Sales Account Manager

Buckingham Search; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Discretionary annual bonus up to 25%

401(k) with company match up to 4%

120 hours of paid time off first year

Job summary

Buckingham Search partners with a Chicago-area food products company to hire a Foodservice Sales Account Manager. The role manages and grows a portfolio of key customers while developing new business across restaurant chains, distributors, manufacturers, and ingredient markets.

The position emphasizes relationship-building, revenue growth, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver customer solutions. Local residency or relocation to Chicago is required, with 20–30% travel and in-office

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in sales, account management, or business development.
• Experience with foodservice, restaurant accounts, distributors, or ingredient products preferred.
• Strong revenue forecasting, pricing, and profitability understanding.
• Willingness to travel 20–30% and work extended hours as needed.

Responsibilities

• Own an assigned customer portfolio with retention, revenue growth, profitability, and long-term development.
• Build relationships with key customer stakeholders as a trusted commercial partner.
• Create strategic plans for priority accounts based on goals and growth potential.
• Develop new business across restaurant chains, foodservice distributors, manufacturers, and ingredient customers.
• Maintain a qualified pipeline of prospective customers.
• Identify cross-selling and product mix opportunities to increase revenue and margin.
• Lead customer proposals, RFPs, pricing discussions, contracts, and renewals.
• Develop accurate sales forecasts from customer activity and market data.
• Track pipeline and performance in CRM and report updates to leadership.
• Collaborate with internal teams to fulfill commitments and resolve issues.

Skills

Sales & account management

Relationship building

Negotiation

CRM experience

MS Office

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

This role is in-office 3-4 days a week (when you're not traveling) in the Chicago area. Must be local or willing to relocate to Chicago - no flexibility!

We are partnering with an established food products company to hire a Foodservice Sales Account Manager. This individual will manage and grow a portfolio of key customers while developing new business across restaurant chains, foodservice distribution, food manufacturing, and ingredient-based markets.

This is a hands‑on commercial role for someone who can strengthen long‑term relationships, uncover new revenue opportunities, and coordinate internal teams to deliver meaningful customer solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Own an assigned customer portfolio, including retention, revenue growth, profitability, and long-term account development.
• Build relationships with key customer stakeholders and become a trusted commercial partner.
• Create strategic plans for priority accounts based on customer goals, business needs, and growth potential.
• Develop new business across restaurant chains, foodservice distributors, manufacturers, and industrial ingredient customers.
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of prospective customers.
• Identify cross-selling, upselling, and product‑mix opportunities that increase revenue and margin.
• Lead customer proposals, RFP responses, pricing discussions, contract renewals, and negotiations.
• Develop accurate sales forecasts using customer activity, purchasing history, and market data.
• Track customer intelligence, pipeline activity, and account performance within the CRM.
• Monitor sales volume, revenue, profitability, and assigned performance objectives.
• Provide leadership with clear updates on account activity, risks, business results, and growth opportunities.
• Gather customer, competitor, and market intelligence to support commercial decision‑making.
• Partner with Finance and Strategic Sourcing to understand commodity and oil‑market conditions that may affect pricing or customer demand.
• Collaborate with Customer Service, Operations, Finance, and other internal partners to fulfill customer commitments and resolve issues.
• Identify opportunities to improve sales processes, customer engagement, and overall commercial performance.

Qualifications

• At least five years of sales, account management, business development, or related commercial experience.
• Experience with foodservice, restaurant accounts, food distribution, food manufacturing, commodities, or ingredient‑based products is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success retaining customers, expanding accounts, and developing new business.
• Understanding of revenue, margin, pricing, forecasting, and account profitability.
• Strong presentation, negotiation, communication, and relationship‑building skills.
• Ability to use customer and financial data to develop account strategies.
• Experience using CRM platforms and Microsoft Office.
• Ability to travel approximately 20% to 30%, with additional travel as business needs require.
• Flexibility to occasionally work outside traditional business hours.

Ideal Working Style

The successful candidate will be customer‑focused, collaborative, accountable, and committed to delivering results. This person should be comfortable taking ownership of challenges, bringing internal teams together, and balancing immediate commercial priorities with long‑term customer relationships.

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Discretionary annual bonus opportunity of up to 25%, based equally on individual and company performance
• 401(k) with company matching up to 4%
• 120 hours of paid time off during the first 12 months

This is an individual contributor position with no direct reports.