Wholesale Business Development Manager Premium Childrenswear Brand

Role Overview
We are hiring a Business Development Manager to own wholesale growth for a premium baby and layette brand. This role is focused exclusively on premium distribution: department stores, luxury and better specialty, high-productivity independents, and boutique wholesale.

The work is split between (1) deepening and professionalizing existing premium partnerships and (2) designing and selling expansion programs that open the right next doors without diluting brand positioning. The ideal candidate brings live relationships with premium baby/juvenile buyers, experience running independent sales representatives who cover specialty and department doors, and the discipline to work cross-functionally with merchandising, supply chain, finance, compliance, and marketing.

This is a player-coach role. You will personally own key premium accounts and line reviews while leading a of independent reps. Success is measured by quality of doors, program design, velocity and sell-through, forecast accuracy, and the strength of buyer relationships - not door count for its own sake.

What You Will Own
Premium Account Leadership
• Own assigned premium accounts across department store, luxury specialty, better specialty chains, and high-productivity independent boutiques.
• Build and maintain direct relationships with category buyers, planners, and merchandising leadership; prepare seasonal line reviews, assortment architecture, and presentation books.
• Protect brand standards at retail: assortment depth vs. breadth, visual presentation, pricing integrity, and which doors are (and are not) a fit.
• Monitor account-level velocity, inventory position, markdown risk, and service issues; intervene early with the retailer and internal ops.
• Negotiate terms, seasonal programs, and co-op within approved guardrails; decline distribution that undermines premium positioning.

Program Design for Premium Expansion
• Design door-opening and in-store programs built for premium retail—not a one-size sell-in.
Examples include seasonal capsules, door-specific color stories, fixture or shop-in-shop concepts, gift-with-purchase and registry moments, and limited exclusives.
• Build a 12–18 month expansion plan that sequences the right next accounts (heritage department, luxury specialty, top independents) rather than maximizing raw door count.
• Create sell-in tools that match how premium buyers buy: look books, fabric/hand-feel stories, assortment grids, margin and turn scenarios, and visual merchandising guidance.
• Lead partnership conversations from first meeting through executed vendor setup and first order, including item setup and any retailer-specific presentation requirements.
• Represent the brand at relevant premium and juvenile markets and convert meetings into a qualified pipeline.
• Maintain a documented pipeline with stages, next actions, and close dates; report weekly on activity and conversion quality.

Independent Sales Representative Management
• Recruit, onboard, set goals for, and manage independent sales reps covering department, specialty, and independent boutique territories.
• Prioritize reps with existing premium baby, layette, or better-specialty books.
• Provide look books, samples, talking points, competitive context, and seasonal line training so reps can sell the brand at the right altitude.
• Set clear activity and revenue expectations; run regular pipeline reviews; coach underperformers and reallocate coverage where doors or brand fit are weak.
• Coordinate market and showroom appointments; keep reps aligned on pricing, minimums, exclusivity, and brand standards.
• Resolve territory questions and protect house accounts; document commission structures and performance against plan.

Cross-Functional Execution
• Partner with supply chain on allocation, lead times, and service levels appropriate to premium retail (presentation quality, smaller drops, seasonal timing).
• Work with finance on forecasts, program ROI, and margin after retailer terms.
• Collaborate with product and merchandising on capsules, colorways, pack architecture, and door-specific or exclusive assortments.
• Align with marketing on look-book content, in-store storytelling, events, and retailer.com / editorial requirements.
• Coordinate with compliance and quality on labeling, claims, CPSIA / tracking labels, packaging, and any department-store vendor requirements.
• Serve as the internal voice of the premium buyer: translate feedback into product, presentation, and service changes.

Forecasting, Reporting & Retail Analytics
• Deliver rolling sales forecasts by account and style; flag inventory and production risk early.
• Prepare weekly/monthly reporting: bookings vs. plan, ship vs. order, sell-through, returns, and pipeline quality.
• Use retailer portals and available POS to diagnose performance and prioritize actions.
• Own CRM hygiene for accounts, contacts, opportunities, and activity.

Ideal Candidate Profile
Required Experience
• 5+ years in wholesale sales or business development for a premium or better brand, with a substantial portion in baby, juvenile, layette, infant apparel, or a closely adjacent premium category (nursery, home textiles, or designer kids).
• Demonstrated ownership of premium retail accounts: department store and/or luxury or better specialty. Comfort presenting at line review and building a seasonal assortment story.
• Hands-on experience recruiting, managing, and holding accountable independent sales representatives who cover specialty and department doors.
• Proven ability to design and sell programs - not only take replenishment orders - and to open doors that fit the brand.                                                         •Experience working cross-functionally with operations, inventory, finance, and compliance in a lean brand environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, merchandising, or related field, or equivalent career experience.
• Willingness to travel for accounts, markets, and trade shows (typically 25–40%, with seasonal peaks).

Nice to Have
These are not required to apply. They are the signals that usually separate a strong premium hire from a generalist wholesale seller. Candidates who bring two or more of the following will move to the front of the process.

• Active or recent relationships with baby / layette / kids buyers at premium department stores (Nordstrom and peers) or recognized luxury and better specialty accounts.
• Experience taking a heritage or digitally native premium brand through a department-store line review cycle and landing a multi-door or expanded assortment.
• A track record designing in-store programs that belong in premium retail: shop-in-shop or fixture programs, seasonal capsules, registry or gifting moments, trunk shows, or limited exclusives.
• Independent-rep or showroom relationships already covering better specialty and department doors in baby, juvenile, or related home/textile categories.
• Regular presence at ABC Kids Expo or equivalent juvenile / premium kids markets, with a professional network among buyers and independent reps.
• Familiarity with department-store vendor mechanics (line-review cadence, planner partnership, portal reporting, presentation standards) without a mass-retail operating background as the primary experience.
• Product fluency in premium textiles or layette (hand-feel, fiber stories, giftability, layette architecture) so conversations with buyers go beyond price and door count.
• Experience rebuilding or tightening distribution after a brand has been over-placed—saying no to the wrong doors and trading up the account mix.
• Comfort with CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, or equivalent) and simple forecast models in Excel; Retail Link or mass-portal expertise is not expected.
• Hospital gift, luxury gifting, or specialty registry program experience as an adjacency to core wholesale.

Capabilities & Working Style
• Polished written and verbal communication; buyer-ready decks and disciplined follow-up.
• Judgment to protect brand and margin while still closing the right doors.
• Organized operator: can run a personal account book, a rep network, and internal workstreams without dropped balls.
• Data-literate enough to use velocity, turn, and forecast variance to prioritize time.
• Low-ego collaborator who owns problems that sit between sales, product, and ops.

Success Measures (First 12 Months)
• A documented premium-account plan and qualified pipeline (department, luxury/better specialty, and top independents).
• At least one designed expansion or in-store program sold into an existing or new premium partner.
Rep coverage map in place, weighted toward premium doors, with an activity cadence and
performance scorecard.
• Monthly forecast (bookings and shipments) that operations and finance can plan against.
• Measurable improvement in velocity and presentation quality at existing premium doors.
• Buyer relationships that survive a line-review cycle and produce a clear 12-month assortment path.