A Company for the Curious
Something & Nothing is disrupting the global soda category with a range of award-winning premium sodas made for the modern, conscious consumer. Our drinks are sold across the US, UK and Europe, and can be found in some of the world’s best retailers, hotels, cafes and restaurants.
To support the growth of our US business, we’re looking for someone to lead distribution and sales growth across our Central region: Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
Base salary: $120,000, plus share options.
How we work: read this first
We are not a traditional company, and this is not a traditional sales role.
We believe structured hierarchies stifle creativity and curiosity, and both are critical to how this business succeeds. So we do not have one. In place of a formal hierarchy we have an open culture. In practice that means everyone is accountable to the company rather than to a manager. You will not have a manager. You will have full autonomy and authority to deliver your responsibilities, and decisions get made quickly rather than waiting on a founder.
Your role is defined by your responsibilities rather than by a title, and those responsibilities link directly to the vision, purpose and strategic goals of the business. You will be able to see everyone else's responsibilities too, so you can see how the whole thing joins up. No one has a job title, because titles limit the scope of what we might need you to do, and both the world and this business move too fast for that. Roles here evolve.
To make sure you have both the technical skill and the mindset to deliver, you will have access to support, coaching and development.
That structure also shapes how we pay. We do not run commission or bonus schemes. Instead we offer a competitive base salary and share options, so that everyone shares in what we build together rather than chasing individual monthly numbers.
We set a high standard. When you push boundaries in pursuit of amazing work, everyone messes up sometimes, and it would be weird if we did not. We take risks, we are accountable for our mistakes, and we learn from them. To help everyone improve we give and receive honest feedback, because we see it as a skill everyone benefits from. We build trust by caring about each other, being clear about our values, and being good at what we do. We are curious, so we ask questions and we listen.
This suits people who want real ownership and dislike being managed. It suits people less well if they want a defined career ladder and a title to go with it. Both are reasonable things to want, and we would rather be clear up front.
We use the title "Regional Sales Manager" in this posting because that is what people search for. Internally, nobody has one.
Where you'll focus
Texas and Colorado account for the bulk of our Central sales today, and that's where you'll spend the large majority of your time. In Texas, HEB and Sysco are our most significant relationships.
We are in HEB, but not in Central Market. We are not yet in Whole Foods, Sprouts or Natural Grocers anywhere in the region. We have a solid foundation in foodservice, but there is a huge opportunity to grow this channel across the region.
The other ten states in the region are early-stage and won't need much of your time at this point. We're telling you that deliberately: this is a focused patch with room to expand, not twelve states spread thin. As the region develops, you'll build those markets out, and hire people to cover them.
What you'll own
You’ll be accountable for channel- and account-specific goals across the region: volume, forecast accuracy, promotional execution, distribution targets, speed-to-market on new items, brand execution and distributor management. Our distribution partners in the region include UNFI, KeHE, Sysco, Chefs’ Warehouse and regional direct-store-delivery partners.
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Lead the full sales cycle (prospecting, negotiation, onboarding, activation and ongoing relationship management) to win and grow distribution across natural and conventional grocery, both chain and independent.
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Own the relationships with our distribution partners, keeping their sales teams engaged, educated and excited to sell Something & Nothing.
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Grow distribution across the natural grocery buying groups (INFRA and NCG).
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Grow distribution in our priority foodservice channels: travel, business and industry (B&I), restaurants and cafes, with colleges and universities as a secondary channel.
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Build promotional and trade marketing plans for customers and distributors that stay within budget, and review promotional history to assess trade spend and ROI, so that sales grow and profitability improves at the same time.
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Create and deliver the in-store demo strategy for your region, and use point-of-sale materials to bring the brand to life across every customer type.
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Make sure national and regional strategies are executed properly at store and operator level, and that non-compliance is either fixed or compensated.
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Find customer partnerships that showcase how the product gets used: everyday refreshment, food pairing, cocktail and mocktail mixer, and alcohol replacement.
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Work hand in hand with our retail and foodservice brokers to build and land the plan for each account, including leading the broker-supported category presentation to key regional accounts.
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Support distributor sales reps and our third-party field team (Basemakers) to get the most out of every location, running ride-alongs, sales meetings and performance reviews.
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Create and run incentive programs for distributors, brokers and Basemakers.
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Manage and attend our presence at distributor, customer and industry events, food shows and trade shows.
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Work with our Category & Insights Manager to analyze performance across the region, and share what you find with distributors, brokers and field teams.
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Use our CRM platforms, and feed what you learn back into the strategy.
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Build accurate, insight-driven forecasts with the US sales and finance teams and bring what you are learning in the trade back to the rest of the business.
Building the team in your region
As the region grows, you'll be responsible for hiring salespeople to cover specific areas within it, and for coaching and supporting them once they're here.
