Director of Commerce

Job description

Location: Long Island City, Queens Schedule: Core Hours Tuesday - Sunday 12:00PM - 8:00 PM (Because revenue peaks in evenings and on weekends, your actual hours will flex based on business needs, live show events, and peak traffic periods. Expect to work an average of 50-60 hours per week. You’ll have flexibility into your weekly schedule, but are expected to be present when your channels are busiest and your attention is required.) Reports to: CEO Base Salary: $150,000 - $250,000 per annum This role is compensated with a fixed base salary. Compensation within the band is determined by demonstrated experience, scope of responsibility, and ability to operate with full ownership in a high-intensity environment. Performance bonus eligibility may be evaluated after six months in the role, based on demonstrated performance and business needs. Equity is not a part of our current compensation structure. Role Overview We're hiring a Director of Sales to own revenue and margin across every channel where we sell directly to consumers. Our DTC marketplaces include TCGplayer, our webstore, and more. Live commerce includes Whatnot, TikTok Live, and physical retail (our NYC flagship and future stores). This is a builder's role, not a caretaker's. You'll inherit a fast-growing, founder-led business with real momentum, imperfect data, and a lot of whitespace. Your job is to turn that into a documented, measurable revenue machine, a live show calendar that hums, a sales team that hits its numbers, a retail floor that converts, and a dashboard the whole company can run off of. If you've ever wanted to own a multi-channel P&L and actually build the system end-to-end instead of just inheriting one, this is that role for you! Who is this role for This role is for an operator who has already built a multi-channel DTC revenue function from a low-structure starting point, and wants to do it again, with more scale, in a category they're excited about. You probably: Have owned revenue and margin across at least two of: marketplaces (TCGplayer, Amazon, eBay), live commerce (Whatnot, TikTok Live), and retail / shop-floor environments. Have personally taken a sales or revenue function from "vibes and spreadsheets" to a documented system with a team, a cadence, and a dashboard. Talk and think like an owner, in P&L, payback, inventory turn, sell-through, not just in topline GMV. Get genuinely fired up about trading cards, collectibles, live commerce, or the broader hobby and creator economy. Have thrived in messy, founder-led, high-growth environments and prefer that to a polished corporate seat. Time and intensity expectations This is a high-ownership, high-intensity role. We move fast, we operate in public (live shows, retail floor, marketplace listings), and revenue happens nights and weekends as much as weekdays. Expect to be on-site at our NYC flagship and live studio regularly. This is not a remote role. Live commerce peaks in the evenings and on weekends. You'll be present for key shows, drops, and retail peak periods, and you'll structure your week around revenue, not around a standard 9 to 5. You should be comfortable being on the hook for a number every week, every month, every quarter, and being public about it. You'll be hands-on for the first 6–12 months. That means hosting shows when needed, jumping on the retail floor, building scrappy reports yourself, and troubleshooting listings before you have a team to delegate to. What you will actually do Own revenue and margin across every DTC channel Full P&L ownership across DTC marketplaces, live selling channels, and the retail store, including growth targets, pricing guardrails, channel strategy, and the call on which channels to double down on versus sunset. Own the live selling machine Treat every stream and major drop as a live sales event. Set the show calendar and cadence, design show formats, and optimize the metrics that matter: GMV per hour, sell-through rate, AOV, and repeat buyer rate across Whatnot, TikTok, and whatever comes next. Own sales team performance, live stream hosts, traditional ecommerce sales, and the retail floor Build, coach, and manage the on-camera hosts and the in-store sales team. Set scripts and standards. Make sure your top performers consistently cover the highest-value shows and peak retail traffic. Own merchandising and promo strategy Decide what products, bundles, bounties, mystery formats, and in-store promos go on which platform and when. Work in lockstep with buying and inventory to drive both cash flow and inventory turn, without giving away margin. Own sales data, reporting, and the feedback loop into the rest of the business Define and maintain the core sales dashboards for DTC, live, and retail. Translate those numbers into clear recommendations for buying (what to order more of), ops (where to staff up), finance (what to forecast), and the founder (what to bet on next). Within the first 90 days, the Director of Sales is expected to: Ship a single weekly sales dashboard showing revenue by channel (Whatnot, TikTok, TCGplayer, webstore, NYC retail) using whatever data is available today, no waiting for a perfect data stack. Establish a baseline for revenue per live hour and repeat buyer rate by platform, so we know what we're improving against. Stand up a weekly revenue review meeting using that dashboard, where programming, staffing, and promo decisions actually get made. Audit the current live show calendar, hosts, and retail staffing, and come back with a concrete plan for what to keep, kill, and test in the next quarter. Identify the first 2–3 hires (or internal promotions) needed to cover key live selling hours and peak retail shifts. How you will be measured In the first 12 months, success looks like: Reporting cadence in place: By month 6, at least 95% of live shows, marketplace events, and retail days are logged, and the weekly revenue review is happening every week. Live commerce program leveled up: A consistent weekly