Sales Manager (Protein)

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Sales Manager to join a growing U.S. meat and protein business.

This is an excellent opportunity for a commercially driven sales professional with experience selling meat, poultry, pork, deli, RTE, or value-added protein products.

The successful candidate will be responsible for managing key customer relationships, driving revenue and margin growth, developing new business, and expanding the company's presence across retail, foodservice, club, and distribution channels.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and grow relationships with key retail, foodservice, club, distributor, and national accounts.
• Develop and execute sales strategies to achieve revenue, volume, and margin targets.
• Drive sales of fresh, processed, fully cooked, RTE, and value-added meat products.
• Identify and develop new customer and business opportunities.
• Manage pricing, contracts, promotions, forecasts, and customer negotiations.
• Build strong relationships with buyers, category managers, procurement teams, and senior customer stakeholders.
• Develop annual business plans and sales forecasts for key accounts.
• Analyze customer, market, competitor, pricing, and volume data to identify growth opportunities.
• Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Product Development, and Finance to ensure customer requirements are met.
• Support new product launches and commercialization of new meat products.
• Monitor sales performance, margins, volume, and profitability.
• Prepare and present customer reviews, sales reports, and business plans to senior leadership.
• Maintain a strong pipeline of new business opportunities.

Ideal Candidate

• 5+ years of sales experience within meat, protein, poultry, pork, food manufacturing, or CPG.
• Strong understanding of the U.S. meat and protein market.
• Experience selling fresh, frozen, cooked, RTE, deli, or value-added meat products.
• Existing relationships with major retail, foodservice, club, distributor, or national accounts are highly desirable.
• Proven track record of achieving and exceeding sales targets.
• Strong negotiation, account management, and business-development skills.
• Commercial understanding of pricing, margins, volume, forecasting, and profitability.
• Strong analytical, communication, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Product Development, and Finance.
• Entrepreneurial, results-oriented approach with the ability to operate in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Customer Experience

Experience with major accounts such as Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, Kroger, Publix, Albertsons, Target, Whole Foods, Sysco, US Foods, or other national retailers and foodservice distributors would be highly valuable.

Target Background

Strong candidates may come from Hormel Foods, Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, Pilgrim's, JBS, Cargill Protein, Clemens Food Group, Routh Packing, Cloverdale Foods, Fresh Mark, Abbyland Foods, Leidy's, Manda Fine Meats, Johnsonville, Dietz & Watson, Monogram Foods, Chomps, Archer, Jack Link's, or similar meat and protein manufacturers.

Key Performance Areas

Success in the role will be measured through:

• Revenue growth
• Volume growth
• Gross margin and profitability
• New customer acquisition
• Existing account growth
• Customer retention
• New product sales
• Achievement of annual sales targets
• Expansion into new retail and food-service channels

This is an excellent opportunity for a Sales Manager with strong meat, RTE, or value-added protein experience to take ownership of major customer relationships and play a key role in driving continued commercial growth.