Director Strategic Accounts

Job Summary
The Director of Strategic Accounts is responsible for driving profitable, sustainable revenue growth by developing, leading, and maintaining high-impact relationships with Maker’s Pride’s most strategic customers. This role serves as the senior commercial owner for assigned key accounts and is accountable for customer retention, revenue expansion, margin performance, and long-term partnership value.

The Director achieves company objectives by effectively navigating complex customer environments, resolving challenges, and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. This role influences decision-making at all levels within customer organizations and across Maker’s Pride by demonstrating strong business acumen, financial insight, emotional intelligence, and executive presence. The Director of Strategic Accounts plays a critical leadership role in aligning customer strategies with internal capabilities to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Account Leadership & Growth
• Own and lead a portfolio of designated strategic accounts, serving as the primary commercial and relationship owner
• Retain and grow strategic accounts by driving revenue expansion, profitability improvement, and long-term customer loyalty
• Develop, execute, and continuously refine comprehensive strategic account plans that include short-term priorities, long-term growth objectives, clearly defined action plans, milestones, and success metrics
• Proactively identify, evaluate, and advance new business opportunities within existing accounts through deep understanding of customer needs, strategies, and market dynamics

Customer Engagement & Executive Alignment
• Maintain a regular cadence of customer engagement to assess satisfaction, performance, risks, and opportunities, and to propose value-added solutions
• Prepare for, lead, and participate in recurring Top-to-Top meetings with strategic accounts, ensuring alignment on performance, innovation, pipeline, and long-term partnership goals
• Influence customer decision-making at executive and operational levels by delivering data-driven insights, strategic recommendations, and credible solutions
Business Development & Commercial Execution
• Develop and implement new business development plans aligned with Maker’s Pride’s commercial strategy and financial objectives
• Own and maintain the strategic account project and opportunity pipeline, ensuring disciplined pipeline management and forecasting accuracy
• Build robust business cases to support growth initiatives, pricing strategies, capital investments, and contract negotiations
• Partner closely with the Commercial Finance team to deliver revenue, margin, and profitability targets for both new and ongoing business

Cross-Functional Leadership & Process Discipline
• Lead and coordinate cross-functional collaboration with Operations, Quality, R&D, Finance, Legal, and other internal stakeholders to ensure customer commitments are met and risks are proactively managed
• Ensure adherence to established decision-making criteria, governance processes, and commercial standards, including effective use of Maker’s Pride SharePoint tools, pipeline systems, and trackers
• Participate in and lead sales, customer, and process improvement initiatives to drive continuous improvement while meeting customer and company requirements

Contract & Risk Management
• Manage customer contracts and commercial agreements in partnership with the Maker’s Pride Legal team, ensuring compliance, clarity, and alignment with business objectives
• Identify, assess, and mitigate commercial, operational, and financial risks within strategic accounts

Industry Engagement & Market Presence
• Represent Maker’s Pride in customer and industry-facing activities, including tradeshows, innovation sessions, customer/vendor summits, and other business-building forums
• Monitor industry trends, customer dynamics, and competitive activity to inform strategic planning and opportunity development

People Leadership & Talent Development
• Lead, coach, and develop direct report(s), including Account Manager(s), to build a high-performing, accountable strategic account management team
• Set clear expectations, provide ongoing feedback, and support professional development to strengthen leadership capability and succession readiness

Required Competencies & Knowledge
• Advanced expertise in strategic account management, business development, sales execution, and customer relationship leadership
• Strong sales reporting, forecasting, insights, and analytics capability
• Executive presence with demonstrated negotiation, influence, and stakeholder management skills
• Proven ability to