Director of National Accounts - Club & Grocery

Job Description

Job Description

The Director, National Accounts - Club & Grocery will lead Noodle & Boo’s expansion across club and grocery channels, with primary ownership of Costco, Sam’s Club, grocery accounts, and related distributor or broker partnerships. This role is responsible for building scalable, profitable retail programs that support the company’s next stage of growth and long-term channel expansion.

This is a highly commercial, hands-on role for a sales leader who understands how to grow premium consumer packaged goods in complex retail channels while protecting margin, brand equity, inventory discipline, and operational execution.

Key Responsibilities

Club Channel Growth

• Own and grow Costco, Sam’s Club, and future club opportunities.
• Develop account strategies that align with Noodle & Boo’s premium positioning, profitability goals, and operational capacity.
• Lead item recommendations, program planning, pricing strategy, promotional planning, and customer presentations for club accounts.
• Evaluate club-specific pack sizes, bundles, displays, mailers, online programs, and limited-time opportunities.
• Partner with Operations and Finance to ensure club programs are executable, profitable, and supported by adequate inventory and production planning.

Grocery Channel Development

• Build the grocery channel strategy, including regional grocery, premium grocery, natural grocery, and broader grocery expansion opportunities.
• Manage and expand current grocery relationships, including Gelson’s and other priority accounts.
• Identify and pursue the right distributor, broker, and account pathways for national grocery growth, including relevant partners such as KeHE, UNFI, and other grocery distributors as appropriate.
• Develop sell-in materials, pricing logic, assortment recommendations, and launch plans for grocery customers.
• Partner with Marketing to support retail activation, sampling, displays, and consumer awareness programs in grocery.

Account Management and Retail Execution

• Own account planning, buyer communication, meeting preparation, follow-up, and execution tracking for assigned club and grocery accounts.
• Monitor sales performance, in-stock levels, weeks of supply, item performance, promotional results, and account profitability.
• Coordinate with Sales Operations on item setup, forecasts, pricing sheets, customer forms, deductions support, order flow, and account reporting.
• Partner with Operations on demand planning, inventory timing, launch readiness, EDI requirements, shipping requirements, and retailer compliance.
• Proactively identify and resolve risks related to out-of-stocks, overstock, margin pressure, compliance chargebacks, and retailer execution.

Broker, Rep Group, and Distributor Management

• Manage relevant broker, rep group, and distributor partners supporting club and grocery channels.
• Set clear expectations, goals, account priorities, reporting cadence, and follow-up requirements.
• Ensure external partners are properly equipped with product knowledge, brand positioning, pricing, samples, selling materials, and account strategy.
• Evaluate partner performance and recommend changes when partners are not aligned with growth goals.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with the VP Sales, CEO, Marketing, Operations, Product, Finance, and Customer Service teams to support profitable retail growth.
• Provide accurate and timely input into the demand planning process, including account-level forecasts, launch assumptions, promotional lifts, and timing risks.
• Help assess channel-specific product needs, including sizes, bundles, fragrance-free opportunities, premium positioning, and retail-ready packaging.
• Support executive-level planning by providing clear updates on account status, risks, opportunities, and resource needs.

Performance Metrics

• Club and grocery net sales growth.
• New account wins and approved expansion milestones.
• Gross margin and program profitability by account.
• In-stock performance and launch execution quality.
• Forecast accuracy for assigned channels.
• Retailer compliance, deduction reduction, and clean execution.
• Quality of buyer relationships and broker or distributor performance.

Qualifications

• 7 to 10+ years of CPG sales experience, preferably in baby, beauty, personal care, household, wellness, or premium consumer products.
• Direct experience selling to or managing club and grocery accounts strongly preferred.
• Experience with Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s, Gelson’s, Whole Foods, Kroger, Albertsons, regional grocery, natural grocery, KeHE, UNFI, or similar channels is highly relevant.
• Strong understanding of retail math, trade spend, margin, pricing, promotional planning, item setup, and account profitability.
• Experience managing brokers, distributors, rep groups, or external sales partners.
• Ability to work in a founder-led, high-growth, entrepreneurial environment where the role requires both strategy and hands-on execution.
• Strong communication, follow-up, presentation, analytical, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Has scaled a premium CPG brand through club and grocery without damaging brand positioning or margin.
• Understands the operational complexity of large retail programs, including forecasting, inventory, chargebacks, compliance, and launch readiness.
• Can build strong buyer relationships while also being disciplined about profitability and execution.
• Is comfortable working with limited infrastructure and helping build the sales operating rhythm as the company scales.
• Balances urgency with judgment, and knows when to say yes, when to push back, and when an account opportunity is not yet right for the business.