Meet Us: King Arthur Baking Company has been sharing the joy of baking since 1790. Headquartered in Norwich, Vermont, we’re the ultimate baking resource – providing education, inspiration, and the highest quality products, all while fostering connections and community through baking. Our superior flours and mixes are available in supermarkets nationwide, and our direct-to-consumer business – website and retail stores – offers an even wider selection of specialty baking ingredients, mixes, gluten-free products, baking tools, and more. We bring baking education to millions of bakers through our cookbooks, podcast, recipe app, website, and baking school. We’re proud to be 100% employee-owned, which means everyone who works here has a real voice and a shared stake in what we do. This creates a strong sense of community built on trust, teamwork, and love of baking. As a benefit corporation, we’re committed to the best interests of all our stakeholders - employees, our local communities, our broader community of bakers, and our planet. Join us and help spread the joy of baking. King Arthur – where, as an employee-owner, your passion and ideas can truly make a difference.

The Position: The Chief Sales Officer (CSO) is responsible for leading the sales organization to achieve revenue growth, market expansion, and customer growth goals. This includes developing and executing strategic sales plans, managing high-performing teams, and collaborating across departments to align sales efforts with overall business objectives.

This position is part of King Arthur Baking’s Strategy Team, the management team responsible for designing total company strategy and delivering on its objectives. Within Sales, this leader will focus on driving profitable growth through distribution gains, channel and geographic expansion and new customer acquisition. Working in partnership with Marketing, Finance, and Operations, the CSO will drive development of customer and channel strategies delivering on financial commitments to business operating plans.

The CSO will bring motivational leadership to Sales, as well as the broader organization, and will be charged with energizing, elevating and developing an innovative, results-driven sales organization.

Reports to: CEO

Location: Hybrid (White River Junction, VT or remote with regular travel to visit customers and HQ)

The Benefits: Yes, we have the regular "stuff" - medical, dental, vision, company paid short- and long-term disability, life insurance, paid parental leave, paid time off to rest, paid holidays to have fun, a 401(K) with a company match. But here's what makes us different: 40 paid volunteer hours a year, profit sharing*, participation in the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)* and knowing that those working with you are dedicated and engaged co-employee owners that believe in you and your extraordinary abilities to move us all forward

The Pay: $225,000 to $325,000 annual salary; commensurate with experience.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Strategy Development

Design sales strategies and objectives that deliver on company growth objectives, working collaboratively with cross-functional partners.
Build channel strategies, identifying new opportunities and defining the company’s approach within existing customer channels, new/emerging channel opportunities.
Develop key customer partnerships to better understand retailers’ evolving business needs and priorities (category dynamics, in-store bakery, private label, technological change).
Ensure customer feedback integrated into internal processes, bringing ideas and concepts from the market to inform sales plans and new product initiatives.

Team leadership and management

Build and lead high-performing sales team with clear performance metrics and accountability.
Establish, communicate, and align sales organization behind customer strategies and near-term business plans that support total company objectives and drive profitable sales.
Develop the team and organizational structure to meet long term growth objectives.
Influence multiple drivers of the P&L including product innovation, pricing, profit margins, trade marketing and other marketing budgets and program.
Partner with Marketing and Innovation on integrated approach to brand marketing, trade marketing, and customer strategies to develop account specific marketing activities that deliver a clear return on investment, and attain volume and margin targets that achieve sales and category objectives, and drive the market share of KAB brands.

Financial/Operational Management

Deliver results; ensure attainment of revenue and profit goals, across all channels, leveraging customer strategies, plans, and partnerships.
Communicate on-going results; lead proactive communication on any variances in Sales activities to the company forecast
Manage costs; actively lead the management of all controllable expenses (trade spending, including returns and SG&A).
Partner on forecasting with Marketing, Operations & Finance to align forecasts with objective risk analysis, as well as budgets and annual operating plan.
Ensure continuous improvement and upgrade of Sales processes and technologies to deliver increased efficiency and effectiveness.

Experience And Education

Bachelor’s Degree; MBA a plus
Sales leadership – 15+ years experience with at least 10 years in senior leadership positions
Significant experience with consumer packaged goods, ideally experience in baking or related categories across channels – in-person (Food, Club, Mass, Natural), food service, ecommerce
Demonstrated expertise in broker management
Proven track record as sales leader with senior level relationships at key retailers

Competencies

Demonstrated ability to cultivate and lead high performing sales teams in rapidly changing environment; outstanding leadership, organizational and management skills
Passion and intuition for understanding the market, the customer and the end-consumer
Data-driven, as sales planning, forecasting become more automated; seeks information and data in planning and decision-making.
Strong influencing and negotiation skills; excellent collaborator
Strong communication and presentation skills (formal and informal, written and verbal)
Financial acumen
High-energy visionary leader; inspires respect and trust
Hands-on executive; comfortable rolling up their sleeves
Exceptional follow-through, organized, proactive and detail-oriented
Problem solver; can identify and address issues as they arise
Analytical; can synthesize data and information from multiple sources, and balance intuition and fact-based in decision making

Success Factors

Ethical and honest; a representative of the brand, product and company standards
Genuine enthusiasm for the King Arthur’s mission and products and a commitment to living our values
Is community minded gets involved, volunteers

Physical Requirements/Work Environment/Safety

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Requirements

This role consistently uses standard office equipment such as computers and phones.
Ability to work at a computer for extended periods of time.

Work Environment

Indoors, a normal office environment with little exposure to excessive noise, dust, or temperature changes. This role operates in a professional office environment where most work is performed at a desk. Remote work environment that meets KAB standards for work.

Safety

Understands that safety is the responsibility of everyone at the organization and is responsible for adhering to/providing work in a safe and ergonomic manner, identifying unsafe conditions and correcting conditions immediately or reporting them promptly.
Participates in safety and compliance training and safety and health programs.

It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive and safe work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors. As a proud Benefit Corporation, King Arthur Baking expects our employees to adhere to company-wide green norms and remain educated on company impact campaigns.

Supervision

The Sales organization includes the field sales organizations, both wholesale and food service, trade promotion planning, and shopper marketing.

Travel

Regular travel to visit customers, attend sales events, and collaborate at KAB HQ in White River Junction VT.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive and safe work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors. As a proud Benefit Corporation, King Arthur Baking expects our employees to adhere to company-wide green norms and remain educated on company impact campaigns.

There's room at our table for you! Apply today.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors protected by law. King Arthur Baking provides reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities to allow them to participate in both the application process and during employment. Such individuals are encouraged to seek accommodations to allow them to apply for a position, participate in the application process, and meet the essential functions and requirements of the position.

Amounts vary based on achievement of financial targets. Participation based on hire date and program entry date.

King Arthur Baking Company

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