Sales & Education Manager

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Over 150 million Americans have treatable body skin concerns that are currently being unaddressed. Soft Services is a beauty company defining a billion-dollar category by creating the first targeted body care company dedicated to these concerns.

The skincare market expanded 60% in the last decade, driven by targeted solutions and widespread conversations for facial skin concerns. The body care category is primed to repeat this evolution, with aging millennials and our evolving lifestyles leading to more prevalent body skin concerns.

Using targeted, effective products, expert, digestible info optimized for search, an aspirational brand everyone wants to talk about, an outsized investment in sustainability, and no exploitation of the customer, Soft Services is leading the evolution of the bodycare category and now distributing nationwide through an exclusive retail partnership with Sephora.

ABOUT THE ROLE
Soft Services is seeking an experienced Sales & Education Manager based in New York who is passionate about the growing prestige body care category. You will be an advocate for Soft Services and a champion of our Sephora in-store presence and client experience. Strong communication skills are critical for this candidate as it will enable them to educate the store teams on Soft Services’ unique points of differentiation.

As a part of your role, you will visit our Sephora doors weekly, while also building and managing a freelance field team to scale our sales and education efforts. This position will significantly impact our retail sales performance and our overall ranking at Sephora.

Working within a small team, you must be both a strategic leader and must execute.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Retail Sales Performance: 

• Establish a focus door list based on sales goals and current performance monthly.
• Plan a seasonal call cycle with input from the manager to accommodate both sales volume and geographic factors.
• Develop seasonal plans with retailer partners to achieve retail sales goals through planning, support, events, training schedules, and participation in training/strategy meetings. 
• Build & develop a strong, results-driven freelance field team.
• Provide consistent feedback from store visits and training.
• Establish and develop strong relationships with store leadership to store-level employees.
• Evaluate inventory levels for products when conducting store visits and communicate needs based on account specifications.
• Constantly evaluate sales results and revise strategy based on successes and challenges. 
• Create quarterly comprehensive business review with elevated leadership. 
• Support and maintain visual merchandising updates and needs based on merchandising guidelines.
• Be accountable for strategic T&E budget decisions and overall compliance.
• Manage and develop Beauty Advisors to become brand experts and advocates.

Training: 

• Conduct ongoing training on new and existing products based on call cycles.
• Act as a liaison between Soft Services and Sephora, namely in-store and regional leadership. Training formats include formalized off-the-floor sessions where possible as well as on-floor Brand Focus Day trainings.
• Develop strong relationships with all district and store-level leadership within the assigned territory.

Schedule & Events: 

• Maintain a consistent calendar of visiting stores on peak days and working alongside retail employees. 
• Develop event activation programs to increase brand presence in critical doors and ensure proper execution.
• Plan, schedule, and execute In-store events—including single-brand events, multi-brand events, and FSC Events.
• Maintain a track record of all event execution within the Tri-State territory.

Requirements

• An energetic, positive, service-oriented individual with strong relationship-building skills.
• 3-5 years of experience with Sephora field sales and education.
• Role requires ~4 days/week in the field and 1 day in the office.
• Must be able to work a flexible schedule, including weekends & holidays and be willing to travel up to 50% of the time.
• Ability to speak to a group, inspire and motivate teams with previous experience managing & developing a freelance team.
• Excellent organization and communication skills; written, verbal and presentation. Intermediate proficiency in PowerPoint & Excel
• Experience at a growth-stage company is a plus, experience in the beauty industry and interest in skincare is a must.
• Valid driver’s license, insurance, and reliable transportation required.

Benefits

• Salary and equity compensation package.
• Health, vision, and dental insurance.
• 15 days paid time off, 23 days of observed holidays, 5 days sick leave.
• Annual education, cultural inspiration, and skincare product and services stipend.