Director Strategic Market Development

Job Details

Job Location:

Coppell, TX 75019

Position Type:
Full Time

Education Level: Not Specified

Travel Percentage:
Up to 75%

Job Shift: Day

Job Category:
Sales

The Director, Strategic Market Development is responsible for identifying, developing, and expanding Merrychef’s presence within non‑traditional food service segments, including healthcare, higher education, corporate dining, food manufacturing, government, and specialty institutional environments. The role involves building strategic partnerships across the food service ecosystem, developing segment‑specific go‑to‑market strategies, expanding distribution pathways, and enhancing brand visibility across emerging verticals.

• Identify growth opportunities across non‑traditional institutional segments and develop segment‑specific go‑to‑market strategies focused on customer needs, procurement processes, and operational workflows.
• Build and sustain strong relationships with food manufacturers, consultants, healthcare procurement leads, university dining directors, corporate dining stakeholders, and grocery/retail decision makers to influence specifications, menu strategies, and purchasing decisions.
• Collaborate with food manufacturing partners on menu development and product focus to ensure offerings are optimized for Merrychef technology, operational performance, and real‑world end‑user needs.
• Partner with internal sales leadership to define effective distribution pathways for institutional and non‑traditional buyers, including alternative dealer networks, GPOs, food manufacturing collaborations, and specialty channel models.
• Engage key industry associations, trade groups, consultant networks, and manufacturer partners to elevate brand visibility, create thought leadership opportunities, and expand access to target segments.
• Deliver targeted education through product demonstrations, culinary collaboration, webinars, test kitchen sessions, and curated content highlighting Merrychef’s value in partnership‑driven and menu‑led solutions.
• Monitor trends, competitor activity, food manufacturing innovation, emerging technologies, and regulatory shifts to strengthen market positioning and inform strategic decisions.
• Work closely with Marketing, Sales, Product, and Culinary teams to develop targeted campaigns, segment‑specific messaging, and solution bundles aligned with customer and end‑user needs.
• Track and report segment performance, including new partnerships, specification wins, menu integrations, pipeline growth, and revenue expansion across non‑traditional and food‑manufacturing‑linked markets.

• 8+ years of progressive experience in commercial food service equipment sales, strategic market development, institutional channel expansion, or food manufacturing related environments.
• Demonstrated success growing business in healthcare, education, government/military, corporate dining, food manufacturing, managed services, or other non‑traditional food service segments.
• Proven ability to build and sustain long‑term strategic partnerships with food manufacturers, operators, consultants, engineers, and procurement/GPO stakeholders.
• Experience with high‑speed cooking technologies, ventless solutions, or kitchen automation (preferred).
• Background in spec writing, kitchen design standards, or equipment standardization programs (preferred).
• Strong go‑to‑market strategy, market segmentation, and business development experience across complex, multi‑stakeholder environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of engaging all business levels.
• Experience leading product demonstrations, testing initiatives, or operator validations.
• Ability to meet deadlines, manage time, and multi‑task in a dynamic work environment.
• Business acumen and experience in business case development, translating customer culinary needs into actionable solutions.
• Leadership, teamwork, collaboration, negotiation, and strategy development skills.
• Proficiency with spreadsheets, databases, and presentation platforms.
• Ability to create compelling customer‑facing and internal content, including presentations, playbooks, training materials, and…