New Account Acquisition Manager, Produce & Floral Grocery

The Role
The New Account Acquisition Manager, Produce & Floral Grocery, brings retail expertise to Fair Trade USA’s produce & floral team to win new accounts, educate Retail and Foodservice partners, open new business opportunities, activate new commitments to the Produce & Floral program and support our strategic growth. This position is responsible for identifying and cultivating expansion opportunities by helping build and convert a pipeline of new business opportunities and helping prospective partners see how Fair Trade certification can create meaningful impact for their business, shoppers, suppliers, and for producers. This role helps the Fresh Goods team gain retail business by showing how Fair Trade Certified produce, Floral and Seafood, (if needed) products can support a retailer’s goals and the producers behind the product.

The role focuses on new account acquisitions to grow consumer pathways for both private label and branded Fair Trade Certified products through various Retail, Foodservice, and E-commerce Grocery channels. This key role will manage a small portfolio of newly won accounts through onboarding and early growth, as well as partner with Fresh Goods to maintain key relationships that will enable existing growth channels for brand partners.

This is a long-cycle sales role for a seller with retail experience who knows how retailers buy, can start conversations with new contacts at various levels of Retail and Foodservice organizations including sourcing, merchandising, and sustainability, and can make a clear commercial case.

Key Responsibilities

New Account Acquisition & Pipeline Development

• Identify, prospect, educate, and nurture new Produce & Floral grocery accounts, to support pipeline development for produce & floral brands, importers, and producers that are looking to grow or launch Fair Trade Certified produce & floral programs.
• Collaborate with Fresh Goods team to develop strategy and tactical plan beyond branded products, to grow private label pipeline for Produce & Floral: source and qualify retailer private label opportunities, keep a visible private label pipeline, and coordinate handoffs so no lead is lost
• Open doors: secure first meetings with retail buyers, category managers, private label teams, and sourcing and sustainability leads, and move each conversation toward opportunity creation, developing a larger Fair Trade Certified produce & floral program, or commitment to Fair Trade USA’s standards.
• Develop customized pitches, business cases, and proposals that connect Fair Trade Certified produce & floral products with each prospect’s sales, sourcing, and sustainability goals.
• Sell programs with long sales cycles, managing each opportunity from first contact through close.
• In alignment with Fresh Goods strategy, develop opportunity plans to prioritize Retail and Foodservice prospects based on conversion opportunity and value-alignment, with clear ownership, next steps, and progress tracking.

Retail, Foodservice, and E-Commerce Strategy

• Bring retail experience to produce strategy: collaborate with the Fresh team to create a targeted action plan that builds on the value of the Fair Trade program and meets retailers where they are, addressing how they buy, plan assortments, and choose private label and branded products, and on the timing of line reviews and category resets.
• Build target retailer lists and outreach plans with the Fresh team, and set up meetings with sourcing, sustainability, or merchandising teams.
• Prepare the Fresh team for retailer meetings with account research, tailored talking points, and clear next steps, join those meetings, and manage follow-up.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams so Fair Trade USA engages each retailer in a consistent way, and elevates shared learnings, when possible, to improve internal knowledge and insight to brand partners

Produce Leadership & Collaboration with Internal Teams

• Partner directly with the Senior Director, Fresh and the Fresh team to set new business priorities, target accounts, and revenue goals.
• Collaborate with Marketing on launch and activation for new partners, including co-branded campaigns and storytelling.
• Share retailer, brand, and competitive insights from prospect conversations with internal teams to inform positioning and growth priorities.
• Represent Fair Trade USA in retailer and brand meetings, industry events, and trade shows, consistent with priorities set by the Senior Director, Fresh and the Fresh team
• Work dynamically with internal teams to meet the needs of prospective and current Retail partners’ requests, including data, intelligence, and impact queries.
• Act as a liaison and ambassador for Fair Trade USA. Connect with internal team to support overarching Retailer needs; this may include coordination with other categories in support of larger program or commercial goals.
• Pipeline, Revenue & Impact Tracking
• Drive performance against new accounts, new private label leads, overall pipeline conversion, new revenue and impact, and certified volume goals.
• Maintain accurate and timely CRM records for forecasting, account planning, and leadership reporting.
• Report on new account results, including pipeline, conversion, and sales in alignment with the Fresh team’s overall strategy and set goals.

Key Qualifications / Experience

• 4+ years of retail experience, such as buying, merchandising, category management, private label, sourcing, or retail-focused business development or sales, with a record of working directly with retail buyers. Retail experience is required.
• Demonstrated success winning new accounts for private label and/or branded programs, including building pipeline and complete sales cycles from initial outreach through close.
• Understanding of how retailers plan assortments, run line reviews and category resets, and select private label and brand partners.
• Strong knowledge of the fresh produce category, including retail programs, seasonality, and sourcing, preferred.
• Understanding of sustainable agriculture and supply chains preferred
• Strong communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills, with comfort starting conversations with new contacts at every level of a retail or brand organization.
• Ability to understand complex systems and value chains, to assess partner needs and craft compelling sales pitches to support understanding and commitment, in lieu of selling a physical product.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage many opportunities and priorities at once, and a high degree of ownership and follow-through.
• Ability to work across teams and influence without direct authority, and comfort working in an evolving, fast-moving, all-remote environment.
• Experience using a CRM system, such as Salesforce, to manage pipeline, forecasting, and account information; proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and collaboration tools such as Slack.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience
• Willingness to travel regularly to meet with retailers, brands, and partners, attend trade shows and industry events, and join origin trips.
• Bilingual – English/Spanish speaker preferred, but not required.