Sales Manager-Japanese Bilingual

Location: Houston, TX

Compensation: $75,000–$85,000 annually

Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM

Employment Type: Full-Time, Onsite/Field-Based (approximately 50% customer visits)

Japanese language ability required – Professional/business-level Japanese proficiency is required

Position Summary

Lead the sales team to achieve revenue goals, strengthen customer relationships, and maximize profitability. This role oversees sales strategy, staff performance, account development, collections, and market activities. Professional Japanese proficiency is required to support Japanese-language business and customer communications.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish monthly and annual sales quotas and lead the team toward department targets.
• Analyze sales results and develop corrective plans for performance gaps.
• Coach sales staff on account strategy, organization, customer service, proposals, negotiations, marketing plans, and closing.
• Coordinate with purchasing on product forecasts, shortages, and limited-availability inventory.
• Oversee timely customer payment collection.
• Research market trends and attend trade shows.
• Resolve product issues and customer complaints.
• Recruit, hire, train, coach, and evaluate sales staff.
• Manage daily workflow and ensure compliance with company policies.
• Lead weekly sales meetings.
• Participate in semiannual inventory counts, including possible weekends.
• Visit customers, restaurants, wholesalers, and distributors regularly.
• Safely operate a company vehicle and attend business events outside regular hours.

Qualifications

Required:

• Professional/business-level Japanese proficiency (read/write/speak/listen) for job-related customer and business communication.
• 3+ years of sales experience in the Japanese food industry.
• 1+ year of managerial experience.
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Knowledge of Japanese foods, fresh fish, seafood, and alcoholic beverage products.
• Valid driver's license and clean driving record.
• Strong leadership, coaching, customer service, communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Basic Microsoft Office and intermediate business math skills, including margins, markups, discounts, measurements, and inventory calculations.
• Ability to work weekends, holidays, and after-hours when required.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree in business or related field.
• Professional/business-level English proficiency.
• Microsoft Business Central, SAP, or other ERP system experience.