Sales Executive

Role Overview

Ground Up Coffee & Tea is a fast-growing coffee and tea company whose innovative products support the food and beverage industry in various ways. The company’s focus on innovation and its internationally integrated supply chain make this role both exciting and unique, offering exposure to product development, sourcing, commercialization, and customer growth opportunities.

The Sales Executive will manage and grow existing customer relationships while developing new business across private-label, contract-manufacturing, branded, and ingredient-based beverage programs. This role requires strong B2B sales discipline, comfort with pricing and quoting, and the ability to collaborate internally with product development, operations, compliance, and leadership to move customer opportunities from concept to commercialization.

Ground Up Coffee & Tea prides itself on being a coffee and tea solutions provider, collaborating closely with customers to help make their products successful. The Sales Executive will play a key role in identifying opportunities, building customer trust, and partnering internally across product development, operations, compliance, and leadership to bring new business to market.

Key Responsibilities

• Own pipeline development, account growth, forecasting accuracy, and revenue performance for assigned accounts and prospects.
• Generate sales and be responsible for achieving quarterly and annual sales goals.
• Grow existing customer relationships while developing and onboarding new accounts.
• Work closely with the Sales Director, Assistant Sales Director, and Business Strategy Director on the development of private label, contract manufacturing, branded, and ingredient-based beverage opportunities with brands, roasters, cafes, foodservice operators, retailers, and ingredient buyers.
• Identify, qualify, and prioritize new product leads to allocate time and sales effort productively.
• Maintain disciplined, daily use of NetSuite and Pipedrive for lead tracking, pipeline management, quoting activity, account updates, and reporting.
• Prepare cost workups to support pricing decisions, customer proposals, and budget expectations.
• Process and manage quotes through Pipedrive and NetSuite, ensuring accuracy and timely completion.
• Maintain accurate records of quotes, cost workups, customer activity, and account developments within company systems for tracking and reporting.
• Prepare accurate sales forecasts for assigned accounts and provide updates at regular intervals throughout the year.
• Partner with internal teams to analyze cost structures, support pricing strategy, and align proposals with operational capabilities and margin expectations.
• Collaborate with product development, operations, compliance, and leadership to support new item launches, customer projects, and private label commercialization.
• Lead customer conversations related to product needs, pricing parameters, timelines, and program scope.
• Maintain awareness of coffee futures, ICO pricing, and broader market trends to support informed customer conversations and pricing discussions
• Work out of our New York City headquarters and visit customer locations, qualified prospects, industry conventions, and trade shows throughout the year. Some travel is necessary to support the sales function required
• Present ideas and recommendations that help improve sales effectiveness, business processes, and company growth.
• Maintain a direct line of communication with leadership regarding prospect activity, customer developments, competitive information, and evolving opportunities.
• Develop expertise in Ground Up Coffee & Tea’s products and, by extension, the coffee and tea industry. Regularly conduct sensory evaluations of existing, new, and benchmark coffees and teas.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Commerce, Marketing, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum 5-7 years of B2B sales experience required, ideally with complex accounts, solution-based selling, or multi-step customer onboarding.
• Proven successful sales background, preferably in coffee, tea, ingredients, private label, contract manufacturing, or the broader food and beverage industry.
• Demonstrated ability to generate new business while growing and sustaining existing relationships.
• Ability to prepare pricing workups, manage quotes, support customer follow-up, and maintain CRM activity with a high degree of accuracy and accountability.
• Direct private label, contract manufacturing, or custom product sales experience strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience with CRM/ERP systems such as NetSuite and Pipedrive strongly preferred.
• Appreciation for the diversity of the global supply chain and various cultures.
• Strong presentation, facilitation, written communication, planning, organization, and follow-through skills.
• Self-starter who can work independently while collaborating effectively across departments.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook required.

Great Place to Work

Enjoy…

• A fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment focused on innovation and quality.
• A culture of respect, learning, and accountability.
• The opportunity to work alongside experienced, highly skilled professionals.
• A collaborative environment where ideas are valued, and initiative is encouraged.
• Opportunities to grow, expand responsibility, and make a measurable impact.
• Competitive benefits and a balanced, flexible work environment.

Company: Ground Up Coffee & Tea, LLC (GUCT)

Location: New York, NY (Hybrid)

Reports to: Assistant Sales Director