District Manager, Northern

District Manager, Northern California - San Francisco/Oakland

REPORTS TO: Regional Manager, CA & HI

LOCATION:
Must be based in San Francisco

Palm Bay International is a dynamic, family-owned importer with one of the most comprehensive fine wine and spirits portfolios in the country – over 50 suppliers strong, sourced from every corner of the globe. What sets Palm Bay apart isn’t just the portfolio; it’s the network. Decades-long partnerships with the leading wholesale companies in all 50 states, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America let Palm Bay show up everywhere the industry does: independent restaurants, retail, chains, supermarkets, hotels, airlines, cruise ships, duty‑free, and U.S. military bases.

That reach is why Palm Bay is considered a major force in fine wine and spirits – and why the people who represent it in the field matter so much.

The right person for this role isn’t hard to picture. You may recognize yourself below.

• Tenacious by nature. You set a goal and you find a way – the account that passed once isn’t off the list, it’s next.
• Competitive and charismatic. You want to win, and people want to be around you while you do it.
• A relationship builder first. With buyers, sommeliers, GMs, and the distributor sales team – you know the name behind every account and they know your name.
• A natural educator. You know your wine and spirits cold, and you’d rather teach a distributor rep than just tell them what to sell.
• Comfortable in front of a room. A GSM, a supplier dinner, a tasting for fifty people – you don’t just present, you land it.
• Organized under pressure. Multiple accounts, multiple deadlines, multiple priorities – you keep it all moving without dropping the ball.
• Self-driven. This is a home-based role. You run your own week, and you don’t wait to be told what’s next.

• Own relationships, influence & sell in the top 100 account universe.
• Distributor work‑withs are weekly – you’re in the market, side by side with the distributor sales team, not just checking in from a distance.
• Distributor education runs on a cadence – team meetings, GSMs, and special events keep the sales team sharp and selling. Enabling and teaching the teams selling benefits of our portfolio is a key to success.
• Weekly, monthly, and tertile business reviews keep the whole team aligned on portfolio development.
• Direct line to your Regional Manager – sales updates, market conditions, and issues get communicated as they happen, not after the fact.

Time: roughly 75% customer-facing (on- and off-premise selling), 20% distributor-facing (work‑withs, training, GSMs), 5% administrative and reporting.

Geography: primarily home market in California, with periodic travel for supplier events, company meetings, and training.

Build and manage the target account universe across on- and off-premise. Sell directly to key accounts and grow Palm Bay’s footprint one relationship at a time.

Develop and execute monthly plans and programs with distributor partners. Train their sales team, work the market alongside them, and turn every rep into a Palm Bay advocate through consistent education and communication.

Plan and run supplier market visits, wine dinners, and consumer tastings that create real, visible demand for a 50+ supplier portfolio.

Own the annual sales plan for California defined territory. Track and deliver against KPIs across the 100 Top Accounts, on- and off-premise.

Show up for weekly, monthly, and tertile business reviews. Keep your Regional Manager current on sales updates, market conditions, and issues – the good weeks and the hard…