Business Development Manager

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Take charge of wholesale growth for a premium baby and layette brand across department stores, luxury and better specialty retailers, high-productivity independents, and boutique wholesale.

• Enhance and professionalize existing premium partnerships.

• Develop and sell expansion strategies that allow for the opening of suitable accounts without compromising brand positioning.

• Personally manage key premium accounts and line reviews while guiding independent sales representatives.

• Cultivate relationships with buyers, planners, and merchandising leaders; prepare seasonal line reviews, assortment architecture, and presentation materials.

• Safeguard retail brand standards, pricing integrity, assortment quality, and account compatibility.

• Monitor account performance, inventory levels, markdown risks, and service issues.

• Negotiate terms, seasonal initiatives, and co-op within established guidelines.

• Create premium door-opening and in-store initiatives, including capsules, color stories, fixtures, shop-in-shop designs, gifting experiences, and limited exclusives.

• Develop a 12–18 month premium expansion strategy and sales tools.

• Lead partnerships from the initial meeting through vendor setup and the first order.

• Represent the brand at premium and juvenile markets while maintaining a qualified lead pipeline.

• Recruit, onboard, set objectives for, train, and manage independent sales representatives.

• Coordinate market and showroom appointments and address territory inquiries.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with supply chain, finance, product, merchandising, marketing, compliance, and quality teams.

• Provide ongoing account/style forecasts and weekly/monthly reports.

• Utilize retailer portals and POS data to assess performance.

• Maintain CRM integrity for accounts, contacts, opportunities, and activities.

• Achieve first-year success metrics, including a documented premium-account plan, expansion program sales, representative coverage, monthly forecasts, enhanced velocity and presentation quality, and strong buyer relationships.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 5 years of experience in wholesale sales or business development for a premium or better brand, with significant expertise in baby, juvenile, layette, infant apparel, or a closely related premium category.

• Proven track record of managing premium retail accounts, including department stores and/or luxury or better specialty accounts.

• Experience in presenting at line reviews and crafting a seasonal assortment narrative.

• Hands-on experience in recruiting, managing, and holding independent sales representatives accountable in specialty and department stores.

• Demonstrated capability to design and sell programs and open brand-appropriate doors.

• Experience in cross-functional collaboration with operations, inventory, finance, and compliance in a streamlined brand environment.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, merchandising, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

• Willingness to travel for accounts, markets, and trade shows, typically 25–40%, with seasonal peaks.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to create buyer-ready presentations and follow up diligently.

• Good judgment in protecting brand and margin while securing suitable accounts.

• Proficient in managing an account portfolio, representative network, and internal workflows.

• Ability to analyze velocity, turnover, and forecast variance to prioritize effectively.

• Preferred qualifications that are not mandatory include: premium buyer relationships, department-store line review experience, premium in-store program design, independent-rep/showroom relationships, ABC Kids Expo or similar market involvement, understanding of department-store vendor mechanics, premium textile/layette product knowledge, distribution optimization, and familiarity with CRM and Excel, as well as experience in hospital gift/luxury gifting/registry.

🏝️ Benefits

• No specific benefits, perks, or compensation extras are listed in the posting.

• Equal opportunity employer.