Trade Marketing Director

JOB SUMMARY

The Trade Marketing Director serves as the essential bridge between our overarching brand vision, our top-line revenue strategies, and our on-the-ground commercial execution within the complex US three-tier system.

Working hand-in-hand with the Marketing Director, Licor 43 & Premium Spirits and the Wine Development Manager, you will translate high-level consumer campaigns across our entire wines and spirits portfolio into hard-hitting commercial tools. Simultaneously, you will partner with the Commercial Director to align these tools with national revenue goals, and act as the strategic engine for our Regional Sales Directors, empowering their teams to drive volume, manage distributors, and win market share.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Cross-Functional Leadership & Sales Alignment

• Consumer Marketing & Wine Development: Work closely with the Marketing Director, Licor 43 and Premium Spirits and the Wine Development Manager to ensure overarching brand strategies across the wines and spirits portfolio are seamlessly translated into actionable, channel-specific commercial plans. Act as the primary conduit between long-term brand-building initiatives and immediate on-the-ground sales execution.
• Commercial Director: Align national trade marketing strategies with overarching revenue, volume, and profitability targets. Collaborate to define the annual commercial calendar and ensure all Below-The-Line investments support the overall company P&L.
• Regional Sales Directors: Act as the primary strategic support for the field sales leadership. Arm Regional Sales Directors with localized selling stories, territory-specific distributor incentive structures, and tailored POS and activity allocations.
• Establish Field Feedback Loops: Create structured processes to gather insights from Regional Sales Directors regarding regional market realities to continuously refine and adapt national customer marketing programs.

2. Annual Commercial Planning & Channel Strategy

• Partner with Consumer Marketing & Wine Development: Work hand-in-hand with the Marketing Director, Licor 43 and Premium Spirits and the Wine Development Manager, serving as the bridge between their teams and the sales force. Support them in translating high-level wine and spirits brand strategies and consumer initiatives into highly actionable, localized market and channel execution plans.
• Lead the Commercial Annual Planning Cycle: Drive the commercial and channel annual planning cycle ensuring seamless synchronization between brand marketing/wine development programs, distributor lead times, and retail buying windows.
• Define Channel Strategy: Establish the national "where to play" strategy. Translate the overarching portfolio vision into channel-specific execution, tailoring SKUs, formats, and activations for On-Premise versus Off-Premise, Independent accounts versus Chains.

3. Investment Optimization

• Promotional Calendar: Work with the Commercial Director and Regional Sales Directors to establish and govern the national and state-level pricing architecture. Define promotional calendars, and position the brands optimally against competitor price tiers to maximize margin and volume.
• Optimize A&P Resource Allocation: Allocate Trade and Below-The-Line (BTL) budgets across markets and channels, tying all spend directly to commercial objectives.

4. Execution, Category Management & Portfolio Strategy

• Develop Data-Driven Selling Stories: Act as the leader of Category Management by translating raw data (Nielsen, Depletions, Shipments) into compelling, ready-to-use buyer decks. Prove the portfolio’s value to retailers to win shelf space, floor displays, and menu placements.
• Structure Distributor Incentives: Work with Regional Directors to design, deploy, and track local and national distributor incentive programs. Ensure programs effectively motivate distributor representatives to hit specific distribution and depletion targets across all wines and spirits.
• Guide Portfolio & SKU Strategy: Continuously analyze product velocity to recommend SKU rationalization (cutting underperforming sizes/flavors) and identify critical gaps in the portfolio.

5. Channel Strategy (On-Premise vs. Off-Premise)

• Off-Premise Execution: Partner with Consumer Marketing and Wine Development to define how the brands must show up in liquor, grocery, and club channels. Provide commercial guardrails to ensure that the floor displays, end-caps, and Value-Added Packaging (VAPs) developed by the brand teams are commercially viable, align with retail buying windows, and effectively disrupt the shopper journey. Aid in the development of in-store programming, assist in driving execution and develop scorecards to measure impact.
• On-Premise Activation: Guide Consumer Marketing and Wine Development in the creation of on-premise programs aimed at winning menu placements and back-bar visibility. Ensure that all feature drink initiatives, wine-by-the-glass placements, and physical POS (Point of Sale) materials they design fit seamlessly into the annual commercial plan, respect distributor timelines, and meet the practical needs of the field sales team.

CAPABILITIES

Functional Requirements:

• Financial Acumen: Strong P&L understanding to build pricing ladders, calculate gross-to-net margins, and evaluate the ROI of trade spend.
• Data Synthesis & Category Management: Transform complex data (Nielsen, shipments, depletions) into compelling selling stories and buyer decks that win floor space and menu placements.
• Three-Tier & Distributor Expertise: Deep knowledge of US distributor mechanics to build legally compliant incentive programs that capture sales reps' attention.
• Strategic Resource Allocation: Ruthlessly prioritize national trade and Below-The-Line (BTL) budgets to maximize ROI across growth and core markets.
• Timeline Orchestration: Expertly manage the commercial planning cycle and commercial activity calendar to synchronize distributor lead times with brand campaigns and retail buying windows.
• Thought Leadership : Serve as a trusted leader within the US who can assist in the ideation and implementation of transformational change and processes across US operations.

Behavioral Competencies:

• Diplomacy & Influence: Successfully mediate conflicting priorities between Sales, Consumer Marketing, and Wine Development to align teams on a unified commercial strategy.
• "Bilingual" Communicator: Seamlessly translate between the language of Marketing/Brand Development ("brand equity," "consumer personas," "terroir") and Sales ("depletions," "margin realization").
• Pragmatic Vision: Balance long-term portfolio strategy with the practical realities of daily commercial execution, ensuring brand ideas are commercially viable.
• Tolerance for Complexity: Comfortably navigate the regulatory, pricing, and distributor nuances of the 50 distinct US state markets.
• Resilience & Objective Pushback: Confidently say "no" to both Sales and Marketing requests by relying entirely on objective data and commercial realities.

REQUIREMENTS & SKILLS

Experience: 12-15+ years of progressive experience in Customer Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Category Management, or Sales within positions of increasing responsibility.
Industry Knowledge: Deep US Spirits/Beverage Alcohol industry experience is strictly required, including a masterful understanding of the complex US three-tier system and distributor dynamics.
Global to Local Execution: Proven experience taking overarching global or national brand strategies and implementing them successfully as highly effective, localized commercial market plans.
Analytical to Actionable: Strong ability to understand changing market dynamics and synthesize commercial data (e.g., Nielsen, Shipments, Depletions) into actionable strategies that achieve top-line company objectives.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, or a related field is required. Master’s degree or MBA is highly preferred.
Languages: Fluency in English, Spanish is a plus
Soft Skills: A highly hands-on, collaborative, and cross-functional style of working.

Advanced computer skills , particularly in Microsoft Excel (for pricing/RGM modeling) and PowerPoint (for building compelling buyer decks), as well as Google Workspace.

We offer a competitive salary package, including bonuses and benefits, along with opportunities for career growth and development within a rapidly growing wine and spirits company. If you are a dynamic and results-driven sales professional with a passion for the wine and spirits industry, we would love to hear from you.

Zamora Company is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.