Senior Business Development Manager – On-Trade – London & South in Kingston upon Thames

Build your career at Sazerac! With almost 400 years of rich history, Sazerac Company has thrived as an independent, American family‑owned company with operations in the United States and around the world. Since the 2000s, Sazerac has averaged double digit growth every year! Sazerac Company produces and markets the most award‑winning bourbons and whiskeys in the world, including Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, Traveller, and Sazerac Rye. Additionally, Sazerac owns many popular brands across a range of spirits, including Fireball, Svedka, Wheatley, BuzzBallz, Southern Comfort, Seagram’s V.O., Myers’s, Goldschläger, Parrot Bay, 99 Brand, and Platinum Vodka.

The Senior Business Development Manager – On‑Trade – London & South (SBDM) is a senior field leadership role within the Sazerac UK commercial organisation. The role combines ownership of an on‑trade territory with responsibility for leading, coaching, and developing Business Development Managers to deliver consistent commercial performance and best‑in‑class execution. The SBDM operates as a player‑coach, leading from the front through high personal standards, emotional intelligence, and credibility in trade. The role inspires performance by being a visible role model, building trust‑based relationships, and creating an environment where people feel supported, challenged, and accountable.

Job Purpose

To lead and develop on‑trade Business Development Managers to deliver against agreed commercial KPIs, while maintaining personal accountability for an on‑trade territory. The role exists to improve sales effectiveness through structured coaching, performance management, and continuous improvement, ensuring the on‑trade field team operates with clarity, consistency, and commercial impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Field Leadership & Performance Management: Provide day‑to‑day leadership to on‑trade Business Development Managers, setting clear expectations around performance, behaviour, and execution standards. Lead regular communication forums, including work‑in‑progress calls and monthly one‑to‑ones, to ensure focus, accountability, and alignment to business priorities.
• Sales Coaching & Capability Development: Deliver structured in‑field coaching through regular days in trade, aligned to Sazerac sales frameworks including the Steps of the Call and On The SPOT feedback model. Complete coaching assessments, provide clear feedback, and agree SMART development actions, tracking progress over time to drive continuous upskilling.
• Talent Attraction, Hiring & Onboarding: Support the attraction, selection, and hiring of on‑trade field sales talent, contributing to interviews and assessment to ensure strong cultural and capability fit. Own the onboarding and early development of new starters, delivering structured induction, clear expectations, and hands‑on in‑field support to accelerate time to performance and embed Sazerac’s sales standards, behaviours, and ways of working.
• Sales Performance & KPI Governance: Monitor individual and team performance against KPIs, producing regular performance updates to ensure consistency of tracking and focus. Ensure performance reporting systems and documentation are completed accurately and on time, supporting both development and performance management.
• Field Performance Reporting & Business Reviews: Consolidate monthly in‑field reports from the on‑trade sales team, synthesising performance across key business buckets, priorities, and KPIs. Present monthly business updates to the wider company, highlighting performance, gaps to target, risks, and corrective actions, ensuring clear visibility of on‑trade execution and progress.
• Strategic Execution & Internal Communication: Act as a key conduit between Head Office and the field sales team, ensuring clear translation of business priorities into executable actions. Support quarterly sales cycle planning and updates, contributing insight, coordination, and presentation where required. Triage internal stakeholder requests to maintain focus and balanced field workload.
• Projects & Continuous Improvement: Lead and contribute to internal projects designed to improve sales effectiveness, reporting, and ways of working. Analyse performance frameworks, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement new processes, tools, or training initiatives, presenting recommendations to senior stakeholders as required.
• Personal Territory Ownership: Maintain an independent free trade territory in the on‑trade, delivering against agreed sales and distribution objectives. Lead by example through high‑quality in‑trade execution, relationship building, and brand activation, ensuring continued credibility with customers and the field sales team.

Requirements / Qualifications

• Robust experience in on‑trade field sales or business development within the drinks industry or FMCG.
• Emotionally intelligent, people‑first leader who inspires trust, leads by example, and acts as a role model for both behaviours and performance.
• Strong understanding of sales effectiveness, KPI management, and structured coaching.
• Commercially astute, with the ability to balance delivery and capability building.
• Confident communicator, comfortable presenting to senior stakeholders and wider business forums.
• Highly organised, analytical, and comfortable operating in a fast‑paced, performance‑driven environment.
• Able to operate effectively as a player‑coach with personal sales accountability.