Wholesale Sales Manager

Lead and grow the wholesale channel for a well-established food manufacturing business with a strong regional brand, loyal customer base and real ambition across B2B sales.

Greater Manchester / North West
Hybrid working: main office a couple of days per week, home working and customer travel
£45,000 - £55,000 basic salary + £6,000 car allowance or company car + bonus scheme
Permanent, full-time

This is a hands-on commercial leadership role with a well-established food manufacturer with a strong regional brand and growing wholesale and foodservice channels

You'll lead a small wholesale sales team of 3, personally manage major customer accounts and priority opportunities, and bring more structure, focus and commercial discipline to the channel.

It's a role for someone who can balance growth with reality. The business has a strong product offer, established customer relationships and genuine opportunity to expand, but success will come from prioritising the right accounts, improving pipeline visibility, protecting margin and making sure the wider business can deliver what is being sold.

• Lead, coach and develop a team of three Wholesale Account Executives.
• Build a clear wholesale sales plan covering account growth, new business, pipeline, margin and customer activity.
• Personally manage major accounts, high-value prospects, tenders and more complex commercial opportunities.
• Improve account segmentation, ownership, contact strategy and sales discipline across the team.
• Use customer, sales and market data to identify stronger opportunities across regional and national B2B channels.
• Lead pricing, proposal and contract discussions while protecting margin and service capability.
• Work closely with operations, supply planning, customer service, technical, product development, marketing and finance to make sure customer commitments are realistic and deliverable.
• Provide clear forecasting and performance commentary to the Head of Sales.

You'll need a strong B2B sales background, ideally in food, bakery, FMCG, foodservice, wholesale or another product-led commercial environment.

We're looking for someone who has managed people before, not just accounts. You should be comfortable setting expectations, running pipeline reviews, coaching commercial performance and creating accountability across a small sales team.

You'll also need to be commercially sharp. Pricing, margin, negotiation, prioritisation and forecasting are all important parts of the role, as is the confidence to challenge opportunities that are not commercially or operationally right.

Experience with fresh or short shelf-life products would be useful, but it is not essential. The key is a practical, data-led and customer-focused sales leader who can turn opportunity into measurable growth.

This is a visible role with genuine scope to make an impact.

You'll be joining a business with heritage, established products, strong customer relationships and clear ambition to grow its wholesale channel. Rather than simply maintaining existing accounts, you'll have the opportunity to shape the plan, improve the way the team operates and personally influence major customer opportunities.

It's a strong fit for someone who likes being close to customers, close to the numbers and close to the operational reality of delivering growth in a product-led business.

If you're interested in learning more, we'd be happy to have a confidential conversation.