Recess is one of the fastest-growing functional beverage brands in the United States. The company is now hiring a Director of National Accounts based in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area, with a compensation range of $175,000 to $200,000 plus an incentive bonus plan. For sales professionals with deep retail experience, this role sits at a genuinely interesting crossroads of culture, wellness, and high-stakes commercial strategy.
What Recess Is as a Company
Recess was founded on a clear and simple idea. People want to feel calm, balanced, and inspired, and what they drink should support that. The brand built its identity around functional beverages, specifically sparkling waters infused with magnesium and adaptogens, plus a craft mocktail line designed for social occasions.
The company has grown quickly into a lifestyle brand. It connects with consumers through bold design, authentic storytelling, and a wellness-first product philosophy. Recess is not just selling drinks. It is building a cultural identity around how modern consumers think about what they put in their bodies.
That brand clarity shapes everything internally. Employees join knowing the company has a strong point of view. That alignment between product mission and company culture is something current team members frequently describe as energizing.
The Work Environment at Recess
Recess operates with a small, scrappy team mentality. Leadership openly describes the company as punching above its weight. That phrase tells you a lot about the internal culture. People here do more with less, move fast, and take real ownership of outcomes.
This is not a corporate environment with layers of approval processes. Decisions get made quickly. Accountability is high, and so is visibility. When you deliver results at Recess, leadership notices.
The work schedule follows standard business hours, with flexibility built in for travel and retail execution needs. That flexibility matters in a national accounts role, where building relationships at the headquarter level requires showing up where and when it counts.
The Director National Accounts Role Explained
The Sr. Director of National Accounts at Recess carries a significant commercial mandate. The role focuses on leading headquarter-level relationships with two of the biggest grocery retailers in the country: Kroger and Albertsons. These are not small accounts. They represent enormous distribution potential for a brand in growth mode.
The position covers both sales strategy and hands-on execution. You will manage divisional planning for each account while driving profitable growth across the portfolio. Recess is actively expanding into national retail, including a major push into Target and more than 5,000 new doors for its Mood and Craft Mocktail lines.
That expansion context makes this role especially consequential. The person stepping into this seat will help determine how fast and how well that growth happens.
Team Structure and Collaboration
Recess operates as a lean organization. That means the Director of National Accounts works closely with cross-functional partners across marketing, supply chain, and finance. There are no deep layers separating sales from strategy at a company this size.
You will report upward to senior leadership while also managing key external relationships at retail headquarters. The role demands strong communication in both directions. Internally, you translate customer needs into actionable plans. Externally, you represent Recess with authority and credibility.
The team culture rewards people who can operate independently but also know when to bring others in. Collaboration at Recess is not performative. It is practical and fast-paced.
Company Culture at Recess
Creativity and culture sit at the foundation of how Recess was built. That is not just a tagline. The brand's visual identity, product design, and marketing voice all reflect a deliberate creative sensibility. Employees who thrive here tend to care about craft, not just commerce.
The company attracts people who are drawn to mission-driven work. Functional beverages and the better-for-you category are growing rapidly, and Recess is a visible leader in that space. Working here comes with a sense of being part of something culturally relevant.
At the same time, Recess is realistic about what it is. It is a scaling startup, not a Fortune 500 company. The culture reflects that. Speed, grit, and adaptability are valued just as much as strategic thinking.
Growth Opportunities in This Role
The growth ceiling at Recess is genuinely high for someone in this position. The company is in an active expansion phase. More than 5,000 new retail doors are in the pipeline. Distribution partnerships are growing. The product portfolio is diversifying into new consumer occasions.
A Director of National Accounts who performs well at this stage of the company's growth will build a track record that carries serious weight. Kroger and Albertsons are career-defining accounts to manage. Success here is the kind of experience that opens doors across the food and beverage industry.
Beyond external credibility, Recess itself is the kind of company where early contributors grow with the business. As the team expands, leadership roles become available. People who prove themselves at this stage often find themselves with broader mandates.
Work-Life Balance at Recess
The role operates on standard business hours, which provides a stable baseline. However, the nature of national accounts work means travel is part of the job. Retail execution needs, customer meetings, and divisional planning sessions require presence beyond the home office.
Recess acknowledges this directly in the job description by building flexibility into the schedule. The company does not pretend travel is minimal. It is a real part of the role, and the compensation reflects that reality at up to $200,000 base salary plus incentive bonuses.
For experienced sales leaders accustomed to retail accounts, this balance is familiar territory. The key advantage at Recess is that the team is small enough that unnecessary meetings and bureaucratic friction stay low. Time is generally spent on work that moves the needle.
Who Fits This Role Well
Recess is looking for someone who can hold two things at once. You need to be a strategic thinker capable of building multi-year account plans. You also need to be hands-on enough to execute at the divisional level without waiting for direction.
Strong candidates bring experience with major grocery retailers, particularly Kroger or Albertsons. Familiarity with headquarter-level sales calls is essential. An understanding of the better-for-you beverage category would give any candidate a meaningful edge in this hiring process.
Beyond hard skills, the culture fit matters. People who thrive at Recess are comfortable with ambiguity, energized by fast growth, and genuinely aligned with the brand's wellness mission. This is not a role for someone looking for a predictable, process-heavy environment.
Compensation and Location
The salary range of $175,000 to $200,000 positions this role competitively within national accounts leadership in consumer packaged goods. The additional incentive plan bonus creates meaningful upside tied to performance. For a senior sales leader, the total compensation package reflects both the seniority of the role and the expectations that come with it.
The position is based in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area, a region with strong ties to the consumer goods industry. The location puts the right candidate close to major retail ecosystems and distribution infrastructure that matters for a role of this scope.
Candidates interested in applying for the Director of National Accounts role at Recess can find the full listing and submit an application at remoteOK.com.
