Director, Trade Sales

Overview

Lifeway is seeking a Director, Trade Sales to lead and grow its external trade retail channel across Christian retail, general market, mass market distribution, and ministry and specialty partners. In this senior leadership role, you will set the vision, build strategic growth plans, and oversee the channel leaders responsible for driving annual revenue growth across Lifeway's entire domestic trade portfolio. You will collaborate cross-functionally with Publishing, Marketing, Finance, and Creative teams to bring Lifeway's resources to market and expand its reach to churches and readers everywhere.

Why Lifeway?

Lifeway is a place where you can bring your faith and work experience to join in the most important mission in the world: making disciples of Jesus Christ. Whether you’re a creator or storyteller, data guru or problem-solver, or anywhere in between, if you’re passionate about serving the church, we have a place for you. Lifeway has a strong Work from Anywhere (WFA) culture that is deeply focused on our mission and values. While headquartered in Nashville, TN, many of our positions are remote-eligible and have autonomy and flexibility with work hours. We provide equipment and resources to ensure team members have access to a productive and ergonomic workspace. We believe building relationships and community is essential to how we work together, so Lifeway hosts all-team meetings several times per year and provides travel for key team gatherings for remote-based team members. Full-time employees are eligible for enrollment in our comprehensive benefits plans including healthcare, vacation and sick time, holiday pay, care days, 401(k) plan, maternity and parental leave, adoption assistance, mission trip time, and more. If this sounds like a place where you would be excited to serve the kingdom of God, we would love for you to join our team.

Learn more about our culture at team.lifeway.com/culture-code

This is a remote position in the U.S. with occasional travel to Nashville for in-person team gatherings.

Responsibilities

• Lives out Lifeway’s mission and values, showing deep commitment to Kingdom work
• Lead and grow Lifeway's trade retail channel partnerships across Christian retail, general market (Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million), mass market distribution (Readerlink), and ministry and specialty accounts
• Hire, coach, mentor, and develop the Trade Retail and Distribution Sales team, setting clear performance expectations and supporting career growth and succession planning
• Build and execute innovative strategic account growth plans including the sell-in of new releases, backlist catalog, and custom publishing solutions to expand market share
• Partner cross-functionally with Publishing, Marketing, Finance, Creative, and IT to align priorities and develop go-to-market strategies that grow sales and market share across all Lifeway brands
• Develop and manage annual revenue budgets, forecast channel performance, and oversee expense management to ensure profitable year-over-year growth
• Oversee account negotiations including discount structures and co-op agreements, and build strong relationships with account buying, marketing, and merchandising teams
• Drive a consistent annual growth target of across all domestic trade channels with full top- and bottom-line accountability
• Moderate travel, typically overnight, sometimes seasonally heavy

Qualifications

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Sales, Marketing, Communication, or a related field, required

Master's degree, preferred

Advanced graduate degree (PhD, etc.), not required

Skills, Knowledge, & Experiences, required

• 10+ years of progressive sales experience across multiple retail and distribution channels including Christian retail, general market, mass market, and specialty/ministry partners
• 7+ years of sales management experience leading and developing sales teams
• 5+ years of experience in the publishing industry with strong knowledge of the market
• Demonstrated expertise in trade sales strategy and the ability to drive revenue and market share growth across diverse channel partners
• Strong financial and P&L acumen including budget management and profitable revenue accountability
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present confidently to executive and external audiences
• Moderate domestic travel, typically overnight

Actively involved in an evangelical Christian church

Skills, Knowledge, & Experiences, preferred

• Experience with channel forecasting, demand planning, and managing a multi-brand product portfolio
• Existing relationships with key trade retail and distribution accounts
• Experience using Salesforce CRM
• Experience supporting or managing custom publishing programs

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