Commercial Desk Lead

GDS Group; West of England; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

GDS Group is expanding and seeks a Commercial Desk Lead to own pricing, inventory control and contracting for Summit and MTB inventory from Bristol HQ. You will implement GTM rules, protect price integrity and relieve sellers of non-core approvals.

You will manage rate cards, discount policies, weekly yield reviews and complex contracts across partnerships, ensuring bookable deals and accurate CRM data to drive revenue.

Qualifications

• Deep experience in pricing governance and rate card management.
• Strong experience managing inventory records and weekly reviews.
• Proven track record reviewing deals and complex contracts.
• Collaborative, decisive team player working with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Prepare rate cards and discount policies for GTM Council approval and implement them.
• Own the inventory record for Summit packages, upgrades and slots; run allocation.
• Run weekly yield and inventory reviews with actions to optimise performance.
• Approve non-standard deals within policy; escalate out-of-policy items as needed.
• Maintain CRM product catalogue and price book; ensure accurate data in reports.
• Report sell-through, yield, discounts and approval times in data packs.

Skills

Pricing governance

Inventory management

Contract approvals

Stakeholder management

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

GDS Group is a global digital events company dedicated to helping clients meet the challenges posed by a fast-moving, digitally disruptive business environment.

Due to a period of significant growth, we are looking to hire Commercial Desk Lead to join our Operational Services team. The Commercial Desk Lead is the single accountable owner for how GDS prices, allocates and contracts Summit and MTB inventory. You run the rules the GTM Council sets, protect price integrity, and take approvals and inventory administration off sellers so they can sell.

Core Responsibilities

Pricing (rate cards and discount policy)

• Prepare rate cards by package tier, upgrade options, discount thresholds, release calendar, and renewal and onsite pricing rules for GTM Council approval; then run them.
• Hold discount authority within policy and stop late discounting becoming the default way to close.
• Analyse price realisation, yield and sell-through by summit, constellation and tier, and recommend changes to the Council.

Inventory and yield

• Own the inventory record for all 51 summits: every package, upgrade and slot, held, sold or available.
• Run the allocation order for each summit: partnership commitments first, renewals under first right of refusal next, premium tiers to selected partners, then open sale against the sell-through curve. Con
• Set and enforce hold rules: holds expire, and next-edition inventory is held for renewing sponsors.
• Run the weekly Summit yield and inventory review: sell-through against the curve, expiring holds, premium allocation and at-risk summits, with recommended actions (reprice, redeploy sellers, repackage or consolidate).
• Match sponsor commitments to audience supply with Audience Acquisition, and plan MTB bundles jointly with the MTB Programme Office.
• Approve non-standard deals within policy: multi-summit and multi-constellation partnerships, Summit–MTB programmes, multi-edition commitments and custom audience or meeting commitments. Escalate what falls outside policy to the Council.
• With Legal and Finance, own standard terms for audience commitments, make-goods, cancellation, transfers and multi-edition contracts.
• Make every closed deal bookable: correct package, price, credit split and CRM data, so revenue counts at the realised price.
• Apply credit rules for deals that span constellations: account owner credit and yield credit to each Constellation Lead for the inventory used.

Systems and data

• Own the CRM product catalogue and price book, rebuilt once alongside the account-ownership and inventory changes.
• Keep pricing, discount, allocation and deal desk policies written, versioned and published.
• Report sell-through, yield, discounting and approval times into the GTM Council data pack.

Decides

• Deal approvals and discounts within policy.
• Hold, release and expiry of inventory within the allocation rules.
• Whether a deal is bookable.

About you

• Possess deep experience in pricing governance, rate card management and protecting price integrity by enforcing discount policies and stopping late discounting
• Strong experience managing inventory records and driving weekly reviews to track sell-through against curves and identify risks.
• Record of reviewing and approving deals, multi-event partnership and complex contracts
• Thrive in collaborate working environments with sales, finance, acquisition and programme teams
• Proficient with CRM systems, price books and generating detailed data packs reporting sales and discount metrics
• Decisive, accountable and able to manage senior stakeholders
• Available to work full time at our Bristol HQ