Fair Trade USA is seeking to fill a Business Development Manager, Distributor Partnerships - Seafood and Produce role for their company based in Oakland, CA.
This position is heavily focused on developing new partnerships with wholesale distributors willing to commit to and prioritize the purchase and sales of Fair Trade Certified™ products.
Partner Acquisition and Product Expansion
- Develop and implement a strategy to expand new and existing wholesale distributor partnerships focused on sourcing Fair Trade
- Certified seafood and produce
- Identify and convert prospective partners through lead generation and prioritization in alignment with Fair Trade’s strategy and goals for growth
- Create new opportunities from prospecting and working cross-functionally with internal team members to close on new demand for Fair Trade Certified seafood and produce
- Develop partnership proposals including discovering objectives, defining partnership requirements, and developing value propositions
- Prepare and deliver compelling sales presentations that articulate the business, social, and environmental value of Fair
- Trade Certified to prospective distributor partners
- Work with Fair Trade USA’s Retail Team to increase the penetration of Fair Trade Certified seafood and produce offerings in the market
- Own the full lifecycle of the selling process using analytics to forecast and close opportunity pipeline
- Set revenue growth targets and own delivery
Account Management
- Manage relationships with a portfolio of businesses selling Fair
- Trade Certified produce/seafood and identify and deliver on opportunities for them to grow their Fair Trade impact and sales
- Work with key retail and distributor partners to develop and implement a clear social responsibility seafood strategy
- Maintain a strong understanding of market and customer-specific trends including customer market share, focus markets, sustainability initiatives/programs and industry trends
- Manage prioritizing, escalating, and driving customer issues to resolution within the organization
Brand Building
- Participate in relevant produce and seafood / distributor industry conferences, trade shows and meetings as a representative of Fair Trade USA
- Co-develop market activation plans with Fair Trade USA marketing team and our partners to support new product launches, including initiatives to drive consumer engagement and sales growth and maximize customer purchase/awareness
- Seek out opportunities for new industry partnerships in order to build the Fair Trade brand
Key Competencies
- Strong customer relationship-management skills
- Ability to operate with flexibility in a fast-paced, evolving environment
- Highly collaborative team player who can work cross-functionally with all levels of an organization, both internally and externally
- Systems thinker with the ability to problem-solve creatively, learn, adapt, and work both autonomously and with teams
- Self-starter who has the energy, influence, and people skills to build and service strategic partnerships
- Ability to manage multiple projects at one time and collaborate with peers to achieve program growth targets
- Outstanding oral and written communication skills; ability to distill complex topics concisely for different audiences.
Key Qualifications / Experience
- 3+ years sales or partnership-building experience; demonstrated ability to forge and develop relationships with external partners. Specific sales experience (account management, negotiation, etc.) with seafood or produce wholesale distributors is a major plus but alternative partnership development experience can also make you a great fit.
- Experience working with sustainability managers, brand managers, sourcing/procurement, buyers, and/or product development is a major plus, but not required.
- Passionate about the Fair Trade mission and making a positive impact for farmers, fishers, and workers.
- Must be proficient in Microsoft Office applications (especially Excel and PowerPoint). Salesforce or other CRM experience is a major plus.
This role will be remote for the time being. If employees are located in the Bay Area, will have the opportunity to work in our future Oakland, CA office. Fully remote employees must be available to travel on an occasional basis to our Oakland, CA hub location or to other occasional face-to-face staff meetings (up to 5% of time).
Willing to travel up to 25% of the time to meet with partners, attend trade shows/ industry events, and visit Fair Trade Certified producers.
All employees are expected to adhere to our travel and vaccination policies, to ensure the safety of our teams and our communities.
