[Hiring] Director, Trade Sales @Lifeway Christian Resources

Role Description

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.

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)
  • 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 across all domestic trade channels with full top- and bottom-line accountability.
• Moderate travel, typically overnight, sometimes seasonally heavy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Sales, Marketing, Communication, or a related field, required.
• Master's degree, preferred.
• Advanced graduate degree (PhD, etc.), not 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• 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.

Benefits

• 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.
• Strong Work from Anywhere (WFA) culture with autonomy and flexibility with work hours.
• Equipment and resources to ensure a productive and ergonomic workspace.
• All-team meetings several times per year and travel for key team gatherings for remote-based team members.

Company Description

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.

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