Region Sales Manager (West)

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Icelandic Provisions is an early-stage growth company that provides essential nutrition rooted in the Nordic Food Philosophy. The flagship product, dairy Skyr, is the only authentic Icelandic Skyr brand in the United States that uses heirloom Skyr cultures and the original recipe that is beloved across Iceland.

The Nordic way of life is not only deeply rooted in the quality of the Icelandic Provisions’ products but runs deep in the organizational culture through the WÁOO (pronounced WOW!) values. When we are attracting talent to join our growing organization, a natural question we ask is whether the candidate brings the “wáoo” factor? We describe is as: W elcoming, Á mbitious, O ptimistic, and O n with the butter!

With a strong consumer and business base to build on, we are looking for product-obsessed, passionate individuals who are energized about rapid growth and achievement and want to be a part of the happy, healthy cultural movement that we are leading. We believe in putting best-in-class products in the market and take pride in what we are building, “making everything count” along the way.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Region Sales Manager, is a key growth position on the IP sales team, with primary responsibility of managing and growing sales with our West regional customers. The Region Sales Manager will be accountable for developing and executing key growth strategies, tactics, and action plans required to achieve company objectives. Additional responsibilities include developing relationships with retailers and distributors, managing broker partnerships, as well as development of forecasts, and sales plans for regional customers. This role will report directly to the Director of Sales Regionals and play an important role in the continued exponential growth of the Icelandic Provisions brand.

KEY JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Overall responsibility for the organization, planning, and execution of all sales activities for Regional customers to achieve stated sales objectives
• Develops strategic customer plans that align with company goals and objectives to meet or exceed budgeted sales and operating profit targets across customer base
• Understand customer business needs and build short and long term strategies that support those customer goals while achieving all company sales targets and financial expectations
• Lead and improve our distribution, pricing, shelving and merchandising within stated customers
• Ensure sound fiscal operation of sales territory through the adherence and measurement of trade guidelines and overhead spending
• Establish a strong working relationship with internal cross functional teams in Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, Sales Planning, etc to achieve desired results for both customers and internal organization
• Develop best in class partnerships with key retailers for long term brand and category growth
• Knowledge of and ability to effectively use business intelligence (i.e. Nielsen) and customer databases to drive brand and category growth
• Works closely with broker partners to achieve outstanding execution across Regional customers
• Accountable for partnering with Sales Strategy team to uncover key customer category opportunities to improve profit and gross sales volume based on analysis of promotion, spending and volume (forecast and actuals). Flawlessly executes these solution based selling tools and presentations to close opportunities within customer base
• Manage and leverage the broker relationship to effectively strategize and win at a diverse array of customers.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 3+ years of consumer packaged goods industry experience in Sales and/or related functions
• Position requires excellent interpersonal, analytical, organizational, communication, presentation, and time management skills
• Proven experience at Grocery Retailers highly preferred
• Previous broker management experience highly preferred
• Demonstrated success as a team player building highly collaborative working relationships, especially with finance and sales planning teams
• Functional competencies in customer business development, trade and sales planning with fact based selling through category insights
• Experience working with syndicated and customer data sources to drive actionable insights
• Must have the ability to work in conditions that include multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities
• Highly motivated individual with entrepreneurial business development spirit
• Has authentic passion for Icelandic Provisions’ brand and is energized by working with a small and passionate team
• Travel requirements: Approximately 30-50%

ORGANIZATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

The ideal candidate for any role within Icelandic Provisions needs to align to the values by exemplifying WÁOO (pronounced WOW!) in the way that they lead. We will naturally be assessing for the “wáoo” factor (i.e., did they “wáoo” you and will they “wáoo” others?) Here’s how we describe it: W elcoming, Á mbitious, O ptimistic, O n with the butter!

• W ELCOMING - Food is one of the greatest connectors we have as humans. In the English language the word “companion,” in Spanish the word “companero,” in Italian the word “compagno,” and in French the word “copain” all come from the Latin meaning “with whom one eats bread.” We love this because we are a provisions company, and we value and embrace how food brings us together. So, it’s only natural that we are looking for talent that is hospitable, welcoming everyone and treating & accepting everyone as this is a core part of the culture at IP.
• A MBITIOUS - We have big dreams. We are eager, brave, passionate and love to punch above our weight. We compete in one of the most competitive categories in the consumer-packaged goods retail landscape and we are a small and mighty team. We are seeking individuals who are smart, entrepreneurial believers who are energized by charging toward a common goal to join our team.
• O PTIMISTIC - We are a glass half full company. Iceland is regarded as one of the happiest countries on earth despite being dark for much of the year. We are looking for individuals who are focused on the upside and shy away from negativity and know how to persevere no matter what the circumstances are.
• O N WITH THE BUTTER! - Put simply we do not like to dilly-dally. We connect dots, move, and then move on. There is an Icelandic phrase that is used to encourage people to get on with it called “áfram með smjörið” which literally translates as “get on with the butter.” We are seeking individuals who know how to make informed decisions and then quickly action them.

YOU’RE AN IDEAL CANDIDATE IF...

• You think working in a fast paced, ever changing, entrepreneurial environment is exciting
• You believe there is always a better way. You ask lots of questions, actively seek the opinions of others and love working collaboratively
• You are a “Swiss Army Knife” of talents and are comfortable with the often fluid, changing environment of a startup and want to make a positive and lasting impact
• The unknown, the ill-defined or the uncharted motivates you
• You are looking for a work environment without a lot of hierarchy, you like empowerment and have a “roll up your sleeves” mentality
• You have strong analytical skills balanced with a great sense of logic and pragmatism when it comes to problem solving
• You are self-aware, you pay attention to organizational dynamics, and you are comfortable pacing how you influence and drive organizational change
• You are both a doer and an optimist

WHAT ICELANDIC PROVISIONS OFFER:

• Exciting work environment in a small team and a great deal of autonomy
• Flexibility to work remotely or in our New York City offices
• Base salary range of $90,000 - $120,000
• Competitive benefits package including health, dental, vision insurance and 401k matching
• Flexible paid time off allowing to manage your time as it works for you
• Delicious Skyr available (for free) in the office