Senior Director of Co-Pack & Retail Sales

Summary/Objective

We are seeking a Senior Director of Co-Pack & Retail Sales with deep expertise in contract manufacturing (co-packing) within the food and beverage sector. Reporting to the Chief Customer Officer, this strategic leadership role drives revenue growth by securing and expanding co-pack partnerships with CPG brands, private label retailers, and emerging food startups. The ideal candidate combines hunter mentality with financial rigor, translating complex co-pack costing models (line rates, changeovers, yields, minimums, capex recovery) into compelling value propositions that win multi-year, high-volume contracts. You will own the full P&L for the co-pack business unit.

This position is remote-eligible with 40-50% travel required for plant tours, trade shows, and QBRs.

Essential Functions 

Revenue & Pipeline Leadership

• Build and execute a 3-year co-pack growth strategy targeting branded CPGs, private label, foodservice, and DTC/e-commerce brands.
• Personally lead Tier 1 pursuits while coaching the team on mid-market deals.

Financial & Commercial Mastery

• Develop dynamic pricing models incorporating raw material volatility, labor, energy, changeover costs, and capacity utilization.
• Negotiate multi-year MSAs with risk-sharing clauses (volume tiers, raw material pass-throughs, capex contributions).
• Deliver GP% expansion of 2–4 pts YoY through mix optimization and cost-to-serve discipline.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Partner with Operations to validate plant capabilities, run rates, and changeover feasibility for RFPs.
• Collaborate with R&D/QA to accelerate co-pack product development (NPD cycle < 180 days).
• Work with Supply Chain to lock in ingredient pre-buy commitments and mitigate commodity risk.

Market Intelligence & Positioning

• Maintain a live database of 200 co-pack prospects (funding stage, SKU velocity, incumbent packer pain points).
• Position the company as the preferred co-packer for low acid aseptic technology.

Financial Acumen

• Advanced Excel modeling: build fully loaded cost models (absorption, contribution margin, breakeven analysis).
• Comfortable presenting IRR / NPV scenarios for capex requests tied to customer commitments.
• History of margin recovery post-commodity spikes (e.g., dairy, oils, freight).

Qualifications

Technical & Industry Knowledge

• Deep understanding of SQF, HACCP, FSMA, USDA/FDA requirements for co-pack.
• Familiarity with high-speed lines (RTE, beverages, snacks, frozen, aseptic, HPP).
• Experience with private label retailer specs (Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Whole Foods).

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Team builder: recruited and scaled high-performing co-pack sales teams.
• Executive presence: credible with C-suite (CEO, CFO, VP Supply Chain) of $100M–$5B brands.

Preferred (Bonus) Skills

• MBA or finance coursework
• Bilingual (Spanish/English)
• Prior role at a top 20 co-packer
• Experience with Shopper Marketing fund integration in co-pack deals