Head of Sales, New Accounts

The Head of Sales, New Accounts role will lead new customer acquisition for GE holiday lighting, with a focus on opening national retail accounts and building profitable, sustainable new business. GE branded holiday lighting products will be the primary focus with opportunities to represent other Balsam Brands products and brands where strategically appropriate.

This is a senior individual-contributor role for an experienced sales leader with strong relationships at major U.S. retailers and a demonstrated track record of personally opening new accounts. The role owns new customer relationships from initial pursuit through commercial negotiation, launch, and the first complete selling and holiday-season cycle before transitioning established accounts to the ongoing account management team. Over time, the scope may expand to include international retail accounts.

This is a remote US-based role reporting to the President of GE Holiday Lighting and requires up to 40% travel with the US.

There is a strong preference for this role to be located in the US Central or Eastern time zone.

What you’ll do:

Win New National Accounts

Build and execute a prioritized acquisition strategy, initially focus on major mass, club, and home-improvement retailers

Use established relationships and develop new connections with buyers, merchandising leaders, and other key decision makers

Develop retailer-specific strategies based on customer priorities, consumer needs, category insights, competitive positioning, and company capabilities

Lead customer presentations, line reviews, proposals, and negotiations to secure initial purchasing commitments

Maintain a disciplined pipeline with clear prioritization, stages, probabilities, next steps, risks, and expected timing

Build Profitable Deals

Partner with Merchandising on assortment and pricing, and with Brand Management on promotional plans and retailer commitments

Evaluate opportunities and recommend tradeoffs based on revenue potential, profitability, strategic value, operational demands, and risk

Lead commercial negotiations and drive contracting process from initial term discussions through agreement execution, including payment terms, allowances, returns, freight, promotional commitments, and exclusivity

Work with Legal, Finance, and Operations to assess terms, ensure commitments are executable, and communicate customer requirements to cross-functional partners

Launch and Establish New Accounts

Own new-account revenue and profitability through the first complete selling and holiday-season cycle; coordinate executable launch plans across functions

Ensure customer expectations, commercial terms, assortment decisions, timelines, and retailer-specific requirements are clearly understood across the company

Build relationships beyond the initial buyer and partner with the Senior Director, National Accounts throughout the cycle to establish continuity

Lead a structured handoff once the business is established , documenting relationships, account history, economics, commitments, customer requirements, risks, and future opportunities

Develop New Routes to Market

Evaluate and establish relationships in new channels or with brokers or distributors that can accelerate profitable growth

Hold external sales partners accountable for target accounts, pipeline development, and commercial outcomes

What you bring to the table:

10+ years in consumer-product sales, including 5+ years directly responsible for national retail sales

A proven record of personally opening significant new national retail accounts, with current access to major U.S. retail decision makers, particularly in mass, club, and home improvement

Experience taking new business from initial access through negotiation, contracting, launch, and early account development

Deep knowledge of retailer buying processes, line reviews, assortment planning, promotions, and complex commercial negotiations

Strong commercial and financial judgment, including evaluating revenue, margin, terms, inventory exposure, and operational complexity

Ability to turn consumer, category, and competitive insights into persuasive selling strategies, supported by strong presentation and relationship-building skills

Proven initiative, persistence, and accountability through long selling cycles

Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives through influence without relying on formal authority or a large team

Preferred Experience

Direct selling experience with Costco, Walmart, and/or The Home Depot is strongly preferred

Experience in seasonal, home, décor, lighting, toys, hardware, consumer electronics, consumer durables, or other relevant consumer-product categories

Experience developing distributor or broker relationships or large international retail accounts

Experience with licensed or nationally recognized consumer brands

Experience working in a growing business where sales leaders combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution

Category experience is valued, but demonstrated retailer access, commercial judgment, and a track record of opening new accounts are more important

About Us: Balsam Brands is a global, omnichannel retailer with roots in holiday and home décor. We strive for excellence in everything we do and present a unique opportunity for those seeking to have a meaningful impact in a people-first company that values relationship building, authenticity, and doing the right thing. We have steadily growing teams in Boise, the Bay Area, Dublin, the Philippines, Canada, and Mexico.

The company's mission is to create joy together. We empower our team and partners to love what they do, provide products and experiences that inspire meaningful moments with family and friends, and give back to our families and communities in impactful ways. When you join Balsam Brands, you'll find a culture of caring people doing challenging work and building a w elcoming w orkplace .

Check out our flagship brand, Balsam Hill: www.balsamhill.com

Balsam Brands in Forbes: https://bit.ly/balsambrandsforbes2023

Balsam Brands on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/balsam-brands/

Glassdoor: https://bit.ly/balsambrands-glassdoor

At Balsam Brands, we strive to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package. For permanent, full-time team members, our current package includes:

Competitive compensation, including a cash-based incentive plan; salary is reviewed yearly and may be adjusted as part of the normal compensation review process

Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage, with 100% of monthly premiums covered for team members, and 85%+ employer-paid premiums for other coverage tiers that include dependents

Up to $2,000 annual funding toward HSA accounts

Medical, transit, dependent care FSA

Infertility coverage offered on all medical plans

Generous parental leave program and flexible return options

Company-paid life and AD&D insurance

Company-paid short and long-term disability insurance

401(k) with dollar-for-dollar company match up to $4,000 per calendar year

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other mental health and wellness perks

Paid holidays, annual shutdown week, PTO, and volunteer time-off (VTO) packages

Paid 5-week sabbatical leave after 10 years of employment

Annual continuous learning benefit up to $1,000 per person, per fiscal year

Up to $300 flexible reimbursement to support setup of new team member's work-from-home environment

Generous team member merchandise discount

Valuable extras: identity theft protection, subsidized parking, monthly wellness, pet insurance, accident & critical illness insurance

The base pay range for this position is: $205,000 to $256,000 . Please note that placement within the posted salary range is based on several factors, including geographic location, experience, skills, alignment with role requi