Senior Manager of Wholesale Sales

At L.L.Bean, we believe the outdoors brings out the best in all of us. We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and creating safe, inclusive spaces where everyone feels welcome—both here and Outside. We value individual differences and are dedicated to maintaining an inclusive work environment where everyone can bring the best of their experience and talents and truly thrive.

Position Purpose:

The Senior Manager of Wholesale Sales plays a key role in driving our fast-growing Wholesale channel to achieve sales and operating contribution goals, while remaining aligned with the L.L.Bean brand. Responsible for strategy and results of all external wholesale accounts, while also account managing a subset. Lead the Wholesale sales team with focus on inspiration, accountability and development. Critically important to develop strong relationships and deliver the highest level of customer service. Through a deep understanding of industry, partner needs and L.L.Bean’s product line, will help guide the assortment, ordering and in-season reaction processes. Will utilize previous experiences to inform future actions and help create a continuous improvement model for future growth.

Responsibilities:

Wholesale Oversight

• May serve as Account Manager for designated account(s)

• Establish strong, long-term account relationships – providing accounts with customer service that meets the L.L.Bean standard

• Act as a liaison between accounts and internal teams for product and assortment

• Provide overall account vision and strategic approach to compelling product assortment curation, sell-in approach and sell-thru management

• Prepare for and lead Sell-In and Strategy/Business Review meetings for select accounts, provide leadership support for others

• Drive sales and margin to achieve or exceed volume and category targets

• Provide input and help execute strategic marketing, in store visual and operational initiatives to grow businesses with each account

• Provides input into annual budget process and leads monthly sales reprojections

• Manage and report out business performance on regular basis

• Work closely with account and internal partners to manage promotions, markdowns, returns and product exit strategies

• Deliver required reports and presentation materials in a timely manner

• Represent L.L.Bean brand and expected level of ethics in all business dealings within company and with customers

• Ensure strategic alignment across all accounts in the Wholesale business

• L.L.Bean product and sales expert, attends appropriate product/M2M/CP meetings and influences process and assortment as needed

• Keep up to date with industry trends and developments to enhance L.L.Bean's competitive positioning in the market

• Develop strong cross-functional relationships across the organization

• Play key role in Continuous Improvement Wholesale initiatives

• Be a proficient user of internal L.L.Bean systems to self-serve: JDA Assortment Planning, Product Information System, Product Costing, Excel, PowerPoint, NuOrder, Microsoft Teams, One Note, SharePoint & Tableau

Proven Leadership and Development Experience

• Provide inspiring leadership and people management to Sales team of Account Managers and Coordinators

• Models L.L.Bean’s inclusive and fair hiring practices

• Fosters an inclusive work environment by seeking team members’ perspectives, actively listening to others' opinions and experiences, and modeling and encouraging respectful communication among the team. 

Skills and Qualifications:

• Lives within a commutable distance to Freeport Maine for this in-office role based in our HQ in Freeport, Maine.  This is not a remote role.

• 7+ years of relevant experience leading/managing large apparel/outerwear/footwear businesses. Wholesale-specific account management preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop employees

• Must be an effective collaborator with strong bias for action.

• Strong written/verbal/listening communication, analytical, organizational and presentation skills

• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Working knowledge of basic retail business acumen (i.e., gross margin, turn and markdowns)

• Must have the ability to travel ~ 25% of time

Education Level: 4-Year Bachelors Degree

Years of Experience: 5 years plus

L.L.Bean is for everyone, we are committed to fostering a culture of belonging.

If you care about the outdoors, joining L.L.Bean is a great way to feel good about what you do. Our benefits package makes a good thing even better, with programs and perks designed to support your health and financial goals. Plus, maintaining a healthy work-life balance and re-charging outside are all part of the plan.

If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified and you think you'd be great at this role, we'd love to learn more about you!   At L.L.Bean, we believe the outdoors brings out the best in all of us.  We strive to reflect this every day in our commitments to employees and partners and in our efforts to promote belonging.