Director of Sales

CatchLight is a visual-first media organization that leverages the power of visual storytelling to inform, connect, and transform communities. We are looking for someone who shares our passion for photojournalism, photography, and visual storytelling to join our team.

CatchLight seeks a Director of Sales who is responsible for creating, executing and iterating a sales plan to meet or beat annual revenue targets for CatchLight’s three growing earned revenue streams:

• Newsroom memberships for CatchLight’s Local Visual Desk program; B2B sales, securing or renewing contracts with 30 newsroom clients who will pay an annual membership fee for access to visual services. (55%)
• Corporate sponsors for public programs/live events such as at Visual Storytelling Summit and Night of Photojournalism, bringing in $500k or more annually. (25%)
• Contracts for CatchLight’s creative services; securing an estimated 6-10 agreements per year with corporations, foundations, and others for bespoke visual-centric projects (short videos, photo essays, reports, digital assets, in-person engagement strategies, etc). Some of these projects will be developed in tandem with corporate sponsorship for events. (20%)

The Director of Sales's main duties include developing plans to meet sales and revenue targets, leading solicitations, prospecting and cultivating relationships with clients, and evaluating costs to determine their product pricing when selling to clients.

This position reports to the VP of Development and Public Programs.

Duties: Grow CatchLight’s three earned revenue streams.

Create and execute strategy to achieve annual sales targets:

• Research and maintain portfolios of prospects and collaborate with leadership on relationship cultivation and solicitation.
• Lead face-to-face solicitations; Effectively communicate value propositions with prospects through virtual meetings, presentations and proposals.
• Manage and track all prospect/client interactions through sales and renewal processes, using Salesforce CRM.
• Build and maintain long-lasting, strong relationships with clients while partnering with them to better understand their objectives and needs.
• Attend industry conferences or other events to meet with prospective/existing clients, if needed.

Manage and communicate progress clearly and consistently:

• Develop contracts that are tightly aligned with CatchLight’s services/capacity and meet client needs.
• Work with Local program leadership to develop consistent practices to onboard and offboard newsroom clients.
• Coordinate and communicate with the program staff who will deliver services to ensure successful transitions and outcomes.
• Provide quarterly reports on progress toward annual goals to senior staff.

Develop long term strateies to grow earned revenue channels, to keep pace with organizational growth.

• Monitor and evaluate costs and profit margins for product/service offerings.
• Communicate insights and develop solutions to changing market forces, strategic directions, or budget changes for clients or prospects that may impact progress toward current or future sales goals.
• Ensure activities conform to all company policies and industry best practices.

We are a woman-led organization that seeks to give opportunities to applicants from diverse and historically marginalized backgrounds with intentionality.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

We actively seek and encourage applicants from across all walks of life who have expertise and a proven track record in the areas below:

• At least 5 years of prior experience in sales.
• Experience and proficiency with Salesforce
• Passion for and understanding of client cultivation, local news, and/or photojournalism.
• Superior verbal and written skills with experience producing proposals and presentations.
• Highly organized; Maintain accurate records. Effectively manage three sales funnels, an estimated 50+ clients and 150+ prospects annually.
• Self starter; ability to work independently, take initiative and prioritize tasks.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with a small team.
• Collaborative and cooperative work ethic; help prospects identify services/products that will best meet their needs and establish partnerships that will be mutually beneficial.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and “can do” attitude.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

In addition to demonstrating strong skill set requirements, we are looking for excellence in the following areas. Candidates will be reviewed based on the following:

• Creativity: You are a net positive force of creative capital. Your engagement not only enhances the organizational performance, it enhances the creative capacities of the entire team. You bring ideas to the team.
• Character: You operate at the highest executive function in your personal organization, your communications style, and your integrity. You bring follow through, resourcefulness, and coordination to the team.
• Culture: You add positively to the social focus, the energy and the engagement of those around you. You bring warmth, generosity of spirit, excitement and respect.

PHYSICAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Ability to communicate via phone, text, zoom, email and other software
• Ability to work at a computer for extended periods of time
• CatchLight has a hybrid work environment with shared workspace, preference to San Francisco Bay Area based candidates.
• Must be willing to travel occasionally, to meet with clients, attend industry events and conferences, and staff retreats, as necessary. Mileage and direct expenses will be reimbursed.

Salary for this position is $110,000- $125,000 DOE

This position is exempt, full-time, regular with full benefits. Benefits include:

• Paid time off 21 days per year
• Paid holiday 15 days per year
• Flexible working hours
• Hybrid/remote work
• Health, vision and dental insurance
• 401k with a company match option

CatchLight is committed to fostering a diverse workforce, and maintaining a workplace that is equitable, inclusive and safe for all employees.

CatchLight is an equal opportunity employer. CatchLight is committed to providing a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and disrespectful or other unprofessional conduct based on sex, sex stereotype, race, color, creed, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religion, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, sexual orientation, weight, height, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic or status protected by federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to all employment practices including hiring, benefits, promotions, training, disciplinary action, and termination.

Please submit a resume and a cover letter that includes a response to one of the following: Tell us about a time you were moved or influenced by photography or visual journalism. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Target start date October 15, 2024.

APPLY via Submittable HERE: https://catchlight.submittable.com/submit/d2ac3638-342c-4102-86c2-beff2e87ffd9/job-posting-director-of-sales