Southeast Regional Director

We are seeking a Southeast Regional Director to lead the sales strategy and execution across the Southeast. The SE region — anchored in GA with partners spanning FL, TN, VA, NC, SC, and AL — represents our highest-density growth corridor and the brand’s home market.

Commercial Ownership

• Own the Number: Deliver the SE portion of the annual operating plan (AOP) for depletions and revenue.
• Distributor Management: Primary lead for Tier 1 SE relationships and Tier 2 partners. Navigate the “share of mind” battle inside large distributor networks.
• Key Account Velocity: Personally own Top 25 regional buyers to drive placements.
• Strategic Expansion: Manage rollout into new markets — ensuring we “penetrate” them.
• Data & Insights: Drive data within the region to make decisions and use VIP/depletion data to identify gaps, manage inventory par levels, and forecast to Operations.
• Hiring & Workforce Planning: Own the full hiring cycle for the SE field team — headcount forecasting, requisition justification, structured interviewing, selection, and offer recommendation in partnership with HR.
• Performance Management: Assist with setting quarterly and annual goals for each direct report; conduct 1:1s, mid-year and annual reviews, and calibration input. Deliver timely, documented coaching, corrective action, and performance improvement plans in partnership with HR.
• Compensation Input: Recommend merit, incentive, and promotion decisions within approved budget and comp bands.
• Onboarding: Own 30/60/90-day ramp plans for every new SE hire.
• Retention & Succession: Identify flight risk and build bench strength for each territory.
• HRIS Administration: Manage all people-data transactions for the SE team — approve timecards and PTO, process job/status/reporting changes, initiate onboarding and offboarding workflows, and maintain accurate org and headcount records.
• Expense & Trade Spend Approval: Review and approve T&E and sample/POS expenditures; enforce policy compliance and budget discipline.
• Compliance Oversight: Ensure field team adherence to wage-and-hour requirements (timekeeping, meal/rest, travel time), state alcohol regulations, tied-house rules, and company policy.
• Reporting Cadence: Own the SE weekly scorecard, monthly business review, and forecast submissions.
• Systems Hygiene: Maintain data integrity across internal platforms as the source of truth for SE performance.

Sales Leadership Representation — Southeast

• Serve as the voice of the Southeast in national commercial leadership forums, AOP and S&OP planning, pricing and portfolio decisions, and cross-functional planning with Marketing, Operations, and Finance.
• Represent the brand externally as the senior commercial face of the brand in the SE — distributor GSMs, trade associations, key account top-to-tops, and industry events.
• Escalate SE market intelligence, competitive dynamics, and resourcing needs to the SVP, Commercial Development with a clear recommendation attached.

Training & Development of Junior Staff

• Build and deliver the SE onboarding and sales fundamentals curriculum — three-tier system, brand story, mash bill and CPG education, pricing ladders, account calls.
• Maintain a structured ride-along and field coaching cadence with every Sales Manager and Brand Specialist, with written observation and follow‑up.
• Own individual development plans (IDPs) and skill progression for junior field staff; grow territory reps into territory owners.
• Certify the team on brand and product knowledge; serve as the SE escalation point for coaching and capability gaps.

Qualifications

• 7–10+ Years in CPG Sales, including 3+ years directly managing and developing a field sales team.
• Major supplier experience with scaled a small/challenger brand. Experience winning without a massive media budget.
• Distributor Savvy: Existing relationships across Southeast distributor networks. You know how to work a GSM and how to incentivize distributor reps.
• Commercial Finance IQ: Margin structures, pricing ladders, bill‑backs, and trade spend (LMF) management.
• Atlanta Based: Ready to be the commercial face of the brand in our HQ market, traveling 40–50% across the SE region.