Wholesale Director

About nuuds

Most clothes make you think twice. nuuds makes getting dressed easy, so you can walk out the door with confidence. We design clothes for real life and real bodies, through every stage, every season, every version of you. We obsess over fabric, fit, and feel so that getting dressed stops being a decision and becomes the easiest part of your day. nuuds is approachable, elevated essentials made to meet you exactly where you are.

We're growing fast and building a team that's as thoughtful, real, and bold as the brand itself. As a lean team with ambitious plans for continued growth, we understand that our people are the foundation of everything we build.

The Opportunity

The Wholesale Director will lead nuuds’ next chapter of wholesale growth, starting from a position of real strength: an established relationship with Nordstrom, one of the most respected names in retail. This is a rare opportunity to take a proven relationship and build on it — growing nuuds’ footprint within Nordstrom while building out the wholesale pipeline that will define what’s next: additional premium boutiques, and the next major retail partner.

This is a high-ownership, foundational role: you will drive the Nordstrom relationship, bring forecasting and sell-through discipline to the account, and own the operational excellence — EDI, compliance, fulfillment — that keeps a wholesale business running cleanly behind the scenes.

As wholesale scales, so does this role. You’ll start as a hands-on, department-of-one owner and grow into a team lead, with a Wholesale Operations Specialist eventually joining to take on day-to-day compliance and fulfillment execution — freeing you to focus on strategy, relationships, and expansion.

You’ll partner closely with the VP of Merchandising on milestone management, assortment and line planning, and translating merchandising strategy into a wholesale channel built to scale.

Key Responsibilities

Account Leadership & Buyer Relationship

Serve as nuuds’ primary point of contact for the Nordstrom buying team, deepening a relationship that has already earned real traction with one of retail’s top department stores.

Own, in collaboration with Planning and Merchandising, the wholesale revenue P&L, volume forecasting, and margin targets for current and future accounts 

Negotiate allowances, markdowns, and financial terms with buyers to maximize profitability while protecting brand margin.

Partner with retail partners on visual merchandising execution, product training, and in-store presentation strategies. 

Represent nuuds at market weeks and buyer appointments, presenting the seasonal line and negotiating placement.

Build nuuds’ brand equity directly with the Nordstrom buying team as a dedicated, in-house advocate.

New Business Development

Build and execute a pipeline of new wholesale accounts — premium boutiques and additional major or digital retailers — using the Nordstrom relationship as social proof.

Own prospecting, pitching, and onboarding for every new account, start to finish.

Evaluate new account opportunities for brand fit, margin, and operational feasibility before bringing them to leadership.

Wholesale Operations & Compliance

Own end-to-end EDI transmissions (850 POs, 856 ASNs, 810 invoices) and item setup, imagery, and attribute matching within retailer portals.

Track the PO lifecycle against production and shipping windows to avoid routing-guide violations and the chargebacks that follow.

Review and escalate chargeback and deduction disputes. - elaborated with more detail and creating a process

Work cross-functionally to adapt the DTC pipeline calendar, aligning design, merchandising, sampling, and production milestones to address wholesale needs.

Cross-Functional Partnership

Partner with VP of Merchandising on assortment and line planning so the wholesale buy reflects account-specific performance and opportunity.

Coordinate with production and operations to confirm capacity, lead times, and shipping compliance ahead of key retail windows.

Flag account or compliance risk early, with a recommended path forward, rather than after it affects margin.

Reporting & Analysis

Own recurring wholesale performance reporting — sell-through, reorder health, chargeback trends — for leadership

Translate account and portal data into clear recommendations: reorder candidates, at-risk styles, and new-door opportunities.

What You Bring

Required Experience & Skills

7+ years in wholesale sales and/or account management within apparel, with direct department-store or major-retailer experience — Nordstrom experience strongly preferred.

Hands-on EDI and retailer-portal experience; comfortable personally owning data entry and compliance work, not delegating it, for at least the first 6–12 months.

A full-cycle sales background — you’ve owned a relationship from cold outreach through a closed, onboarded account, not just managed existing business.

Existing relationships with department-store or premium-boutique buyers a plus.

Able to travel as needed

Leadership & Personal Qualities

Inclusive Leadership: You actively create environments where everyone belongs (core value: "You Can Sit with Us")

Customer-Centric Mindset: You understand that great employee experiences create great customer experiences (core value: "Don't %#@! The Customer")

Integrity-First: You choose transparency and fairness over convenience (core value: "Do the Right Thing - Even When It Sucks")

Excellence Pursuit: You're committed to building best-in-class people practices (core value: "Somebody Has to Be the Best")

Action-Oriented: You bring solutions and move initiatives forward (core value: "Forward, Always Forward")

Data-Driven: You use metrics to guide people decisions without emotional attachment (core value: "Success & Failure Are Not Emotional")

Communication & Relationship Skills

Confident, credible presence with retail buyers and senior stakeholders — this person represents nuuds directly to Nordstrom.

Excellent written and verbal communication; able to translate account performance into clear recommendations for leadership.

Comfortable operating without a team initially, escalating appropriately as scope grows.

Industry Knowledge (Preferred)

Experience in fashion, apparel, or consumer brands, particularly wholesale or department-store channels.

Familiarity with EDI systems such as SPS Commerce or similar.