Director Business Development - Hearthside Food Solutions

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Downers Grove, IL we are a world-class contract manufacturer producing wholesome baked goods, snacks and packaged foods for many of the world’s leading food companies. As one of the largest and fastest growing food co-manufacturing companies in the US, we are the proud owner and operator of over 35 facilities globally. Our nearly 10,000 employee-strong organization is leading the way and setting new standards for quality, safety, flexibility and efficiency while feeding families around the globe.

Hearthside’s exceptional growth stems from its ability to address real-world problems for customers of all shapes and sizes, and by our resolute commitment to our belief that there are no great companies without great culture. Our culture of personal empowerment enables growth, learning, and continuous improvement every day!

We are steadfast in our ambition to be the indispensable and most trusted partner to our customers and need your help to do it! Join Hearthside and enjoy a competitive package, outstanding benefits and a diverse work environment.

What We Offer:

We offer a competitive wage and wide array of benefits including:

• health/dental/vision insurance

• flex spending accounts

• short & long-term disability

• paid holidays and vacation

• bonuses opportunities (referral, production, etc.).

About the Director Business Development Role:

The Director of Business Development is primarily responsible for driving top line sales growth, at established margins, with both underdeveloped existing customers as well as securing new customers for Hearthside Food Solutions (HFS). Critical to the director’s success will be the ability to build positive customer relationships, influence decision making at all levels of both the customer’s organization and within HFS, and having a strong business and financial acumen, understanding all levers within the P&L.

Job Duties:

Duties may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Directly manages assigned key account relationships and responsible for account growth and retention.

• Solicit new business at existing customers and recruit new customers to the portfolio.

• Operate sales territory and assigned accounts within approved sales budget.

• Complete key account plans and new business development focus areas for area of responsibility.

• Ensure individual annual objectives are met according to plan.

• Maintain prospect pipeline and contribute to accurate forecasting.

• Analyze and document the demands and forecasting for assigned customer.

• Develop, capture and share best practice sales tools, presentations, proposals process and policies.

• Engage in industry activities and business building opportunities (ie, tradeshows, customer vendor summits).

• Collaborate with operations on day to day business and output execution – ensure adherence to decision making criteria and process.

• Collaborate with Commercial Finance to ensure appropriate financial performance for new and ongoing business.

• Maintain and execute customer contracts, collaborating with HFS legal team.

• Participate in sales and customer process improvement teams to ensure customer requirements are met

• Travel between 25-30%

Required Competencies & Knowledge:

Knowledge of:

• Sales reporting, forecasting, insights and analytics

• Business Development, Sales and Customer Relations expertise

Skill in:

• Self-starter mentality with high-order prioritization skills

• Results driven with a strong will to embrace and drive change

• Ability to build strong relationships, at all levels of the organization, both externally and internally

• Strong negotiation and problem-solving skills

• High business acumen including in-depth knowledge of the P&L and how to influence positively

• Extensive volume / demand forecasting experience, for both existing and new business

• Must have excellent oral, written and strong presentation skills

Ability to:

• Directly and indirectly influence and manage expectations both up and down an organization, as well as cross-functionally.

• Must understand what is required to continuously improve customer relations, support and propagate what is important to the customer and sell internally and externally.

• Must have the ability to prioritize and multitask diverse tasks and the ability to do so while delivering stated objectives/goals.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 7+ years in a multi-business unit food manufacturing environment

• Food industry manufacturing and operational experience required

• Customer facing experience required

• Four-year college degree in business administration, sales and marketing, or supply chain

• Proficient in MS Office applications such as Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word.

• Excellent communication, conflict management, decision-making, motivational and organizational skills required.

Hearthside is an Equal Opportunity Employer.