Worker Type:
Employee
Job Description:
We deliver the world’s best coffee. Farmers, employees, and customers are collaborators in our effort to create a memorable and enriching coffee experience. We are not afraid to ask questions, try new things, and admit that we are constantly learning. We strive for innovation, improvement, and positive change.
The Senior Director of Sales leads our wholesale sales team, most of whom sell directly to independent coffee shops, restaurants, cafes, and hotels, along with a smaller distributor relationship and a small portfolio of specialty grocery accounts. We aren't just looking for someone to fill the top sales job; we need a leader with a builder mentality who inspires and motivates the team to understand our goals, execute our processes, and achieve extraordinary results.
Most sales leadership roles ask you to manage an existing pipeline and keep the engine running. This isn't that job. We’re looking for a Growth Builder - a strategic, data-obsessed leader who thrives on potential and market dominance. We deliver extraordinary coffee to the world, and we need a leader who brings that same unyielding commitment to excellence to our sales organization.
If you’re driven by coaching talent, leveraging data to outmaneuver the competition, and scaling revenue systems, let’s talk.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Leadership & Pipeline Management
Drive Decisions: Utilize pipelines, metrics, and analytics to forecast performance, manage the sales funnel, and make sound, objective strategic decisions.
Execute Strategy & Growth: Formulate and execute scalable sales strategies to achieve revenue targets, expand market share, and optimize lead generation, conversion, and retention.
Sales Budget Ownership: Own the sales budget and partner with finance to stay accountable to financial targets.
Adaptability & Execution: Manage key performance indicators; pivot quickly when results are off to sort through real data versus excuses to resolve underlying obstacles.
2. Magnify Your Power
Active Coaching: Serve as an active coach and mentor who teaches essential skills, guides strategy, and supports the team, resisting the urge to jump in and close deals for them.
Inspire & Motivate: You turn strategy into inspiration. You make sure every person on your team deeply understands the why behind our goals and the how of our processes. They execute flawlessly with our customers to show “every detail matters.”
Coach & Scale: Hire and lead your top-tier sales talent aligned with our values. Nurture high-potential individuals and facilitate career progression.
3. Market Expansion & Partnerships
Key Account Management: Build and maintain strong, strategic relationships with major key accounts, distributors, and retail partners.
Go-to-Market Execution: Develop and implement comprehensive go-to-market strategies for new initiatives, including expanded foodservice distribution and our new product lines including Ready-to-Drink.
Brand & Product Alignment: Champion brand standards across all sales touchpoints and maintain a tight feedback loop between the sales team, marketing, and product innovation.
Qualifications & Requirements
Minimum 10 years of professional sales leadership experience, with a proven track record building and leading a direct, relationship-based sales team.
Coffee, specialty food, beverage, or hospitality industry background strongly preferred.
Experience working in ERP systems, using data to inform decisions.
Bachelor’s Degree required, or equivalent work experience.
Demonstrated experience as a coach-first leader who prioritizes team enablement, cross-functional collaboration, and active mentoring over individual selling.
An entrepreneurial, self-starter mentality with high adaptability, creative problem-solving skills, and a passion for revenue and growth.
Exceptional verbal, written, and executive-level communication skills.
Ability to travel, sometimes on weekends or evenings.
Driver’s license is required
Work Environment / Physical Requirements
Regularly required to see, talk, and hear
Frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, and stoop, kneel, or crouch
Office and retail environments,
Noise level is generally moderate
Fine hand manipulation (keyboard use)
May require more than 40 hours per week to fulfill essential duties
Benefits
Medical, dental and vision insurance
Company-paid long & short-term disability and life insurance
Paid vacation and sick time
401(k) eligible after 90 days of employment and a company match after one year
8 Paid holidays per year
Commuter benefits
Free bag of coffee each week with a discount on other items
Employee Assistance Program
Compensation
The pay rate for this position is $180,000-200,000 as base pay. This role carries an additional incentive eligibility of $50,000-60,000 between commissions and the annual bonus plan.
To counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity, we are publicizing salary information for this role. This is also required by multiple state laws in which we operate. From a candidate’s perspective, our salary range takes into account a number of factors, including skill sets, experience, education and the training needed for the role. From a company perspective, it includes organizational needs, budgets and internal equity considerations. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at the top of our range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. We are honest and open about our pay and hope that you will be, too, to avoid miscommunication or frustration at the offer stage.
If you reside outside of the Chicago/LA/NYC areas, please include a cover letter regarding your plans to relocate. Only candidates in these cities will be considered otherwise. Applicants must be currently authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa.
Intelligentsia Coffee, Inc is an equal opportunity employer of all qualified individuals.
We are committed to creating a diverse and welcoming workplace that includes individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We believe that enables us to better meet our mission and values while serving guests throughout our communities. People of color, women, LGBTQIA+, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with all federal state and local ordinances.
Intelligentsia is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us via email at [email protected]
