Senior Retail Business Development Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Greater Los Angeles Area | Full-Time, In-Office

Our client is a well-established, privately held company with a strong presence in major U.S. retail. The organization operates in a fast-paced, highly demanding environment with high expectations, direct communication, and significant opportunity for long-term growth.

The Senior Retail Business Development Manager will be responsible for growing existing retail accounts, developing new business, and building strong, strategic relationships with retail buyers and decision-makers.

This is a hands-on commercial role for someone who is exceptionally sharp, highly adaptable, commercially curious, and able to move quickly in a business where market conditions, customer needs, pricing, and priorities can change rapidly.

The successful candidate will develop a deep understanding of each customer’s business, identify opportunities to expand the relationship, and bring forward new ideas, programs, and solutions that drive long-term growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and grow strategic retail customer relationships.
• Develop a deep understanding of each customer’s business, category priorities, buying patterns, challenges, goals, and growth opportunities.
• Identify opportunities to increase penetration within existing accounts through additional products, programs, promotions, and customer-specific solutions.
• Develop new retail business and establish relationships with prospective customers.
• Meet directly with retail buyers and decision-makers to present programs, negotiate, solve problems, and build long-term partnerships.
• Develop customer-specific business plans designed to increase sales, improve profitability, and strengthen the overall relationship.
• Analyze customer-specific sales data, market conditions, pricing, promotional activity, product mix, and competitive trends to identify growth opportunities.
• Participate in pricing and volume decisions in coordination with leadership.
• Stay closely connected to day-to-day account activity while maintaining a broader strategic view of the customer and business.
• Work closely with Account Management, operations, supply chain, accounting, and leadership to ensure customer programs are executed successfully.
• Respond quickly and effectively to changing customer needs, business conditions, and time-sensitive issues.
• Prepare and deliver presentations, business reviews, proposals, and customer recommendations.
• Use Excel, CRM systems, retailer portals, reporting tools, and other business technology to support customer strategy and commercial decision-making.
• Attend customer meetings, industry events, and trade shows as needed.
• Take on increasing responsibility as the business and customer base continue to grow.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be:

• Exceptionally sharp, quick-thinking, and commercially minded.
• Able to absorb information rapidly and make sound decisions in a fast-moving environment.
• Naturally curious and willing to dig deeply into a customer’s business rather than simply manage current activity.
• Skilled at identifying opportunities that may not be immediately obvious.
• Confident, polished, and credible in front of retail buyers and senior decision-makers.
• Strong at both relationship-building and commercial analysis.
• Highly adaptable and comfortable changing direction quickly when conditions shift.
• Decisive, resourceful, and solutions-oriented.
• Comfortable operating in a high-expectation environment with direct feedback and highly engaged leadership.
• Professional and emotionally steady under pressure.
• Strong at managing multiple priorities without losing attention to detail.
• Interested in building a long-term career and taking on broader responsibility over time.

Qualifications

• Significant progressive experience in retail sales or business development, ideally within produce, fresh foods, food and beverage, CPG, or another high-volume retail-driven environment.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with major retail buyers and decision-makers.
• Proven success growing existing accounts and developing new business.
• Strong understanding of retail sales performance metrics and customer economics.
• Ability to learn and understand rapidly changing market conditions.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to use customer and market data to guide sales strategy.
• Excellent presentation, negotiation, communication, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong computer skills, including Excel, CRM platforms, retailer systems, reporting tools, and presentation software.
• Ability to learn new systems, products, customers, and business processes quickly.
• Strong follow-through and personal accountability.
• Demonstrated career stability and interest in a long-term growth opportunity.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field preferred.

Joe Produce Search is the produce industry’s executive recruiting partner, connecting organizations with the leaders who drive growth. With deep industry expertise and a people-first approach, we specialize in placing high-impact talent—from C-suite to sales—across the produce sector and adjacent industries.

Our thoughtful, confidential search process ensures alignment not only in performance, but in culture, delivering long-term hiring success.

Company Description

Joe Produce Search is the produce industry’s executive recruiting partner, connecting organizations with the leaders who drive growth. With deep industry expertise and a people-first approach, we specialize in placing high-impact talent—from C-suite to sales—across the produce sector and adjacent industries.\n\n\nOur thoughtful, confidential search process ensures alignment not only in performance, but in culture, delivering long-term hiring success.