Director of Commercialization

Stateside Brands is a rapidly growing spirits company dedicated to producing premium-quality beverages – Surfside Iced Teas and Lemonades, Stateside Sodas, Super Lyte Sports Drinks, and Stateside Vodka. With a focus on innovation and quality, we take pride in our diverse portfolio of products that reflect our commitment to excellence.

Job Summary

As the Director of Commercialization, you will lead the planning, coordination, and execution of commercialization projects across our growing portfolio of brands, products, packages, and markets. You will bring structure to a fast-moving, high-growth organization, working cross-functionally across Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, Finance, R&D/Quality, Operations, and external manufacturing partners to ensure projects move forward with clear ownership, timelines, dependencies, and accountability.

Success in this role will be measured not simply by the number of projects completed, but by the organization’s ability to execute launches predictably, identify risks early, allocate resources appropriately, and prevent poorly defined or inadequately planned projects from disrupting the broader business. The successful candidate will be highly organized, assertive, analytical, and comfortable operating in an entrepreneurial environment where priorities can change rapidly.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the company’s complete commercialization project portfolio and serve as the central point of accountability for active and upcoming projects.
• Establish and maintain a standardized stage-gate commercialization process from initial request through launch and project closeout.
• Manage projects including: new product/flavor launches, new brands, SKUs and pack sizes, packaging/artwork changes, copacker transitions, reformulations, regulatory changes, and SKU discontinuations.
• Maintain a centralized project pipeline showing status, timing, ownership, dependencies, risks, and next actions.
• Ensure every project has clearly defined objectives, scope, business justification, deliverables, owners, and target launch dates before execution begins.
• Identify conflicts between projects and recommend prioritization based on business impact, resource requirements, operational complexity, and timing.
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, timelines, milestones, and critical paths.
• Conduct recurring project reviews, proactively identify risks and delays, and escalate issues that could impact launch dates.
• Drive accountability for overdue deliverables and maintain clear documentation of decisions, changes, and approvals.
• Establish clear project intake requirements, prioritization criteria, and stage-gate approval standards across Commercial, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, R&D/Quality, and other stakeholders.
• Maintain a forward-looking commercialization calendar to identify periods of excessive project volume or resource constraints.
• Lead cross-functional commercialization meetings ensuring decisions and action items are documented, assigned, and completed.
• Act as the connective point between commercial ideas and operational execution, translating commercial objectives into specific functional requirements.
• Challenge unrealistic timelines or incomplete project assumptions while developing practical alternatives and building strong working relationships with functional leaders.
• Develop and report commercialization KPIs to executive leadership communicating the overall health of the commercialization portfolio.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business , Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, Project Management, or related discipline.
• 7 years of experience in commercialization, project/program management, operations, supply chain, innovation, or related functions.
• 3 years of experience leading complex cross-functional projects.
• Experience within alcoholic beverage, beverage, CPG, food manufacturing, or another fast-paced consumer products environment strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a large portfolio of simultaneous projects with competing priorities.
• Strong understanding of commercialization processes from concept through production and market launch.
• Experience developing project management processes, stage-gate systems, or portfolio management frameworks.
• Strong working knowledge of manufacturing, packaging, procurement, inventory, and supply chain considerations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong executive presence and ability to drive accountability across departments.
• Advanced proficiency with project management and business systems.
  
  

Compensation

• Estimated Base Salary Range: $150,000-$170,000 USD.
• Individual compensation packages are based on various factors unique to each candidate, including skill set, experience, and qualifications.
• The salary range refers to base salary only and is not inclusive of the total compensation package.
  
  

Stateside Brands is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender, genetic information, national origin, disability, uniform service, veteran status, age, or any other classification protected by Federal, state, or local law. Stateside Brands is also a military-friendly company and values military community talent, including veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses.