Sales Director, Personal Care Retail Private Brands

PLZ is committed to product stewardship and innovation, strong ethical standards, sustainable operations and most importantly, the development of our people. Whether at our manufacturing facilities or corporate headquarters, PLZ prioritizes health and safety, and offers you the support you need to create the career you want, through engagement, equity and inclusion, and opportunity.

From household cleaning solutions to personal care products, and food to automotive lubricants, PLZ produces more than 2,500 different aerosol and liquid products in our facilities across the continent. We know that being the partner of choice for our clients starts with being the partner of choice for our employees. Learn more at www.plzcorp.com/careers or visit https://youtu.be/XYNIFpLQIJY

The Sales Director – Retail Private Brands, Personal Care Solutions will serve as the architect for building PLZ’s retail private-label personal care business from the ground up. This leader will be responsible for building, hunting, and growing the business by developing a prioritized retailer/customer strategy, identifying where PLZ has a right to win, pursuing attractive category and assortment gaps, and differentiating PLZ through its manufacturing, innovation, quality, regulatory, and commercialization capabilities.

The Sales Director will combine an entrepreneurial builder/hunter mindset with strong influence, collaboration, and execution discipline. This role will work closely with the Retail Category Director and other team members to develop and execute the retail private-label growth strategy, convert new business, manage broker relationships, lead retailer-specific product concepts, and bring the broader organization along to successfully launch profitable programs.

Key Responsibilities:

Retail Growth Strategy

• Work with the Retail Category Director and other team members to develop and execute a retail private-label personal care growth strategy focused on building PLZ’s presence from the ground up across prioritized national and regional retail customers.
• Develop a prioritized retailer/customer strategy that defines where PLZ has a right to win, which categories and assortment gaps to pursue, and how PLZ will differentiate its value proposition with each targeted customer.
• Identify, prioritize, and pursue new business opportunities in attractive private-label personal care categories, including skin care, hair care, bath and body, sun care, deodorants/antiperspirants, shave, and adjacent personal care segments.
• Build and maintain an 80/20 target account strategy focused on customers and opportunities that drive new-business revenue, profitability, margin expansion, and strategic market growth.
• Position PLZ as a trusted private-label partner offering product innovation, category insight, regulatory compliance, supply chain reliability, scalable manufacturing capabilities, and speed-to-market execution.
• Monitor consumer trends, retailer strategies, competitive activity, and category insights to identify assortment gaps, innovation platforms, and retailer-specific growth opportunities.

Customer Development & Relationship Management

• Develop and maintain relationships with retail buyers, private brand leaders, category managers, sourcing teams, procurement leaders, broker partners, and other key customer stakeholders.
• Lead customer presentations, innovation reviews, assortment gap discussions, line reviews, RFP/RFQ processes, pricing negotiations, and annual business planning activities.
• Develop retailer-specific product concepts and account strategies that align customer needs with PLZ’s manufacturing, innovation, quality, regulatory, supply chain, and financial objectives.
• Serve as the primary commercial point of contact for assigned customers and prospective accounts while influencing internal stakeholders to support customer priorities and launch requirements.
• Represent the organization at industry conferences, retailer meetings, trade shows, and personal care industry events.

Broker & Partner Management

• Manage broker networks, sales agencies, and external partners supporting retail growth initiatives.
• Establish performance expectations, account priorities, business development objectives, and opportunity tracking processes.
• Ensure partner activities align with strategic growth priorities and targeted customer opportunities.
• Drive accountability for customer engagement, pipeline progression, and new business development results.

Pipeline, Pricing, & Commercial Execution

• Own the sales pipeline from prospecting through commercialization, including opportunity qualification, RFPs/RFQs, pricing, contract negotiations, customer onboarding, forecasting, and successful business launch.
• Drive accountability for new-business revenue, profitability, pipeline development, forecast accuracy, launch readiness, and post-launch performance.
• Maintain accurate CRM reporting on opportunity size, probability, timing, financial impact, risks, customer requirements, and next steps.
• Partner with Finance and business leadership to evaluate pricing, margins, customer profitability, investment decisions, and commercial trade-offs.
• Drive disciplined portfolio and opportunity management to maximize strategic and financial value.
• Analyze win/loss performance and implement continuous improvement actions to strengthen commercial effectiveness.

Cross-Functional Commercialization

• Partner with R&D, Product Development, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Procurement, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Customer Service teams to successfully commercialize new products and programs.
• Translate customer requirements into executable project plans, including product specifications, formulations, packaging, regulatory requirements, testing, launch timelines, and operational readiness.
• Ensure customer commitments align with manufacturing capabilities, quality standards, lead times, and service expectations.
• Facilitate issue resolution and remove barriers that could impact customer approval, commercialization, or launch timelines.
• Support post-launch business reviews and account growth initiatives to expand customer partnerships.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Chemistry, Consumer Products, Supply Chain, or related field required; MBA preferred.
• Minimum 7-10 years of progressive sales, business development, or commercial leadership experience within consumer products, retail, private label, personal care, beauty, or related industries.
• Mandatory: Proven private-label experience, including direct involvement with retailer-owned brand or store brand programs.
• Mandatory: Experience selling directly to retailers, including mass, drug, grocery, club, specialty, beauty, or regional retail customers.
• Mandatory: Experience managing brokers, sales agencies, or external commercial partners.
• Strong understanding of retail customer development, private-label commercialization, category management, line reviews, RFP/RFQ processes, assortment gap identification, and retailer decision-making processes.
• Demonstrated ability to develop retailer-specific product concepts and translate customer/category insights into commercially viable programs.
• Proven ability to build, prioritize, and convert a strategic sales pipeline within complex retail environments.
• Strong financial acumen, including pricing strategy, margin management, customer profitability, demand forecasting, launch economics, and business case development.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Product Development, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Procurement, Finance, Marketing, and Customer Service teams.
• Strong executive-level communication, negotiation, presentation, influence, and collaboration skills.
• Entrepreneurial, highly accountable builder/hunter who can create a new business while bringing the broader organization along and leveraging capabilities already in place.
• Personal care experience is strongly preferred, particularly in categories such as skin care, hair care, bath and body, sun care, deodorants/antiperspirants, shave, or related consumer product segments.
• Contract manufacturing and branded-product experience are preferred, not required.
• CRM proficiency required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Hybrid or remote office environment with extensive use of computer, phone, and video conferencing technology. Preferred location is the Chicago area to support proximity to PLZ headquarters, Coal City, and strategic retail customers; Minneapolis may also be considered.
• Travel will be required for customer meetings, broker engagement, training, company events, and manufacturing site visits.

PLZ Corp offers a robust suite of benefits including:

• Medical, Dental & Vision benefits.
• Company paid Life and Short-Term disability.
• Voluntary benefits including additional life, disability, and hospital/accident insurance.
• 401k & company provided match.
• Paid Time Off
• Bonus incentive programs (Note, bonuses are subject to the rules governing the program, whereby an award, if any, depends on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance.)

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or other protected status. EEOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO