Director of Sales, Neighborhood Pet USA

Champion Petfoods is an award-winning pet food maker with a reputation of trust spanning 35+ years. Founded in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Champion – with its ORIJEN® and ACANA® brands – is a key player in the global premium pet food industry across three major geographic regions.

About the role

The Director of Sales, Neighborhood Pet USA, is accountable for the overall performance, growth, and profitability of the U.S. Neighborhood Pet channel. This role owns the delivery of national sales objectives and serves as the senior commercial leader responsible for translating company strategy into actionable channel plans that drive sustainable revenue growth, market share expansion, and customer excellence.

The Director leads through a team of Region Sales Managers, Distributor Sales Managers, and Key Account Managers, ensuring alignment of field execution, customer development, and distributor performance against strategic priorities. The role is responsible for building high-performing teams, developing customer and distributor partnerships, driving executional excellence, and creating a culture of accountability through clear goals, KPI management, forecasting accuracy, and operational discipline.

This position serves as the primary owner of channel performance, delivering results through direct management of strategic accounts, distributor networks, and cross-functional collaboration with Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Customer Service, and Demand Planning. The role is based in our Corporate office in Boulder (CO), New York (NY), or Nashville (TN) and follows a hybrid schedule with 3 days in-person.

Responsibilities

• Own the annual sales, profit, market share, and strategic objectives for the U.S. Neighborhood Pet channel.
• Translate company and commercial strategy into clear annual, quarterly, and monthly operating plans that drive execution across all sales regions, customers, and distributor partners.
• Serve as the single point of accountability for national channel performance, identifying risks and opportunities and implementing corrective actions to achieve business objectives.
• Establish and communicate clear performance expectations and success measures across the sales organization.
• Lead, coach, and develop Region Sales Managers, Distributor Sales Managers, and Key Account Managers to deliver superior commercial results.
• Create a high-performance culture focused on accountability, ownership, customer focus, collaboration, and execution excellence.
• Build organizational capability through succession planning, talent development, coaching, performance management, and leadership development initiatives.
• Ensure consistent performance management processes are in place, including goal setting, business reviews, talent assessments, and development planning.
• Maintain executive ownership of strategic national and regional retail accounts.
• Guide Key Account Managers in developing and executing Joint Business Plans that accelerate sales growth, distribution gains, category leadership, and customer profitability.
• Strengthen executive-level relationships with key retail customers and leverage those relationships to identify growth opportunities and resolve business challenges.
• Ensure consistent execution of customer-specific programs, promotions, assortment strategies, merchandising standards, and pricing initiatives.
• Own distributor strategy, network effectiveness, and distributor profitability across the U.S.
• Establish performance expectations and scorecards for distributor partners, holding distributors accountable for execution, sales growth, market coverage, merchandising standards, and strategic priorities.
• Lead annual business planning processes with distributors and ensure resources are aligned to deliver market development objectives.
• Partner with Distributor Sales Managers to improve distributor capabilities, sales force effectiveness, and market penetration.
• Evaluate distributor performance and recommend investments, optimization opportunities, or strategic changes as required.
• Develop and execute growth strategies that expand revenue, market share, household penetration, and customer acquisition across all product categories.
• Identify white-space opportunities, emerging channel trends, and new business opportunities to accelerate growth.
• Drive execution of national sales programs and promotional initiatives across customers and distributor partners.
• Ensure pricing, assortment, promotional investments, and commercial programs maximize return on investment and profitability.
• Own the sales forecasting process and ensure forecast accuracy, pipeline visibility, and demand planning alignment.
• Lead annual budgeting and sales planning activities, ensuring resources are allocated effectively to achieve strategic priorities.
• Monitor and manage business performance through established KPIs, scorecards, and business reviews.
• Implement rigorous operating rhythms and performance management processes to improve execution and accountability throughout the organization.
• Ensure timely reporting of sales performance, market trends, customer developments, and business risks.
• Partner closely with Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Category Management, and Demand Planning to deliver integrated business results.
• Influence cross-functional partners to prioritize and execute initiatives that support channel growth objectives.
• Participate in development of long-term commercial strategy and provide marketplace insights to support innovation, brand growth, and investment decisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive sales leadership experience, including responsibility for delivering revenue growth, customer development, and business performance within consumer goods, pet specialty, or related industries.
• Proven success leading high-performing sales organizations, including Key Account Managers, Regional Sales Managers, and distributor-facing teams.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute commercial strategies that drive sustainable growth, market share gains, and customer success.
• Strong business and financial acumen with experience managing forecasts, budgets, profitability, and performance KPIs.
• Track record of building strategic relationships with national and regional customers, distributors, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Inspirational people leader with a passion for developing talent, creating accountability, and building inclusive, high-performing teams.
• Excellent communication, influencing, and presentation skills, with the ability to engage effectively at all levels internally and externally.
• Agile and collaborative leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment and successfully leads change and transformation.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, with the ability to translate insights into actionable business decisions.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and sales planning/reporting tools.
• Ability to travel up to 50% across the United States.
• Valid driver's license and ability to work flexibly to meet business needs.

Key Accountability Measures

• Delivery of national revenue, profit, and market share targets.
• Achievement of annual operating plan objectives.
• Key account growth and customer profitability.
• Distributor performance and strategic execution.
• Forecast accuracy and inventory health.
• Distribution gains and merchandising execution.
• Sales team capability, engagement, and talent development.
• KPI achievement and operational discipline.
• Cross-functional collaboration and execution effectiveness.

Benefits

• Salary range from USD 184,000 to USD 254,000.
• 401k with company match.
• Donation matching.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Employee Assistance Programs.
• In-house and online learning & development opportunities.
• Education Assistance Program.
• Free bag of premium pet food each month.
• Free parking.

Champion is an equal opportunity employer. Regardless of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other creed, you are wanted here.