Commercial Director

🟣 Commercial Director: Retail

🟣 Location: North- 3 Days Office Based

🟣 Scope: Leadership and Customer Strategy

🟣 Remuneration: Six Figures + Executive Benefits

The Business

Our client is one of the UK's leading private-label food manufacturers and part of a major international food group with substantial scale, resources and long-term investment capability.

Across its core categories, the business holds significant positions with many of the UK's largest grocery retailers. Yet the opportunity ahead is considerably bigger than the business of today.

The strategy is ambitious.

Over the next three to five years, the organisation intends to accelerate growth across its established categories while developing new products, new capabilities and new revenue streams. Significant investment is already being directed towards innovation, manufacturing capability, category insight and commercial excellence to make that ambition a reality.

At the centre of this strategy sits a £250m+ commercial portfolio and some of the most strategically important retailer relationships within the group. They now need an exceptional commercial leader to take ownership of it.

This is not simply about protecting what already exists.

It is about building what comes next.

The Opportunity

As Commercial Director- Retail, you will assume commercial leadership of a substantial £250m+ P&L, taking responsibility for major UK Grocery partnerships and a significant multi-category portfolio. The scale is substantial. So is the mandate.

You will be expected to lead today's performance while simultaneously creating the commercial blueprint for the next phase of growth. That means protecting and developing strategically important customer partnerships, driving sales and EBIT performance, identifying future growth platforms, influencing innovation and investment, and ensuring the organisation continues to evolve ahead of both its customers and competitors.

You will lead a high-calibre Commercial Team, but your influence will extend far beyond Sales. Working across Category, Innovation, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance and the wider Executive Leadership Team, you will help determine where the business competes, where it invests and how it wins.

Externally, you will operate at the most senior levels within UK Grocery, developing relationships that move beyond traditional supplier negotiations towards genuine strategic partnerships.

Internally, you will be a major voice in shaping the future direction of the business.

This is commercial leadership in its broadest sense.

The Mandate

• Take full commercial leadership of a £250m+ customer portfolio with significant responsibility for sales, margin, EBIT and long-term value creation
• Develop and execute the commercial strategy across major UK Grocery customers and multiple product categories
• Create a compelling three to five-year growth roadmap while maintaining absolute focus on current-year delivery
• Lead, inspire and develop a high-performing Commercial Team, raising capability, accountability and customer impact
• Build executive-level retailer relationships and establish the business as an indispensable strategic partner to its customers
• Lead complex customer negotiations, ensuring sustainable value creation rather than growth at any cost
• Drive a commercial change agenda, challenging established thinking and embedding sharper, more progressive ways of working
• Partner with Category and Insight to identify emerging consumer needs, category opportunities and future growth platforms
• Influence the innovation agenda, ensuring NPD is commercially relevant, customer-led and capable of creating meaningful incremental growth
• Work alongside Operations and Supply Chain to ensure commercial ambition is supported by outstanding execution and operational capability
• Influence major investment decisions, ensuring capital and resources are deployed behind the strongest long-term opportunities
• Lead the identification and conversion of new business opportunities while continuing to develop the substantial existing customer base
• Act as a senior commercial voice across the Executive Leadership Team, contributing well beyond the boundaries of the traditional Sales function
• Build the organisational capability, succession and talent required to support the next generation of growth

Why Apply?

✔️ Huge commercial ownership- Take responsibility for a portfolio of genuine scale and strategic importance

✔️ A true Commercial Director mandate- Influence Customer, Category, Innovation, Operations, Investment and long-term business strategy

✔️ Executive-level influence- Operate alongside senior leadership and directly shape where the business invests and grows

✔️ Major Grocery exposure- Lead some of the organisation's most strategically important UK retailer partnerships

✔️ Transformation as well as delivery- Inherit substantial scale, but with a clear mandate to challenge, evolve and build

✔️ Innovation and investment- Join at a point when significant resources are being committed to future categories, capabilities and growth

✔️ International group backing- Combine the resources and resilience of a major food organisation with significant influence within the UK operation

✔️ Exceptional career platform- A role of this breadth and scale creates a credible pathway towards broader Commercial Leadership, General Management and ultimately MD opportunities

Candidate Profile

We are looking for an outstanding commercial leader with significant experience within UK Food Manufacturing and major Grocery Retail. You could currently be operating as a Commercial Director, Sales Director, Business Unit Director or Head of Sales.

For the right high-performing BUD or Head of Sales, this could represent a substantial career step. For an established Commercial or Sales Director, it provides the opportunity to take ownership of a significantly larger commercial platform.

You will ideally bring:

• Significant experience within chilled, short shelf-life, private-label or similarly complex food categories
• Leadership of major UK Grocery retailer relationships at senior level
• Experience managing a substantial P&L with clear accountability for sales, margin and profit
• A track record of developing and executing multi-year customer and commercial strategies
• Strong leadership credentials with experience building, coaching and elevating high-performing commercial teams
• The ability to operate comfortably across Customer, Category, Innovation, Operations, Supply Chain and Finance
• Exceptional commercial judgement and the ability to balance customer ambition with sustainable business returns
• Experience influencing at Executive or Board level within a substantial food organisation
• The intellectual agility to move between today's trading challenges and a five-year strategic horizon
• A strong, grounded leadership style combining ambition, accountability and collaboration

Above all, you will need to be excited by scale, transformation and responsibility. This is an opportunity to take control of a significant commercial portfolio, lead some of the most important customer relationships in UK Grocery and help shape the future direction of a major food business.

For the right commercial leader, it could be a defining career move.