Market Development and Partnerships, Seafood

Ocean Wise Conservation Association is seeking a Market Development and Partnerships, Seafood professional in Vancouver, BC. The role involves scaling the seafood program through business development, partner engagement, and strategic sales, while collaborating with various teams. Responsibilities include onboarding new partners, optimizing sales cycles, and supporting marketing efforts. Ideal candidates should have experience in grocery retail or foodservice distribution and possess strong relationship management skills.
We need the ocean. The ocean needs us.

Role Summary

As the Market Development and Partnerships, Seafood, you will be responsible for scaling the program while ensuring quality and impact, working at the intersection of business development, strategic sales, partner retention, and brand building. You will take ownership of partner engagement, new business development, and market strategy, ensuring Ocean Wise remains the leading responsible seafood program in North America.

You will work closely with the fisheries science team, marketing team and technology team to ensure the program’s value proposition is clearly communicated while providing high-quality support to partners in marketing, compliance, and sustainability integration. The ideal candidate is impact-driven, growth-focused, and ready to lead a segment-driven business development strategy that drives both measurable conservation outcomes and meaningful business value for our partners.

Who You Are

This is a fast-paced, hands-on, and entrepreneurial role that requires a strong mix of strategic sales acumen, relationship management expertise, and experience in grocery retail and/or foodservice distribution.

What You Will Be Doing
Business Development & Growth
• Identify and onboard new market partners, including grocery retailers, distributors, brands, and foodservice operators.
• Develop and execute targeted outreach strategies by segment, ensuring growth in key areas (retail, foodservice, distribution, CPG brands).
• Own and optimize sales cycles, from prospecting to closing, ensuring strong partner alignment and value delivery.<br>• Support the expansion of the Responsible Seafood Advisory Board (RSAB) by engaging key corporate and NGO partners.
• Lead partner presentations, pitches, and proposal development, leveraging program marketing and brand materials.

Partner Engagement & Retention
• Support the partner relations manager who is responsible for existing partners, ensuring satisfaction, compliance, and engagement.
• Work collaboratively with marketing to create compelling campaign opportunities that highlight partners' sustainability commitments.
• Support partners in their use of the Ocean Wise eco-label, ensuring appropriate usage and brand alignment.
• Work with internal teams to streamline the partner renewal process, meeting revenue targets through program fee’s and ensuring timely and accurate data submissions.

Marketing & Brand Development
• Work with the marketing team to develop industry-leading materials, case studies, and digital assets to drive engagement.
• Support partner co-branded campaigns, including in-store activations, digital promotions, and ESG storytelling.
• Represent Ocean Wise at key industry events, trade shows, and conferences to build visibility and credibility in the market.

Data, CRM & Program Optimization
• Become the Salesforce lead for the F&S program, ensuring partner data is accurately tracked, managed, and leveraged for insights.
• Monitor pipeline performance, partner engagement trends, and renewal rates, providing data-driven recommendations for improvement.
• Support the development of performance tracking frameworks that tie seafood program activity to measurable conservation outcomes.

What You Bring
• Demonstrated experience at a senior level in business development, sales, or partnerships in a related industry (seafood, grocery, foodservice, sustainability, ESG).
• Entrepreneurial and results-oriented mindset, with a demonstrated ability to manage and grow revenue streams.
• Experience working in B2B relationship management and program sales, with a track record of success in long-term partner engagement.
• Highly organized and process-driven mindset, with experience using Salesforce or other CRM systems to track business development activities.
• Passion for sustainability, ocean conservation, and market-based solutions for environmental impact.
• Comfortability representing Ocean Wise externally, including at industry events, in partner meetings, and in sales presentations.
• Highly collaborative mentality, with the ability to work across teams, including science, marketing, and partnerships.
• Self-motivated and hungry to grow, with a proactive approach to business development and execution.
• Assets:
• Strong network in grocery retail, distribution, or seafood.

How You Will Be Measured
• Number of new grocery retailers, food service operators, distributors or brands onboarded, as well as percentage of partners renewing annually and maintaining compliance.
• Supporting the expansion of the Responsible Seafood Advisory Board.
• Actively completing targeted and creative outreach strategies and activities to ensure market growth and engagement with key partners.
• Working in conjunction with marketing to create compelling campaigns and highlight partner’s sustainability commitments as well as drive engagement.
• Ensuring partners are appropriately using eco-label and aligning with Ocean Wise brand.
• Representing Ocean Wise at key events to building visibility and credibility in the market.
• Ensuring all partner data is accurately tracked in salesforce.

What We Offer
This full-time, benefits-eligible position offers:
• A hybrid working environment, with the opportunity to work in person in our beautiful downtown Vancouver head office
• A competitive base salary, $67,500 – 75,000, in line with market data for not-for-profit organizations
• Benefits coverage on a premium cost-shared basis, including
• Extended health and dental coverage
• Vision coverage
• Group term and supplemental life insurance
• Short-term disability
• Long-term disability
• RRSP matching of up to 6% after one year of service
• 15 paid vacation days to start
• 10 paid sick days,
• 2 wellness days
• 12 paid Statutory and General Holidays each calendar year
• An annual all-staff retreat to allow in-person connections and team building
• Professional development opportunities
• The opportunity to be part of a team that’s helping to save the ocean!

Where and How You’ll Work

This is a hybrid position with the expectation to work in person from our headquarters in downtown Vancouver, 3 days per week. The standard work week for this role is 37.5 hours, Monday through Friday, with rare exceptions for some evening or weekend work.

Who We Are

Ocean Wise is a global conversation organization on a mission to build communities that take meaningful action to protect and restore our ocean.
With a growing network of partners and the upcoming launch of a next-generation Seafood Supply Chain Platform, our Fisheries and Seafood program is evolving into a data-driven, industry-leading solution that provides market partners with business intelligence, brand-building opportunities, and measurable conservation impact.
Learn more about us at ocean.org.

Inclusion and Diversity

At Ocean Wise, we believe that a welcoming and diverse workplace fosters the inclusion of voices that have been historically underrepresented. We encourage applications from individuals belonging to equity-deserving groups and will work with applicants requesting accommodations at any stage of the hiring process.