Vice President, Retail & Channel Growth
Byrna Technologies Inc., Boston, MA, United States
The Vice President of Retail & Channel Growth is a senior, high-impact growth leader responsible for building and scaling the company’s retail and dealer ecosystem.
This role is not simply account management; it’s a system-building and growth mandate. The VP will design and execute the company’s retail strategy across big-box, national accounts, our independent dealer network, and our five (5) Corporate Retail Stores, while establishing the programs, infrastructure, and capabilities required to drive sustainable sell-through and profitable growth.
Success will be defined by:
- Accelerated door expansion and account penetration
- Strong sell-through velocity and retail productivity
- Creation of repeatable dealer and retail programs
- Development of a scalable retail operating model
This individual will own the full lifecycle retail success, from securing new accounts and building deep buyer relationships to executing in-store programs that maximize velocity, shelf presence and profitability.
Key Responsibilities
- Define and lead the end-to-end retail channel strategy, including the role of big-box, dealers, and owned retail.
- Build the playbook for retail success: assortment architecture, pricing frameworks, merchandising standards, and promotional strategy
- Establish retail operating rhythms – joint business planning cadence, forecasting, inventory planning, promotional calendars
- Design the organizational structure, capabilities, and KPIs required to scale the retail channel
Big-Box and National Account Leadership and Growth
- Own and expand relationships with key national retailers, including Sportsman’s Warehouse, Bass Pro Shops, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and Scheels
- Lead joint business planning (JBP) with top accounts, including inventory planning, promotions, category expansion and launch execution
- Drive distribution gains, shelf space growth, and SKU productivity
- Partner with retailers on omnichannel execution (in-store & eCommerce alignment)
- Drive door count expansion, SKU penetration, and geographic rollout across existing and new accounts.
- Own performance across accounts, with accountability for revenue growth, sales velocity, profitability, and retail productivity.
- Margin structure & incentives
- Training & certification programs
- Co-op programs
- Expand the dealer footprint strategically to complement big-box presence
Corporate Retail
- Oversee corporate retail locations (five) as innovation labs to test merchandising, training, and customer engagement strategies
- Translate corporate retail learnings into scalable programs for wholesale partners
- Lead and develop store managers to ensure operational excellence and brand consistency.
Sell-through & Retail Execution Excellence
- Design and deploy sell-through programs, including:
- Retail associate training and certification
- Incentive programs (SPIFFs)
- In-store merchandising systems and fixtures, in partnership with marketing organization
- Mature retail analytics capability (POS data, inventory turns, velocity tracking)
- Identify and scale what works across accounts and regions
Strategic Leadership
- Build and lead a high-performing retail organization
- Upgrade talent, structure and performance management systems as needed
- Serve as a cross-functional leader, aligning with marketing, product, and operations
Qualifications
- Established relationships with big-box buyers and strong understanding of how to win in chain environments.
- 10-15 years of experience in retail, wholesale, or omnichannel sales leadership
- Proven track record of building and scaling retail channels, not just managing them
- Deep experience with national sporting goods, outdoor, weapons, or adjacent retail categories
- Demonstrated success in:
- Launching and scaling dealer/distributor accounts
- Driving sell-through, not just sell-in
- Building repeatable retail programs and playbooks
- Strong relationships with key buyers (preferred, but capability to build is required)
- Experience leading teams and building organizations from early stage to scaled
- Fluency in retail KPIs (velocity, turns, margin, productivity)