Sales Director

As this is a hybrid role, working out of our Creative Studios in Westlake, Ohio, we will focus on candidates who currently reside in Northeast Ohio.

The Seasonal Sales Director is responsible for leading the strategic planning and growth of the Seasonal Business within the Grocery channel, specifically for our key retail grocery accounts.

The Seasonal Director owns the seasonal relationship with both key retailers, and serves as the central leader driving sales, margin, and profitability for American Greetings' seasonal categories. This individual will bring deep expertise in the grocery channel, strong financial and strategic acumen, and a proven ability to develop customer strategies that align with our retailers and company objectives.

This role is highly collaborative, requiring close partnership with internal teams to ensure alignment across Category, Occasion, Forecast & Demand Planning, Insights & Analytics, Shopper Marketing, Sales and Sales Operations. The Sales Director may have one of more direct reports.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develops and leads the overall strategy for the Seasonal business with key grocery retailers, aligning short and long-term plans with American Greetings' financial and growth objectives.
• Acts as the primary point of contact and strategic liaison between the Sales organization and internal teams including Category, Occasion, Shopper Marketing, Business Intelligence, F&DP, and Sales Operations to ensure alignment and coordinated execution.
• Utilizes customer, category, and shopper insights to inform strategies that strengthen retailer partnerships and drive category growth.
• Demonstrates strong financial acumen in managing the business, including strategic planning, problem-solving, decision-making, and contract negotiation.
• Partners cross-functionally to develop and execute both joint business plans and internal financial plans.
• Delivers sales, margin, and profit goals through disciplined business management, effective use of marketing funds, and customer-focused strategies.
• Collaborates with Senior Sales Directors and Marketing partners to best manage the marketing budget, evaluating spend based on performance, ROI, and retailer commitments.
• Cultivates strong, strategic partnerships with buyers and retail decision-makers by understanding their business needs and delivering solutions that achieve mutual growth and profitability.
• Provides thought leadership across the grocery channel team, contributing to company-wide strategies that elevate American Greetings' presence and performance within key retail partners.
• Creates presentations rooted in insights (POS, trend, consumer, product), tailored to retailer key priorities, and highlighting thought leadership, category leadership and retailer benefits.
• Performs presentation of performance recaps and sales plans to the retailer, effectively communicating materials, fielding questions, addressing key retailer concerns, and summarizing key takeaways and next steps.
• Updates internal cross-functional partners on retailer feedback, expectations, and status of programs with goal of progressing work and driving outstanding issues to closure.
• Partners with the Seasonal Forecast & Demand Planning team to ensure AG's financial objectives are positioned for profitable growth and aligned to retailer growth plans.
• May manage one or more direct reports; if so, must ensure deliverables are met and responsible for coaching, training, and talent development.
• Other duties as assigned.

#J-18808-Ljbffr