Senior Vice President of Sales Strategy

Kinder’s is seeking an experienced SVP of Sales Strategy who is passionate about being part of a team of hard-working people focused on bringing the future of flavor to consumers everywhere.

Reporting to the CEO, the SVP of Sales Strategy will serve as a strategic and analytical leader, responsible for defining and executing Kinder’s go-to-market planning framework and ensuring that our commercial execution is insight-driven, data-backed, and optimized for growth. This individual will oversee the Sales Strategy, Sales Planning, Sales Operations – ensuring that Kinder’s has a world-class commercial sales infrastructure.

ABOUT US AT KINDER'S:

We are a fast-growing company working hard to bring amazing flavor solutions to consumers that are as exciting and delicious as they are simple to use. Whether we are serving the emerging cook or seasoned pro, we are 100% committed to our mission of bringing awesome flavor to consumers wherever and whenever they are looking for it and in whatever form they want it in be it seasonings, sauces, gravies, marinades, or anything else we can dream up. We drive hard to be the most quality-obsessed, innovative company in any market we serve and while we have experienced tremendous growth over the last 5 years, we think we are just getting started. We love our consumers and are fired up to be part of their flavor journey, and we need more great people to help us continue to raise the bar for what consumers think is even possible in their own kitchens.

Today, we have over 100 products sold nationwide at retailers including Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Kroger, Safeway and many more. While we have been around for over 75 years, we have experienced explosive growth in the last 5 years and are now a top 5 brand in the U.S. in multiple flavor categories including seasoning blends, BBQ sauce, and wing sauce. To keep our momentum rolling, we need more passionate flavor advocates and builders to come and join our team and help us reach every kitchen across the U.S. and maybe even the world.

Key Responsibilities of this Role:

Commercial Leadership

• Lead the development and execution of Kinder’s commercial go-to-market strategies and operations, maximizing Kinder’s growth trajectory, meeting the needs of our retail partners and consumers, and delivering on profitability targets.
• Build and lead our Sales Strategy, Sales Planning, and Sales Operations functions — retain, attract, and develop top talent; establish agile processes, decision-rights, and KPIs that drive tight alignment with Brand, Finance, Supply Chain, and Sales while scaling a data-driven, high-performance culture.
• Serve as a key commercial leader reporting to the CEO, guiding Kinder’s next phase of growth with strategic leadership and executional excellence.

Sales Strategy

• Oversee and scale Kinder’s growing Sales Strategy function, ensuring the team drives data-backed, high-impact sales execution across all channels and BUs.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive go-to-market strategy, ensuring Kinder’s sales plans align with brand category strategies and revenue growth targets.
• Own category toolkits and assortment recommendations, working with Brand and Sales to optimize shelf performance across retail partners.
• Partner with Brand to establish clear, aligned strategies for product launches, off-shelf activations, and merchandising programs.
• Work with Sales to develop retailer-specific growth strategies, strengthening Kinder’s position as a preferred partner.
• Partner with Category Management to provide analytical support to Sales team for new item sell-in and key sales meetings.

Sales Planning

• Oversee and scale the growing Sales Planning function, leading the development of Kinder’s annual and ongoing sales planning processes.
• Build detailed account and category-level sales plans, including revenue targets, trade spend & shopper marketing allocations, and executional KPIs.
• Drive cross-functional partnership with Brand, Sales, Finance, and Planning to build a robust sales planning cadence across retail channels.
• Develop and drive commercial demand investment program, optimizing trade and shopper marketing deployment strategy in partnership with Sales and Finance.
• Lead post-event analytics, assessing performance against forecasts and providing insights to drive short-term actionable recommendations and long-term strategies.
• Support channel-level sales planning processes by assisting in the development of detailed account / category-level demand investment plans.

Sales Operations

• Oversee and scale the Sales Operations function, partnering cross-functionally to deliver robust forecasting and inventory management.
• Provide real-time visibility into customer inventory levels, minimizing out-of-stocks and markdown liabilities.
• Oversee account setup, timely system setup for new customers and items, and rapid issue resolution to maintain data integrity across internal and retailer platforms.
• Lead sales administration and enablement, including developing customer materials, coordinating sample fulfillment, and organizing innovation summits.
• Own the end‑to‑end trade promotion management process—accurate deal entry, broker coordination, event execution, and compliance monitoring.
• Steer cross‑functional project management for feature and display programs, retailer events, and other complex commercial initiatives.
• Establish operational KPIs, dashboards, and business reviews that surface bottlenecks, unlock automation opportunities, and drive continuous efficiency gains.

What You Bring to the Table:

Position-Specific Skills Required

• Strong background in Sales Strategy and developing robust go-to-market strategies for complex businesses.
• Strong analytical skills with proficiency in forecasting, trade spend management, sales planning, and analytics.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and scale operations in high-growth environments.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial mindset that thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced setting.

Education / Experience

• Bachelor's Degree required. MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
• 15+ years in Sales Strategy, Category Management, Sales Planning or Sales Operations roles (preferably in CPG) OR Management Consulting.
• Track record in agile, creative thinking and ability to work with internal cross-functional partners and external customers to translate into business results.
• Proven strategic thinker excited by a dynamic and high-growth organization.
• Experience developing sales plans / forecasts including projected trade spend impacts.

Personal Characteristics

• Business builder who owns and drives results.
• Player-coach who is able to be both strategic and in the details.
• Growth mindset with an excitement to learn (and teach).
• Thrive in a dynamic, lean, and agile environment.
• Self-starter who takes initiative and speaks their mind.
• Excited to be lead a fast-moving team and bring organization to chaos.
• Enjoy making decisions and finding ways to say ‘yes’ as often as possible to impactful and important priorities.

Things About the Way We Work:

• No two days here are the same.
• We try to be good team members and good communicators, but we don’t live by hierarchy and structure – everyone is a difference maker here.
• We make a lot of decisions in the face of incomplete information – our team embraces ambiguity and tries to make good decisions fast rather than great decisions slow.
• We believe our job is to take smart risk, not to eliminate risk.
• We believe in growing our skills and becoming a better company with more managerial expertise, but we are an entrepreneurial company at heart.
• We aren’t trying to be average – we want to do exceptional things and we are willing to work hard to achieve them.

Location & Travel

The position will be based out of our 20,000 sq. foot office in Walnut Creek, CA. We strongly believe in the power of culture and community and have a hybrid work structure with 4 days in the office on a weekly basis to encourage collaboration and personal connections that will allow us to better serve our customers and consumer and to have more fun. Fridays are flex days with employees having the opportunity to choose to be either in the office or to work from home based on what makes most sense for them.

Some travel will be required for this role on a periodic basis. Typical travel includes industry conferences, trade shows and key customer visits.