You will be responsible for them: for hiring them, for developing them, and for how their areas perform. You will do that by coaching and supporting rather than by managing, because that is how this company works. It is also what you will already be doing every day with distributor reps, brokers and our field team, where you have influence rather than formal authority.
If you want a role where you build and develop a team without needing a title to do it, this is that role.
What success looks like in your first 12 months
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Central Market and Natural Grocers won, and Whole Foods won across Texas and Colorado.
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Sprouts opened up, not just pitched.
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HEB growing hard: more doors, more flavors per store, rate of sale climbing.
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Foodservice moving properly. Marquee travel, restaurant and cafe accounts won, and a B&I pipeline built rather than talked about.
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Colorado treated as a key market
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A forecast the finance team can build a plan on, and a clear, evidenced view on which market we open next and who we hire to do it.
What you'll bring
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5+ years in a sales role with a CPG brand, manufacturer or distributor. Beverage experience is strongly preferred.
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You have personally owned a multi-state territory, including the planning, the travel and the numbers.
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You have won or materially grown distribution with at least one top-tier regional grocery banner, and you can walk us through exactly how you did it.
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A track record of delivering year-on-year sales growth and beating revenue targets.
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Proven success managing distributor relationships and operator accounts.
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Experience selling across natural and conventional grocery, both chain and independent, as well as club, mass and foodservice customers.
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A solid grasp of pricing structures, rebates, trade spend and ROI, and menu cycles.
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Experience coaching and developing other people's performance, including people you had no formal authority over.
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Strong commercial and analytical instincts, and the confidence to build a regional strategy and then execute it.
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A strong communicator in writing, out loud, and as a listener.
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Highly organized, resilient and self-directed, with genuine discipline around pipeline management.
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You love being in trade, in front of customers and distributors.
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A valid driver's license and access to reliable transportation.
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Conversational business Spanish is preferred. A lot of the independent retail trade across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma operates in Spanish, as do many of the distributor reps you'll be running ride-alongs and demos with.
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Experience launching brands or building early-stage territories.
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Existing relationships with regional chains and major distributor houses.
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Experience with CRM tools and forecasting systems.
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A real passion for food, beverage and hospitality.
Who you’ll work with
You'll work most closely with our Category & Insights Manager, the wider US sales team, and our finance, operations and marketing teams, and directly with both founders.
You won’t have a manager. You will have access to support, coaching and development so that you have both the technical skill and the mindset to deliver your responsibilities.
The practical details
You'll be based in Texas or Colorado, within easy reach of a major airport.
We have a preference for Austin or San Antonio, since our Texas accounts are spread across the Triangle and HEB is headquartered in San Antonio. That said, Dallas, Houston and Denver are all open to the right person, and where you're based will help shape where we hire next in the region.
This role involves significant travel: expect to be on the road 40–60% of the time, concentrated in your core markets, plus travel to other parts of the country for shows and company events.
The role involves handling product: you’ll need to be able to lift up to 50 lbs repeatedly when moving cases, running demos and setting up at trade shows. If you need a reasonable accommodation to do any of this, tell us and we’ll work it out with you.
Some work outside standard business hours, including evenings and weekends, depending on what the trade needs: events, shows and customer commitments.
The package
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Full-time employment at a fully remote organisation
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Base salary of $120,000.
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Share options under our employee options scheme. We’ll share the full detail, including grant size, vesting and how it works, with candidates who progress through the process.
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No commission or bonus. See “How we work” above for why.
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25 days of annual leave, plus statutory holidays.
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4 rejuvenation days on top of your annual leave.
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Medical insurance through BlueCross BlueShield, available from day one. We cover the full cost of the lowest plan option ($733 per month).
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401(k) with company match: 100% on the first 1% you contribute, then 50% on the next 2–6%.
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Mobile phone allowance of $50 per month.
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Work-from-home allowance of $50 per month.
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Mileage reimbursed at $0.75 per mile.
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All the soda you can drink.
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Opportunity to build an exciting emerging brand
The process
We aim to complete hiring within four to five weeks. There are five stages:
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Application
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One-way video interview
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First round interview
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Psychometric assessment
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Final interview and case study, held in person. One of our founders will travel to you for this.
Our values
We are curious
We accept we don't know it all. We explore, and we're excited to discover. We treat inward-facing curiosity as the spotlight for personal growth.
We act with courage
We challenge the norms. We may fail, we will learn, and we go again.
We embrace change
We adapt constantly, to ourselves and to our environment. We think abundantly (there are always many options) rather than scarcely.
We consume consciously
Everything is finite. We are rigorous about using our resources efficiently.
Equal opportunity
Something & Nothing is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of every race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law, and we make all employment decisions on merit. We're committed to building a team of people who don't all think the same way. If you need a reasonable accommodation at any stage of the process, or to perform the role itself, tell us and we'll work it out with you.
