Director, Wholesale Strategy & Business Development (Contract-to-Hire)

Position Overview

Duluth Trading Co. is a highly successful omnichannel business, leveraging a robust direct-to-consumer digital platform alongside a strong retail footprint. As we explore new horizons for growth, we are seeking a visionary and highly analytical Director of Wholesale Strategy & Business Development on a contract-to-hire basis.

What You’ll Do

• Immediate Amazon Management & Scaling
  • Take ownership of the holistic P&L for the Amazon 1P channel, balancing top-line media-driven growth against bottom-line profitability.
  • Lead the Annual Vendor Negotiation (AVN) process, defending wholesale margins against Amazon's aggressive targets for MDF, damage allowances, and freight terms.
  • Own the strategy, execution, and optimization of all Amazon paid acquisition campaigns (Sponsored Products, Brands, Display, and Video).
  • Set clear ad spend targets, architect keyword bidding strategies, and optimize against core performance indicators like ROAS, ACOS, and TACOS.
  • Connect advertising push-periods with physical inventory realities, heavily funneling ad dollars into high-margin, high-stock items while pausing campaigns on low-stock items to protect buy-box health.
  • Partner with internal supply chain teams to audit operational compliance and permanently eliminate margin-eroding chargebacks.
• Full-Funnel Advertising
  • Own the strategy, execution, and optimization of all Amazon paid acquisition campaigns (Sponsored Products, Brands, Display, and Video).
  • Set clear ad spend targets, architect keyword bidding strategies, and optimize against core performance indicators like ROAS, ACOS, and TACOS.
  • Connect advertising push-periods with physical inventory realities, heavily funneling ad dollars into high-margin, high-stock items while pausing campaigns on low-stock items to protect buy-box health.
• Catalog & Inventory Alignment
  • Connect advertising push-periods with physical inventory realities, heavily funneling ad dollars into high-margin, high-stock items while pausing campaigns on low-stock items to protect buy-box health.
• Chargeback Elimination
  • Partner with internal supply chain teams to audit operational compliance and permanently eliminate margin-eroding chargebacks.
• Simultaneous Wholesale Blueprinting & Strategy Viability Assessment & Financial Modeling
  • Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the wholesale landscape to determine target partners that align with Duluth’s brand equity.
  • Develop a rigorous, standalone wholesale P&L model that maps out margins, chargebacks, markdown structures, shipping terms, and overall revenue potential.
• Infrastructure & GTM Architecture
  • Identify the operational requirements necessary to support wholesale (EDI compliance, ticketing/labeling, logistics) without disrupting existing DTC and retail operations.
  • Establish a comprehensive Go-To-Market calendar, mapping the lifecycle from product design to retail delivery.
• Relationship Leveraging & Pilot Execution
  • Utilize deep, pre-existing relationships with major retailers to gather market feedback, secure initial presentations, and launch tightly managed pilot programs to validate the model before a broader national rollout.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Deep Industry Relationships: Must possess an active, robust network of established relationships with major retail buyers and retail executives across relevant sectors.
• Financial & Analytical Acumen: Expert-level capability in P&L management, financial forecasting, and cost-to-serve analysis. Strong fluency in digital marketing math (ROAS, TACOS, CVR, CPC) alongside standard corporate retail finance, such as wholesale margin structures and co-op allowances.
• Omnichannel Understanding: A strong grasp of how wholesale integrates into a broader omnichannel business, ensuring harmony between wholesale, brand retail stores, and e-commerce.
• Amazon Logistics Expertise: Practical knowledge of Vendor Central operational compliance, including EDI integrations, ASNs, packaging compliance (FFP/SIOC), and chargeback dispute mechanisms.
• Strategic Architect vs. Operator: Comfortable building a complex, numbers-driven business case for the executive leadership team just as much as picking up the phone to pitch a major retail buyer.
• Brand Protectionist: Ensures that both traditional wholesale and Amazon amplify Duluth’s legendary brand story, creating a win-win strategy that protects the brand without diluting it or causing channel conflict.
• Cross-Functional Diplomat: Capable of pivoting seamlessly between a creative marketing growth mindset and a rigid, execution-focused logistics mindset to guide internal cross-functional teams through complex new timelines and operational demands.
• Project Management & Timeline Rigor: You possess a meticulous approach to project architecture, translating complex, multi-phased strategies into clear, actionable roadmaps with precise deadlines, milestones, and contingency planning.
• Geographic Flexibility: Ability to travel and work onsite near Madison, WI two weeks per month during the contract phase, and a willingness to permanently relocate to the Madison, WI area if the role converts to a regular, full-time position.

About Duluth Trading Company

Started in 1989, Duluth Trading Company exists to enable hard-working individuals to take on life with their own two hands. Folks that revel in doing it the hard way and celebrate finding a better way. We seek talented individuals who share these beliefs and are excited to further the Duluth Trading legacy with a digital-first mindset, always moving forward and always innovating. From ingenious Duluth workwear, to comfortably capable Buck Naked Underwear, to outside-embracing AKHG, it’s all about the innovative gear and gadgets that equip customers for a more hands-on way of life. Top-notch quality, immersive storytelling, outstanding customer service, and the shared belief that the go-all-in-and-dig-deep spirit exists with everyone are what sets Duluth Trading Co. apart. We seek talented folks looking to be part of a can-do team that’s hellbent on helping the world to gear up, get its hands dirty, and do.