Senior Director of Sales - Chicago, United States - Believer Meats

Description

Cultivate the future of food.

Do you crave a high-impact opportunity to disrupt the food industry with revolutionary technology?

Believer Meats, formerly known as Future Meat Technologies, is a cultivated meat company pioneering the first scalable cultivated meat production system. Believers technology and process aim to make cultivated meat accessible and affordable. Founded in 2018 and driven by a mission to ensure that future generations can enjoy the meat we know and love, Believer is building a better future for people, animals, and the planet with meat that is delicious, more sustainable, and nutritious.

Every employee at Believer Meats plays an active role in achieving the goals of the company. We are a global company that operates in an autonomous, engaging, entrepreneurial environment. This is your opportunity to help craft a narrative for a brand that is rewriting how consumers view food.

Summary of role and team:

We are seeking a Senior Director of Sales who can drive sales and lead go-to-market efforts with a focus on the foodservice channel. This is a unique opportunity to own the sales strategy, drive meaningful growth and impact, and ultimately build the sales organization. You will wear many hats; from forging partnerships with distributors and restaurant operators, to educating chefs and consumers about the breakthrough category of cultivated meat. You will work alongside a passionate and collaborative team whose collective mission is to build demand, the category, and our brand.

Your Day to Day:

Primary Responsibilities

Drive for Results

• Act as champion for the organization in consistently delivering assigned metrics for volume, net sales, and revenue growth KPIs.
• Manage the sales pipeline from lead generation to close, ensuring timely follow-up, accurate forecasting, and consistent communication with prospects while upholding the reputation and integrity of our company.

Channel Strategy & Customer Prioritization

• Develop strategies and performance metrics for key segments and customer groups.
• Build a sustainable market coverage model, incorporating fact based and strategic insights.

Customer Engagement

• Proactively identify and pursue new business opportunities through targeted prospecting, networking, and outreach.
• Build positive relationships with key decision-makers and stakeholders, understanding their needs and effectively communicating the value proposition to create long term value and new business opportunity.
• Deliver compelling presentations and demonstrations to showcase the features and benefits of our product, effectively addressing customer pain points and objections with the professionalism and enthusiasm that represents our brand.

Field Execution

• Drive best in class execution at the field level through performance management of internal teams and broker partners.
• Advise on overall broker and route to market strategy, agency partner selection and management.

Revenue Management

• Lead Sales team to deliver the highest value sales opportunities. Build structured approaches with commercial and finance teams to identify prioritized revenue opportunities evaluating pricing, trade, and strategic initiatives.
• Manage the sales pipeline from lead generation to closure, ensuring timely follow-up, accurate forecasting, and consistent communication with prospects while upholding the reputation and integrity of our company.

Talent Development

• Lead the recruitment, motivation and development of professionals who can deliver sustained revenue growth. Instill a culture of accountability, empowerment, performance and teamwork to achieve the goals of the organization.

Operational Excellence

• Ensure alignment of business performance with cross-functional partners through participation in Integrated Business Planning/ Sales & Operations cycle, Sales Business Planning, and Management forums.
• Act as the Customer expert in multi-year strategic planning and development of annual operating plans.

The Ideal candidate:

• Minimum of 15+ years of experience leading a food related sales or marketing organization is required with >5 years in foodservice sales.
• Bachelors degree in business administration, or related field of study; MBA preferred.
• Leadership experience within a mission-driven/ food-tech company or start-up highly desirable
• Key functional expertise across sales, trade management and category management, complemented by strong financial acumen. Experience in building a branded Foodservice business.
• Prior experience significantly scaling an emerging brand -- must be able to create strategic relationships, sell how our technology/ product is a solution, and put a new brand with lean resources the top of customers minds.
• Excellent listening, negotiation, verbal, and written communications skills. Demonstrated ability to communicate, present and influence all levels of our organization or the customers, including executive and C-level audiences.
• Key leadership characteristics: drive for results, collaborative, flexible, entrepreneurial, ability to roll up sleeves, adept team lead & motivator, big idea thinker, strong integrity, passionate, energetic and optimistic.
• Willingness to travel as necessary.