Vice President of Sales
canastra fishing companySioux Falls (SD)
$200,000.00 per year
Apply (opens in a new tab)Vice President of Sales
Posted 6 days ago
canastra fishing companySioux Falls (SD)
SENIORITY
Senior
SALARY
$200,000.00 per year
About the role
Job description:
Canastra Fishing Company is a family-owned seafood business built by fishermen, for fishermen. Our roots are grounded in hard work, respect for the sea, support for the commercial fishing industry, and a commitment to preserving New Bedford’s working waterfront. We operate an expanding fleet and work with a diverse range of seafood species and products. Our business includes vessel landings, auction sales, direct customer sales, seafood trading, product development, packing, processing partnerships, and domestic and international distribution. As the company continues to grow, we are seeking an experienced commercial leader who can turn our access to high-quality seafood into lasting customer relationships, stronger markets, and profitable new business opportunities.
Position Overview:
The Vice President of Sales will lead Canastra Fishing Company’s overall commercial strategy. This person will be responsible for developing and executing sales plans across the company’s seafood portfolio, expanding direct-sales channels, identifying new markets, and helping guide product and processing decisions. This is a hands-on executive role requiring strategic thinking, strong seafood-market knowledge, and the ability to respond quickly to changing landings, pricing, customer demand, seasonality, and market conditions. The Vice President of Sales will work directly with the CEO, COO, vessel-management team, procurement, operations, logistics partners, processors, and customers. The successful candidate will help determine the best commercial path for each product while respecting the company’s longstanding relationship with the seafood auction and the broader New Bedford fishing community.
Key Responsibilities:
- Sales Strategy and Leadership
- Develop and manage a comprehensive annual sales and business-development plan
- Establish commercial strategies for individual species, products, seasons, and customer segments
- Evaluate daily landings, market prices, inventory, customer demand, and product availability
- Determine the most effective balance between auction sales, direct sales, processing, freezing, storage, and other value-added opportunities
- Build pricing strategies that improve margins while maintaining dependable, long-term customer relationships
- Create sales forecasts, market reports, account plans, and performance updates for company leadership
- Establish clear priorities and accountability across the sales function
- Business Development
- Identify and develop new domestic and international markets for fresh and frozen seafood
- Expand relationships with seafood processors, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, foodservice companies, restaurants, importers, exporters, and other buyers
- Develop new customers for underutilized species and products with strong market potential
- Build programs that convert lower-value or overlooked products into profitable commercial opportunities
- Identify strategic partnerships in processing, packing, cold storage, distribution, exporting, and product development
- Represent Canastra Fishing Company at trade shows, industry meetings, customer visits, and market-development events
- Travel to meet customers, evaluate markets, and develop new business opportunities
- Product and Market Development
- Work with leadership, operations, and procurement to evaluate new products and commercial programs
- Help design product specifications, pack styles, case formats, quality standards, and customer programs
- Evaluate opportunities involving fresh, frozen, whole, processed, value-added, bait, and byproduct categories
- Support the development of processing and packing capabilities when market demand justifies investment
- Monitor seafood trends, competitive activity, imports, exports, supply conditions, regulatory changes, and shifting customer preferences
- Develop strategies for products affected by seasonality, quota limitations, inconsistent supply, or price volatility
- Help position emerging and underutilized species for broader market acceptance
- Fleet and Operational Collaboration
- Work closely with executive leadership and vessel management to align fishing activity with market demand and commercial opportunities
- Communicate customer requirements, product specifications, timing, quality expectations, and market feedback to operational teams
- Coordinate with procurement, processing, warehousing, logistics, and finance to ensure sales commitments can be executed successfully
- Help create year-round sales opportunities that support the fleet, fishermen, processing partners, and customers
- Respond quickly to changes in landings, quality, weather, pricing, transportation, and customer needs
- Brand and Relationship Development
- Strengthen Canastra Fishing Company’s reputation as a trusted and innovative seafood supplier
- Communicate the company’s fishing heritage, product access, quality standards, and commitment to the industry
- Build lasting relationships based on reliability, transparency, responsiveness, and sound commercial judgment
- Serve as a senior representative of the company with customers, industry partners, fishing organizations, and other stakeholders
- Help establish Canastra Fishing Company as a leading voice in the markets and fisheries in which it operates
Qualifications:
- Significant sales, business-development, or commercial leadership experience in seafood and/or commercial fishing
- Strong knowledge of seafood markets, pricing, product forms, quality, seasonality, cold-chain requirements, and customer channels
- Demonstrated ability to develop new accounts, enter new markets, and build profitable sales programs
- Experience working with fresh and frozen products and managing supply that may change daily
- Understanding of domestic and international seafood sales is strongly preferred
- Experience working with processors, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, foodservice customers, importers, or exporters
- Ability to interpret sales data, market pricing, inventory, supply forecasts, and product margins
- Strong negotiation, communication, leadership, and relationship-management skills
- Ability to move comfortably between executive strategy and hands-on daily sales activity
- Willingness to travel for customer meetings, trade shows, and market development
- A practical, entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to build structure within a growing organization
The Ideal Candidate:
The ideal candidate is a respected seafood professional who understands that successful sales begin with the realities of the fishing industry. This person can evaluate landings, and identify the right customers, develop the appropriate product, and coordinate the people and resources needed to bring that opportunity to market. The right leader will be analytical without losing commercial instinct, ambitious without sacrificing relationships, and innovative while respecting the company’s heritage and responsibilities to fishermen and the New Bedford waterfront. This position offers the opportunity to help shape a growing commercial organization, develop new products and markets, and build a role with meaningful influence across the company.
Compensation and Benefits:
Canastra Fishing Company offers a competitive executive compensation package, comprehensive benefits, paid time off, and the resources necessary to support the successful candidate’s sales and business-development efforts.
How to Apply:
Qualified candidates should submit a résumé and a brief introduction describing their relevant seafood-industry experience, commercial accomplishments, customer relationships, and approach to developing new markets. Canastra Fishing Company is an equal opportunity employer.
Work Location: In person
Pay: $200,000.00 per year
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