schedule of live selling hours, with measurable improvement in revenue per live hour and repeat buyer rate versus the day-one baseline. NYC flagship launched and ramping: Store launches with tracking for daily revenue, traffic, conversion, and AOV in place. By month 9, a stable monthly revenue run rate with clear improvement in conversion and AOV versus the first full month. Team built and stabilized: By month 6, core hires for live and retail are made and ramped. By month 12, at least 80% of live selling hours and peak retail shifts are covered by core team members, hitting defined productivity standards (revenue per hour for hosts; revenue per labor hour and add-on rate for retail). Revenue growth with margin discipline: Year-over-year revenue growth across DTC marketplaces, live commerce, and retail, while staying inside agreed discount and margin guardrails. Channel revenue targets were hit or exceeded in the majority of months. Why this role may not be a fit You want a strategy seat where someone else executes. The first year of this job is roughly 70% execution, 30% strategy. You need clean data, mature systems, and a fully staffed team on day one. You'll be building those. You're uncomfortable being on camera, on the retail floor, or visibly accountable for a number. You prefer steady, predictable hours over revenue-driven hours. Live commerce and retail don't run on a 9-to-5. You tend to explain misses with "the market," "the platform," or "ops." We're looking for someone whose default is "the result is my responsibility." Why this role matters We sit at the intersection of three of the most interesting consumer shifts of the decade: the explosion of trading cards and collectibles, the rise of live commerce as a primary buying channel, and the return of experiential physical retail for community-driven categories. Most companies are playing in one of those lanes. We're playing in all three at once, marketplaces, live, and a flagship store with the same inventory, the same customers, and the same brand. The leverage when those three channels reinforce each other (a customer discovers us on Whatnot, buys on TCGplayer, walks into the NYC store on a Saturday) is enormous. But that leverage only shows up if someone owns the system end-to-end. The Director of Sales is the person who decides what we sell, where we sell it, who sells it, and how we measure whether it's working. Get this right, and we don't just grow, we build a category-defining DTC and retail business. Get it wrong, and we're three disconnected channels competing with each other for inventory. Qualifications Brings 7–12 years of experience in sales, including at least 3 years in a director‑level or senior sales leadership role. Proven builder in messy environments. You've personally taken a sales or revenue function from low structure and limited data to a documented, measurable system, team, process, and dashboards. You built it; you didn't just inherit it. High ownership and accountability. You're comfortable being on the hook for clear revenue and margin targets, you track your own numbers openly, and your default is "the result is my responsibility." Relentless executor, not a strategy-only leader. You'll host shows, jump on the retail floor, build scrappy reports, and troubleshoot listings when that's what the number requires. No work is beneath you if it moves revenue. Data-driven, test-and-learn operator. You can build usable reports from imperfect data, run real experiments on cadence, hosts, offers, and pricing, measure impact, and kill what doesn't work. Team builder and performance coach. You've hired, trained, and managed sales, host, or retail teams. You set standards, inspect activity and results, rank performance, and have the hard conversations to raise the bar. Relevant multi-channel DTC experience. You've owned revenue across at least two of: marketplaces (TCGplayer, Amazon, eBay), live commerce (Whatnot, TikTok Live), and retail or shop-floor environments. You understand how channel differences change pricing, promos, and staffing. Bonus if you have Live commerce or creator/streamer background. Trading cards, collectibles, or hobby retail experience. Track record scaling marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, TCGplayer, etc.). Opened or scaled at least one retail store. Comfortable with self-serve analytics tools (Looker, Metabase, Mode, etc.). Prior experience inside a fast-growing, founder-led business. Benefits: Health Insurance Dental & Vision Coverage Paid time off 401k Employee Discounts Gym Membership Reimbursements EEO/AAP Statement: Gamer’s Choice is an equal opportunity employer. We acknowledge and honor the fundamental value and dignity of all individuals. We pledge ourselves to crafting and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences. Gamer’s Choice is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. The above-noted job description is not intended to describe, in detail, the multitude of tasks that may be assigned, but rather to give the applicant a general sense of the responsibilities and expectations of this position. As the nature of business demands change, so, too, may the essential functions of the position. Gamer’s Choice is a team of passionate gamers, creators, and innovators based in Queens, New York. What began as a small local shop has grown into one of the leading destinations for Trading Card Game players and collectors around the world. We’re driven by a shared love for gaming and community, offering both an engaging online experience and a vibrant in-store atmosphere. Our mission is to be the ultimate home for fans to connect, compete, and celebrate the games they love. While Yu-Gi-Oh! has always been our foundation, we’re expanding into exciting new titles like Pokémon, One Piece, Riftbound League of Legends, and Disney Lorcana. Our Long Island City store serves as the heart of our community, hosting tournaments, events, and gatherings that bring players together both in person and online.