Client Partner - Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto
At a glance
Mid-level Account Executive role at knit. Remote.
In listing Account Executive salary
growthroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Run a portfolio of food, restaurant and automotive enterprise clients, retaining current business and opening new accounts
- Find growth opportunities across client teams and use cases such as menu testing, product innovation, brand tracking and pricing
- Build account plans around client priorities, stakeholder relationships and areas where Knit can expand its work
- Lead renewals, upsells and cross-sells, negotiating commercial terms with sales leadership
- Coordinate with customer success, research and product teams, and represent Knit at client and industry events
What you bring
- At least seven years in enterprise account management, client partnerships or strategic sales within research and insights
- You have sold to food, restaurant or automotive companies and understand how their insights teams serve innovation, brand and marketing
- You have independently led enterprise client relationships and developed new buying groups within existing accounts
- You have sold six-figure contracts and managed seven-figure enterprise relationships, including complex Fortune 500 accounts
- You have met growth or renewal goals and led negotiations for large contracts
Who this fits
This is a mid-level, consultative sales role for someone who can manage complex enterprise relationships and grow accounts across food and beverage, quick-service restaurant or automotive clients. You will not manage direct reports. The role is remote-first, with priority given to candidates in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle or Philadelphia; travel is needed for customer meetings and industry conferences, along with two in-person company events each year.
From the employer
Who We're Looking For
Role: Client Partner – Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto
Team: Sales
Vertical: Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto
Reports To: Managing Client Partner – Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto
Supervisory Responsibility: This role does not currently have direct reports.
Ideal Start Date: February 1, 2027.
Location: We are a remote-first company but we prioritize candidates in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Boston, Seattle or Philadelphia given the customer requirements of this role. We have office spaces available in all of our hubs.
Travel: This role will travel as needed for in-person customer meetings and industry conferences. Note, Knit does US All Team, in-person company events 2x per year.
A Little About Us...
Knit is the AI-native research agency. We help the world's most iconic brands make confident decisions through deep customer understanding. Knit pairs our AI-native tooling with world-class researchers to run quant and qual at scale - delivering executive, decision-ready insights to inform billion dollar decisions. Teams at Amazon, Mars, T-Mobile, Paramount, McCormick, Nestle, Medtronic and 100+ others trust Knit to bring real customer voices into their biggest decisions.
Knit recently closed its Series B, raising $60M+ to date. Our team of ~80 is US remote friendly, with headquarters in our NYC midtown office. Our team is built with operating talent from Kantar, Ipsos, Deloitte, and unicorn startups.
Come build with us!
Overview
The Client Partner – Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto will play a critical role in driving Knit’s growth in the Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto vertical by managing and expanding our largest enterprise partnerships while also building relationships with new high-potential accounts.
You’ll own a portfolio of 10–20 enterprise accounts across food & beverage, quick-service restaurants (QSR), and automotive (some existing, some new) with the mandate to retain, grow, and strategically expand them across brands, business units, and markets. These are organizations where innovation pipelines, menu and product launches, and brand health decisions carry major investment, and where insights teams need fast, confident customer read-outs. Acting as the commercial quarterback, you’ll lead renewals, upsells, and cross-sells while prospecting into new divisions and organizations to grow your book of business.
You’ll join a team that’s building something category-defining, and you’ll help shape how some of the world’s most respected brands uncover and activate insights through AI-native research.
This is a high-impact, consultative sales role that blends strategic relationship management with commercial ownership. You’ll collaborate closely with Customer Success, Research, and Product to ensure clients are realizing value while uncovering new ways Knit can help them succeed.
Primary Responsibilities
- Own and grow a portfolio of 10–20 enterprise accounts in Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto, including both existing clients and targeted net-new logos.
- Drive renewals and expansion, ensuring every partnership grows in scope, scale, and value year over year.
- Uncover and pursue new opportunities within existing and prospective accounts—identifying new business units, teams, and use cases where Knit’s platform can deliver value, such as concept and menu testing, flavor and product innovation, limited-time-offer (LTO) evaluation, brand tracking, pricing, vehicle feature prioritization, and path-to-purchase research.
