Head of Retail

Can you walk into a Walmart buyer meeting and walk out with more shelf space than you came in with?

Can you look at a sell-through report and immediately know why a SKU is bleeding and exactly what to do about it?

Have you actually built a retail business - not managed a book of logos, but built something - from early distribution to thousands of productive doors?

Freebird® is a 9-figure DTC brand serving over 2 million customers and redefining shaving for the modern consumer. We've built a loyal subscriber base, a portfolio of best-in-class grooming products, and one of the strongest direct-response engines in the space. Now retail is becoming a serious growth channel, and we're looking for the person who will own it.

We're looking for a Head of Retail to become Freebird's internal retail expert and owner - responsible for taking an emerging retail channel and turning it into a significant national growth engine. You'll own the strategy, relationships, assortment, economics, execution, and ultimately the team required to make that happen.

This is not an account management role. This is a builder role. If you've built this before and want to build it again - keep reading.

What You'll Own

Protect and Scale Walmart

• Take full ownership of the commercial relationship - buyers, line reviews, assortment, pricing, programs, and commitments.
• Ensure 2026 expansion, holiday program, and PDQ execute successfully.
• Maintain real-time visibility into sell-through, in-stock, replenishment, inventory, and forecasts.
• Own the Walmart P&L and all trade-spend decision making.
• Build the roadmap for expanding men's, women's, refill, and secondary SKUs.
• Develop the next line review and feature strategy.

Launch and Internalize Target

• Take direct ownership of the Target buyer relationship.
• Assess what stays with external partners versus moves in-house.
• Own the launch plan, assortment, economics, and all internal workstreams.
• Execute a successful national launch with Freebird holding the direct relationship - no dependency on a broker as the sole relationship holder.
• Build the infrastructure to manage Target internally following launch.

Build the Path to 10,000+ Doors

• Produce a prioritized 2-3 year U.S. retail expansion strategy within 90 days.
• Segment retailers by fit, revenue opportunity, margin, brand value, and probability of success.
• Identify the next 5-10 accounts to pursue - CVS, Walgreens, Ulta, Best Buy, Sam's Club, Costco, Kroger, H-E-B, Publix, and others.
• Have multiple new retailer relationships actively progressing through buyer meetings, line reviews, or tests within 12 months.

Build Freebird's Retail Assortment Strategy

• Build a retailer-specific assortment architecture across men's kits, women's kits, refill blades, consumables, premium tiers, club bundles, and retailer-exclusive configurations.
• Determine which products belong in which retailers, at what MSRP, with what pack architecture.
• Define when new SKUs deserve shelf space and where exclusives create competitive advantage.
• Protect DTC and retail pricing simultaneously across channels.

Build the Refill and Consumables Business

• Turn retail from a one-time hardware sale into a recurring ecosystem.
• Develop the strategy for landing refill blades alongside devices at retail.
• Use device velocity to justify additional refill doors and expanded placement.
• Build retailer economics around repeat purchase and category value.
• Identify opportunities in wet shave, care, and other consumable products.

Own Retail Economics

• Build and manage retailer-level P&Ls: wholesale revenue, gross margin, trade spend, promotions, markdowns, retail media, freight, deductions, returns, and contribution margin.
• Ensure retail growth is profitable growth - not simply door count expansion.
• Make commercial decisions grounded in unit economics and long-term account health.

Build World-Class Retail Execution

• Establish strong processes across forecasting, replenishment, in-stock, POs, EDI, OTIF, retailer portals, features, compliance, deductions, and sell-through reporting.
• Know what excellent looks like in each area and build the capability underneath you.

Build the Internal Retail Organization

• Initially operate as a hands-on, lean retail leader, directly owning and executing the business without an immediate internal team.
• Assess current capabilities and define the organizational structure needed as the retail business scales.
• Over time, build the right internal team to support a 10,000–20,000+ door business, with hiring driven by growth and business needs rather than upfront headcount.
• Progressively reduce dependency on external brokers as capabilities come in-house.

Requirements

What We're Looking For

• Personally owned a meaningful Walmart business - buyers, line reviews, Retail Link, replenishment, features, and negotiations. Non-negotiable.
• Managed Target from the brand side with direct buyer relationships. Strongly preferred.
• Grown a consumer brand beyond Walmart and Target into drug, club, grocery, beauty, electronics, or specialty - knows how to open an account and make it productive, not just get on shelf.
• Worked inside a consumer brand and understands how retail interacts with product, finance, brand, growth, supply chain, and executive leadership. Broker or agency-only backgrounds won't work here.
• Personal care, grooming, beauty, consumer electronics, appliances, or health and wellness background - with experience managing durable products that have consumable or refill components. Relevant backgrounds: Harry's, Manscaped, Braun/P&G, Philips/Norelco, SharkNinja, Edgewell, Church & Dwight, Beiersdorf, Unilever, and similar.
• Can present a 3-year retail strategy in the morning and troubleshoot an out-of-stock at Walmart in the afternoon. Not too senior to get into the details, not too tactical to build the strategy.
• Can evaluate retailer margins, wholesale pricing, promotional economics, trade spend, inventory investment, and retail media ROI. Has owned a P&L and made commercial decisions based on it.
• Energized by ambiguity, building from scratch, and moving without a Fortune 500 support structure. Sees an early-stage retail organization as an opportunity, not a liability.
• Develops authentic, long-term buyer relationships - credible, commercially sharp, responsive, and trusted. Strong in negotiation without being adversarial.
• Works extremely well cross-functionally with Product, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Brand, Creative, Growth, and executive leadership. Retail cannot operate as an isolated sales department.

Required Background

• 10+ years in consumer products and retail sales
• Senior Director, VP, Head of Retail, Head of Sales, or National Accounts experience
• Personal ownership of Walmart; Target ownership strongly preferred
• Experience managing a $25M+ retail business
• Demonstrated expansion from limited distribution into thousands of doors
• Retail P&L responsibility
• Experience building teams and retail infrastructure

Benefits

Why Freebird

• Remote-first & flexible. Work from anywhere with autonomy and trust.
• Competitive compensation, rewarding the impact you make.
• Medical, dental & vision insurance. Health coverage for you and your family.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Unlimited PTO. Recharge when you need it.
• Own an entire channel with the authority and accountability that comes with it.
• Proven consumer demand and brand awareness already in place - you're building, not starting from zero.
• A product portfolio built for retail: hardware with consumable refills and a growing grooming ecosystem.
• A leadership team that moves fast, makes decisions, and gives operators room to operate.
• No politics, just execution. We value ownership, collaboration, and solving problems together.
• The chance to write the retail playbook for a brand that has already proven it can win.