Job Summary
The Director of Strategic Accounts is responsible for driving profitable, sustainable revenue growth by developing, leading, and maintaining high-impact relationships with Maker’s Pride’s most strategic customers. This role serves as the senior commercial owner for assigned key accounts and is accountable for customer retention, revenue expansion, margin performance, and long-term partnership value.
The Director achieves company objectives by effectively navigating complex customer environments, resolving challenges, and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. This role influences decision-making at all levels within customer organizations and across Maker’s Pride by demonstrating strong business acumen, financial insight, emotional intelligence, and executive presence. The Director of Strategic Accounts plays a critical leadership role in aligning customer strategies with internal capabilities to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Account Leadership & Growth
- Own and lead a portfolio of designated strategic accounts, serving as the primary commercial and relationship owner
- Retain and grow strategic accounts by driving revenue expansion, profitability improvement, and long-term customer loyalty
- Develop, execute, and continuously refine comprehensive strategic account plans that include short-term priorities, long-term growth objectives, clearly defined action plans, milestones, and success metrics
- Proactively identify, evaluate, and advance new business opportunities within existing accounts through deep understanding of customer needs, strategies, and market dynamics
Customer Engagement & Executive Alignment
- Maintain a regular cadence of customer engagement to assess satisfaction, performance, risks, and opportunities, and to propose value-added solutions
- Prepare for, lead, and participate in recurring Top-to-Top meetings with strategic accounts, ensuring alignment on performance, innovation, pipeline, and long-term partnership goals
- Influence customer decision-making at executive and operational levels by delivering data-driven insights, strategic recommendations, and credible solutions
Business Development & Commercial Execution
- Develop and implement new business development plans aligned with Maker’s Pride’s commercial strategy and financial objectives
- Own and maintain the strategic account project and opportunity pipeline, ensuring disciplined pipeline management and forecasting accuracy
- Build robust business cases to support growth initiatives, pricing strategies, capital investments, and contract negotiations
- Partner closely with the Commercial Finance team to deliver revenue, margin, and profitability targets for both new and ongoing business
Cross-Functional Leadership & Process Discipline
- Lead and coordinate cross-functional collaboration with Operations, Quality, R&D, Finance, Legal, and other internal stakeholders to ensure customer commitments are met and risks are proactively managed
- Ensure adherence to established decision-making criteria, governance processes, and commercial standards, including effective use of Maker’s Pride SharePoint tools, pipeline systems, and trackers
- Participate in and lead sales, customer, and process improvement initiatives to drive continuous improvement while meeting customer and company requirements
Contract & Risk Management
- Manage customer contracts and commercial agreements in partnership with the Maker’s Pride Legal team, ensuring compliance, clarity, and alignment with business objectives
- Identify, assess, and mitigate commercial, operational, and financial risks within strategic accounts
Industry Engagement & Market Presence
- Represent Maker’s Pride in customer and industry-facing activities, including tradeshows, innovation sessions, customer/vendor summits, and other business-building forums
- Monitor industry trends, customer dynamics, and competitive activity to inform strategic planning and opportunity development
People Leadership & Talent Development
- Lead, coach, and develop direct report(s), including Account Manager(s), to build a high-performing, accountable strategic account management team
- Set clear expectations, provide ongoing feedback, and support professional development to strengthen leadership capability and succession readiness
Required Competencies & Knowledge
- Advanced expertise in strategic account management, business development, sales execution, and customer relationship leadership
- Strong sales reporting, forecasting, insights, and analytics capability
- Executive presence with demonstrated negotiation, influence, and stakeholder management skills
- Proven ability to lead, develop, and retain high-performing teams
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to de-escalate complex customer situations
- Detail-oriented and disciplined approach to managing complex portfolios and processes
- Results-driven mindset with the ability to lead and adapt through change
- Exceptional ability to build trusted relationships at all levels internally and externally
- Strong financial and business acumen, including deep understanding of P&L management and profitability levers
- Excellent oral, written, and presentation skills
- Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive information with the highest level of confidentiality
Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, sales & marketing, or similar
- Years of Experience: 10+ years of experience in manufacturing, preferably within a multi–business unit environment
- Food industry manufacturing and operational experience strongly preferred
- Extensive customer-facing experience with strategic or enterprise-level accounts
- 3+ years of experience in a people leadership role
- Technical Skills: Proficiency with MS Office Suite (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word); SAP experience a plus
The pay range for this full-time, salaried position is $160,266-$240,400/year. Individual base pay depends on work location and additional factors such as experience, job-related skills, and relevant education or training. The position is eligible for a discretionary annual incentive based on company and individual performance. We offer a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, 401k and wellness benefits beginning on the first day of employment.
This information is provided per the relevant state and local pay transparency laws for the location in which this position will be performed. Base pay information is based on market location.
Maker's Pride is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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The information provided in this document provides an overview of the most common duties, qualifications, and demands of the position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive summary of the role, and the duties, qualifications, and demands of the position are subject to change without notice. The expectations provided here may also be modified if an employee with a disability could effectively meet the expectations for the role with reasonable accommodation