Commercial Manager

Waitrose & Partners; Bracknell; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 106,000; Full time

Job description

Apply on JLP Jobs - the official careers website for John Lewis Partnership, John Lewis & Partners, and Waitrose & Partners.

At a Glance

• Salary: £65,000-£105,200
• Contract type: This is a permanent position.
• Working pattern/flexible working: The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The team aim for around 2-3 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.
• Location: This role is based at our Bracknell Head Office, with occasional UK based travel to suppliers.
• Interviews: Will be held likely w/c 28th April.

What will you be doing?

As a Commercial Manager, you will be a key member of the Commercial Optimisation team, defining and delivering the supplier strategy framework and tools for Category Proposition Groups (CPGs). You will support the Waitrose strategy on supplier tenders and product category negotiations with linkage to range reviews and provide expert support on managing commodity and other inflationary pressures.

You will business partner the CPG Leadership team and provide senior negotiation support for the key strategic suppliers where relationships are complex due to size and exposure and importance of the supplier. You will continually upskill the capability of Waitrose Commercial through developing new and enhanced negotiation approaches and processes, tools, and techniques.

Internally this is known as a Commercial Manager; however, externally it may be better understood as focused on supplier strategy and cost optimisation.

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Develop complex and cross-category negotiations (e.g. LTA suppliers, dedicated suppliers, cross-category suppliers) in your area of business partnering.
• Business partner the CPG Leadership teams.
• Work closely with Trading Managers, VCA team, and Category Managers in order to leverage significant efficiency opportunities.
• Working with Heads of CPG to develop long-term supplier strategies and optimise ways of working with key suppliers.

Essential skills you’ll need:

• Extensive commercial experience in food and associated non-food retail or food manufacturing/supply.
• Extensive commercial negotiation experience.
• Stakeholder management and influencing.
• Experience of influencing situations which require a high degree of emotional intelligence.
• Advanced analytical and financial understanding.
• Comprehensive understanding of GSCOP and Commercial Law.

We are recruiting for a Commercial Manager, to join the Commercial Optimisation team. 35 hours per week, Mon-Fri.