Director of Sales — The Cycle

Location: Remote (US), with travel for retailer meetings, trade shows, and demos.

Reports to: Founder & CEO

Compensation: Base salary + performance bonus + equity + health insurance

About The Cycle

The Cycle is the first functional beverage brand built around women’s cycles — four phase specific RTD SKUs (Pre-Period, Period, Peri, Meno) on a sea buckthorn Omega-7 base. We were named Beverage Forum 2026 Most Innovative Beverage Brand and are scaling across natural and conventional retail.

Mainstream beverage has ignored women’s cycles as a serious category. We’re proving it isn’t niche — it’s the next functional beverage frontier.

The Role

You'll own sales. The founder has run sales to date; your job is to take it over and grow it. You'll work directly with our broker partners and distributors, pitch buyers, run retailer reviews, manage trade spend, and close accounts across natural and conventional channels.

This is a hands-on role. You'll still be making the calls, building the decks, running the meetings, and closing the business — with the experience and judgment to do it well and the autonomy to figure it out without being told.

We're an early-stage brand. There's no big team behind you, no established playbook, and no corporate infrastructure to lean on. If that slows you down, this isn't the right fit. If that's what you've been looking for — read on.

What you’ll do

• Own the retailer pipeline: prospect, pitch, close, and manage accounts across natural chains and select conventional retailers.

• Manage our broker and distributor relationships. Set targets, run cadence, hold them accountable as an extension of our team.

• Lead retailer review cycles end-to-end — prep, pitch, follow-up, close. Own velocity analysis and retailer reporting. Translate weekly syndicated data into action.

• Set and enforce placement policy, free-fill rules, and trade spend guardrails.

• Build the sales infrastructure: pitch decks, one-pagers, deal sheets, broker briefs, review materials.

• Coordinate with Operations on the demo program, sampling, and field activation. Represent The Cycle at trade shows.

Who you are

• 5+ years in CPG sales and account management. Beverage crossover is a plus, not a requirement.

• You’ve taken a brand through a retailer review and grown an account year over year. We don’t need someone who’s specifically done Target or Sprouts — we need someone who’s done the work and can do it again here.

• Fluent in retail data: velocity, $/store/week, ACV, sell-through, forecasting. You can look at a syndicated report and tell us where to push and where to cut.

• Strong instincts on pricing, trade spend, free fills, and promo planning at premium price points.

• Excellent written communication. You’ll be drafting buyer emails and broker briefs constantly.

How you work

• Self-directed. “Give me a deck and I’ll go find the business” is the energy. You don’t wait for a playbook — you build one.

• Organized and accountable. You run your own pipeline, forecasts, and reporting cadence.

• Hungry. Every retailer call is a chance to expand the category, not just place an order.

• Bought in on the brand. You actually care about women’s health as a category. This isn’t another functional beverage gig — we’re treating women’s cycles as a serious beverage category for the first time, and we need someone who treats it that way too.

What success looks like in your first 90 days

You've opened 1,000 new doors. That's the number. Everything else — the relationships, the infrastructure, the cadence — should be built in service of that goal.

What we have now

• Sprouts Portfolio: ~494 stores via KeHE.

• KeHE Distribution: 8 active DCs; responsible for scaling to 100 accounts before expanding the DC footprint.

• Broker Management: Direct oversight of the newly awarded LA Libations partnership from day one.

• Natural & Independent Channels: Management of 60+ independent retailers, Thrive Market, and immediate June launches (Down to Earth and New Leaf).
  
  How we hire: We keep the process tight and respect your time. Here's what to expect:

• Recruiter screen (45 min) — we'll cover your background, what you've sold, and what draws you to this role.

• Founder conversation (45 min) — brand fit, strategic instincts, and how you think about building a sales function from here.

• Sales craft interview (45 min) — retail data fluency, broker management, how you've navigated complex account situations.

• Case study — you'll receive a short brief and build a 90-day account plan for one of our priority retail targets. Presented live, not a take-home deck review.

• Reference calls — three references, at least one from a broker or distributor you've worked with.

• Final conversation + offer.

We move fast when we find the right person.

Why this role matters

The founder has built every retail relationship to date. The recent Beverage Forum win and national launch have created more pipeline than one person can run. This role exists to take it over and 10x it. You’ll have a real pipeline from day one, a brand that’s already trending, and the autonomy to run sales the way you know how.

A genuinely kid-friendly culture

"We’re a team of parents building a brand for women, and we genuinely mean it when we say family comes first. Your day can look like school pickups, nap schedules, and taking meetings from the carpool line. Kids on calls are welcome. We trust you to get your work done, and you will never have to choose between being present at work and being present for your family".

Frankly, I’m building the environment I wish I’d had. I've spent too many years scheduling my life around someone else's corporate mold of what "professional" means. We're throwing that mold out.