sales performance, and market expansion. This is a critical leadership role responsible for building and scaling the brand’s commercial engine across key markets, with an immediate focus on driving distribution, velocity, account penetration, and brand visibility across on-premise, off-premise, national account, hospitality, retail, and e-commerce channels. The ideal candidate is a spirits industry veteran with deep commercial experience, strong distributor relationships, and a proven track record of building premium or super-premium brands in competitive markets. This person must be equally comfortable setting national commercial strategy, managing distributor performance, leading field teams, opening high-value accounts, analyzing sales data, and working directly in-market to create momentum. This is a hands-on, player-coach leadership role. The VP of Commercial will be expected to personally carry senior distributor, buyer, hospitality, and key account relationships while also building the systems, cadence, and team structure needed to scale the business.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive commercial, sales, distributor management, or field leadership experience in the spirits, beverage alcohol, luxury beverage, CPG, or hospitality industry.
Strong experience building premium or super-premium spirits brands; rum category experience is highly preferred.
Deep understanding of the New York City spirits, cocktail, hospitality, retail, nightlife, and distributor landscape.
Proven success managing distributor relationships and driving accountability through distributor networks.
Demonstrated track record growing distribution, velocity, case sales, and account penetration across multiple markets.
Experience leading multi-market field sales teams, market managers, brand ambassadors, or commercial teams.
Strong on-premise and off-premise experience, including independent accounts, hospitality groups, retail buyers, chains, and national/group accounts.
Existing relationships with distributors, key accounts, beverage directors, hospitality operators, and retail buyers strongly preferred.
Comfortable operating in a hands-on, entrepreneurial environment with high expectations and limited bureaucracy.
Strong commercial analytics skills and ability to use data to guide decisions.
Experience with CRM platforms, sales dashboards, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, and project management tools.
Strong presentation, negotiation, communication, and relationship-building skills.
Ability to travel regularly and work evenings or weekends as needed for distributor meetings, trade events, market visits, and brand activations.
Must be 21 years of age or older.
Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and relevant industry experience.

Nice To Haves

Rum category experience is highly preferred.
Graduate degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and relevant industry experience.

Responsibilities

Own and execute the full commercial strategy for the brand across priority markets, channels, and customer segments.
Develop market-level growth plans that drive distribution, velocity, case sales, account penetration, and long-term brand equity.
Lead commercial planning across on-premise, off-premise, retail, hospitality, national/group accounts, e-commerce, and distributor channels.
Translate brand objectives into clear sales strategies, market priorities, channel plans, and measurable commercial targets.
Partner with executive leadership to align commercial strategy with brand positioning, marketing priorities, financial goals, and expansion plans.
Establish the operating rhythm, accountability structure, and performance expectations for the commercial organization.
Own senior-level distributor relationships and serve as the primary commercial leader representing the brand to distributor partners.
Lead distributor planning, business reviews, programming discussions, sales meetings, trainings, and performance management.
Ensure distributor partners are focused, aligned, and accountable to agreed-upon distribution, velocity, and activation goals.
Build strong relationships with distributor leadership, sales managers, key reps, and market teams.
Monitor distributor performance by market, channel, and account type, using data to identify gaps and adjust strategy.
Drive execution of distributor programming, incentives, education, account targeting, and market-level priorities.
Lead commercial expansion across key priority markets, with New York City serving as the brand’s flagship market.
Build account presence across premium cocktail bars, restaurants, hotels, private clubs, nightlife venues, specialty retailers, and influential independent accounts.
Develop market-specific strategies for high-opportunity regions such as NY/NJ, Florida, California, Georgia, and other strategic growth markets.
Balance on-premise credibility with off-premise visibility and retail velocity.
Personally support high-impact market visits, distributor work-withs, buyer meetings, staff trainings, and account activations.
Ensure each priority market has clear targets, account lists, activation plans, distributor alignment, and performance tracking.
Build, lead, and develop a high-performing commercial team across field sales, market activation, national accounts, e-commerce, and commercial analytics.
Set quarterly and annual goals for each team member, market, and channel.
Serve as a player-coach who leads from the front, actively participating in key sales calls, distributor meetings, account visits, and field execution.
Provide coaching, accountability, and performance management to ensure the team is operating at a high level.
Make resource allocation decisions based on market opportunity, performance data, budget, and growth priorities.
Create a culture of urgency, accountability, collaboration, professionalism, and brand pride.
Increase distribution and velocity across targeted on-premise and off-premise accounts.
Build relationships with beverage directors, bartenders, hospitality groups, hotel groups, retail buyers, independent operators, chain accounts, and national/group account decision-makers.
Secure menu placements, cocktail features, back bar visibility, shelf placement, displays, retail programming, and promotional opportunities.
Partner with marketing to develop account-level programs, tastings, activations, cocktail strategies, and trade education.
Identify and open high-value accounts that elevate brand credibility and drive meaningful volume.
Maintain current points of distribution while consistently expanding the brand’s footprint in priority markets.
Develop and manage opportunities across national accounts, regional chains, group accounts, hotel groups, digital platforms, and e-commerce partners.
Build channel-specific strategies that support both brand image and revenue growth.
Identify scalable partnerships that create visibility, access, and volume across multiple markets.
Collaborate with marketing and operations to ensure programming, fulfillment, inventory, and account support are aligned.
Evaluate emerging commercial channels and recommend strategies that support profitable growth.
Establish and manage a data-driven commercial operating cadence, including weekly dashboards, pipeline reviews, market updates, and performance reporting.
Track distribution points, velocity, account openings, case sales, depletion trends, activation performance, and distributor execution.
Ensure CRM data integrity, pipeline accuracy, account tracking, and reporting discipline across the commercial team.
Use insights from sales data, distributor feedback, market visits, and account performance to optimize strategy.
Present clear, actionable commercial updates to executive leadership on a regular basis.
Identify opportunities to streamline commercial processes, improve accountability, and increase speed to market.
Own the commercial budget across field sales, distributor programming, market activation, trade spend, national accounts, and third-party resources.
Allocate resources based on market priorities, sales performance, velocity data, and growth opportunity.
Track spend against commercial outcomes and provide regular budget updates to leadership.
Evaluate ROI on programming, incentives, activations, and market investments.
Make disciplined recommendations on where to increase, reduce, or reallocate investment.