Act as a strategic advisor to senior Consumer & Shopper Insights, Innovation, Menu Strategy, Brand, Customer Experience, and Product Planning leaders, helping them expand how they use Knit’s AI-native platform across teams and business challenges.
- Develop and execute account plans that identify whitespace, prioritize client goals, map key stakeholders, and drive consistent revenue growth.
- Lead commercial negotiations—owning renewals, upsells, and cross-sells in collaboration with Sales Leadership
- Collaborate deeply with Customer Success, Research, and Product to ensure clients realize full value from Knit today - and evolve alongside our platform as new capabilities emerge
- Represent Knit externally at Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto conferences, client summits, and industry events, strengthening brand visibility and deepening client relationships.
- Maintain high standards for pipeline integrity, forecasting accuracy, and documentation across every stage of the renewal and expansion process.
What Success Looks Like
You’ll be measured primarily by:
- Net-New Revenue: Securing new enterprise partnerships and expanding Knit’s presence across target Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto accounts.
- Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Expanding overall revenue within your account portfolio through renewals, upsells, and cross-sells
- Renewal Rate: Consistently securing on-time, value-driven renewals.
- Sales Excellence: Managing disciplined account plans, accurate forecasts, and clear collaboration across internal teams.
What You'll Own & Who You Are...
A successful candidate for this role has deep experience managing strategic enterprise accounts in Food & Beverage, QSR & Auto, particularly within the Insights, Analytics, or Marketing ecosystem. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in consultative selling, complex relationship management, and commercial ownership.
Required:
- 7+ years of experience in enterprise account management, client partnerships, or strategic sales in the research and insights industry
- Direct experience selling into and growing accounts at food & beverage manufacturers, QSR/restaurant brands, and/or automotive OEMs, with a working understanding of how insights teams in these industries support Innovation, Brand, and Marketing
- Experience autonomously owning and leading customer relationships and entering new buying centers within existing Enterprise accounts
- We are specifically looking for individuals who have supported clients at Fortune 500 companies, with Insights titles (including but not limited to Chief Research/Insights Officers, VP, director-level and above)
- Experience selling $100K+ contracts to clients at Fortune 500 companies and managing $1M+ Enterprise relationships
- Proven success managing Fortune 500 clients with multi-business-unit complexity.
- Consistent track record of hitting or exceeding growth, renewal, or NRR targets.
- Experience leading commercial negotiations for six- and seven-figure contracts.
- Consultative, discovery-led approach with exceptional listening and problem-solving skills.
- Highly organized, with disciplined pipeline and account management.
- Strong collaboration skills; you are adept at leading cross-functional teams across Customer Success, Research, and Product.
- A builder’s mindset; you are comfortable navigating ambiguity and energized by shaping processes as we scale.
Nice to Haves:
- Experience navigating franchise systems (corporate vs. franchisee stakeholders) or multi-brand food portfolios.
- Familiarity with automotive product planning cycles, dealer/OEM dynamics, or EV and mobility research.
- Background in SaaS, AI, or technology-enabled services that drive strategic business decisions.
- Experience managing global or multi-market client portfolios.
- History of success in high-growth or startup environments where playbooks are still being written.
Perks & Benefits:
Upon joining the Knit team, you will receive:
- Competitive Salary + Commission (for applicable roles)
- Equity Options
- Healthcare (Medical, Dental, and Vision)
- Additional Coverage
- Company Laptop
- One-time Onboarding Technology Stipend
- 401(k) with Company Match
- Flexible Time-Off
- Hybrid Working
- and more...
Our Company Values
We are the Championship Team. This means we:
Are 1% Better Every Day
We approach situations with a growth mindset and ask "How can we make the business better?" and "What would it take?"
Play to Win
We set audacious goals and push ourselves to achieve them with a bias towards action. When we see a need, we take initiative, and hold ourselves accountable to seeing it through.
Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
Identify what has the biggest impact and prioritize focusing on it.
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