Account Director

About the Company

Levels is one of the fastest-growing sports nutrition brands in America. We make premium protein powders without the gimmicks, hype, or shortcuts that dominate the category. Our brand is built on ingredient transparency, product quality, and delivering exceptional value to consumers. Our products are sold through direct-to-consumer, Amazon, Costco, and a growing network of national retailers and distributors.

About the Role

As we continue expanding our protein powder business and building our presence across the Food, Drug & Mass (FDM) channel, we're looking for an experienced sales professional to accelerate distribution, strengthen retailer partnerships, and drive profitable growth. The Account Director, FDM Sales will be responsible for managing and growing key retail customer relationships across the Food, Drug & Mass channel. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Sales, this role will own assigned customer accounts, execute customer-specific growth plans, drive distribution expansion, manage promotional programs, and deliver sales and profitability objectives. This is a highly commercial, execution-oriented role for someone who understands how to win at retail. You'll work directly with retail buyers, category managers, brokers, distributors, and internal cross-functional teams to translate business objectives into measurable results. The ideal candidate has experience managing retail accounts within food and beverage CPG, sports nutrition, functional beverages, dietary supplements, or closely related categories. You understand the fundamentals of category management, fact-based selling, trade promotion, customer P&L management, and retail execution. This position requires someone who can independently manage customer relationships, identify growth opportunities, negotiate effectively, and execute with urgency and accountability.

What You'll Do

• Retail Account Management & Sales Growth
• Own the day-to-day commercial management and growth of assigned FDM retail accounts.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with retail buyers, category managers, merchant teams, and key customer stakeholders.
• Develop and execute customer-specific business plans aligned with company objectives.
• Drive revenue growth through new item placements, expanded distribution, improved shelf positioning, and increased promotional effectiveness.
• Lead customer meetings, business reviews, line reviews, and sales presentations.
• Identify opportunities to expand assortment, gain additional shelf space, and improve in-store visibility.
• Manage customer-specific sales targets, distribution objectives, and execution priorities.
• Build a strong understanding of customer strategies, category priorities, and competitive dynamics.

Distribution Expansion & Retail Execution

• Identify and pursue new distribution and assortment opportunities.
• Support new product introductions, retailer launches, and SKU expansion.
• Partner with retail customers and brokers to improve shelf placement, merchandising, and promotional execution.
• Track authorized distribution, points of distribution, velocity, and retail performance.
• Monitor item-level performance to identify opportunities for expansion, optimization, or corrective action.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure new customer programs and product launches execute successfully.
• Address retail execution challenges proactively to protect and grow sales.

Category Management & Fact-Based Selling

• Use market intelligence, syndicated data, and customer performance insights to develop compelling, fact-based selling stories.
• Analyze syndicated and retailer-specific data to understand category trends, consumer behavior, competitor performance, and growth opportunities.
• Leverage Circana, NielsenIQ, SPINS, retailer POS data, and other analytical tools where available.
• Develop data-driven presentations that demonstrate the value of Levels' products and support distribution expansion.
• Evaluate category performance, market share, pricing, promotional activity, and product velocity.
• Identify whitespace opportunities and assortment gaps within assigned accounts.
• Translate data into actionable selling strategies and customer recommendations.
• Support category reviews and customer presentations with clear commercial insights.

Trade Promotion & Commercial Performance

• Manage customer-level trade investments, promotional planning, and profitability to support sustainable growth.
• Develop and execute promotional plans tailored to assigned retail accounts.
• Manage customer trade budgets, promotional calendars, and spending against approved plans.
• Partner with Finance and Sales leadership to develop and maintain customer-level P&Ls.
• Monitor gross-to-net revenue, trade spending, deductions, promotional effectiveness, and customer profitability.
• Evaluate promotional ROI and identify opportunities to improve investment efficiency.
• Support customer pricing, promotional negotiations, and annual planning.
• Ensure trade investments are executed accurately and deliver measurable business results.
• Balance distribution growth, sales velocity, and profitability when recommending commercial investments.

Forecasting & Business Planning

• Develop customer sales forecasts based on historical performance, distribution changes, promotional plans, and growth opportunities.
• Partner with Demand Planning and Supply Chain to align customer commitments with inventory availability.
• Monitor sales performance against forecasts, budgets, and annual targets.
• Identify demand risks, business gaps, and growth opportunities early.
• Maintain visibility into upcoming promotions, new item launches, and customer activity.
• Provide regular account performance reporting and actionable recommendations to Sales leadership.
• Support annual operating plans and customer business reviews.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Collaboration

• Partner closely with Retail Marketing, Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Finance, Product Commercialization, Customer Success, and other cross-functional teams.
• Coordinate new item launches, retailer programs, merchandising initiatives, and promotional execution.
• Align customer forecasts, inventory requirements, trade investments, and retailer commitments.
• Collaborate with Retail Marketing to develop effective shopper marketing and in-store activation programs.
• Manage broker and distributor relationships supporting assigned accounts, where applicable.
• Communicate customer needs, opportunities, challenges, and priorities clearly across the organization.
• Ensure customer-specific initiatives are delivered on time, on budget, and with strong execution.

What Success Looks Like

• Assigned retail accounts consistently achieve or exceed sales targets.
• Increased authorized distribution, shelf presence, and product velocity.
• Strong relationships with buyers and category managers that create new growth opportunities.
• Successful execution of new product launches and retail expansion initiatives.
• Effective promotional programs that improve retail performance and generate positive returns.
• Customer-level trade investments remain within budget and support profitable growth.
• Accurate forecasts and strong coordination with Demand Planning and Supply Chain.
• Data-driven selling presentations result in additional distribution and stronger customer partnerships.
• Account-level P&L performance meets or exceeds established objectives.
• Levels continues gaining share and expanding its presence across the FDM channel.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of progressive sales or account management experience within consumer packaged goods, preferably food and beverage, sports nutrition, dietary supplements, functional foods, or functional beverages.
• At least 3 years of direct experience managing retail customer relationships within the Food, Drug & Mass channel.
• Demonstrated success driving retail sales growth, increasing distribution, and managing established customer accounts.
• Experience working directly with retail buyers, category managers, and merchant teams.
• Strong understanding of retail category management, assortment planning, merchandising, and promotional execution.
• Experience developing and presenting fact-based selling stories using syndicated and retailer-specific data.
• Direct experience managing customer trade budgets, promotional investments, and customer-level profitability.
• Understanding of customer P&Ls, gross-to-net sales, trade spending, and promotional ROI.
• Experience managing account forecasts, annual business plans, and sales performance reporting.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, communication, and relationship-management skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and sales reporting tools.
• Ability to independently manage multiple customer priorities and deliver results in a fast-moving environment.

Preferred Experience

Experience managing or supporting national or regional retail customers such as:

Kroger

Albertsons

Publix

Other major food, drug, mass, or regional grocery retailers

Additional preferred qualifications include:

• Experience with protein powders, sports nutrition, Ready-to-Drink beverages, dietary supplements, or better-for-you consumer products.
• Experience with Circana, NielsenIQ, SPINS, or comparable syndicated data platforms.
• Experience working with retail brokers and distribution partners.
• Experience supporting emerging, high-growth, or challenger CPG brands.
• Demonstrated success securing new item authorizations, expanding retail distribution, and improving sales velocity.
• Familiarity with retailer-specific planning tools, portals, and business processes.
• Experience managing both direct retail accounts and broker-supported customer relationships.

Travel: Approximately 20% travel, including customer meetings, retail visits, industry events, and internal business meetings.