Head of Insight and Foresight Consulting

Institute of Grocery Distribution; Watford; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) seeks a Head of Insight & Foresight Consulting to drive revenue, profitability and build a world-class team of consultants. You will lead IGD’s largest engagements, shape strategy and ensure commercially valuable outcomes for major retail and FMCG clients.

You will own the consulting pipeline, develop opportunities, and oversee proposals, pricing and scoping while guiding a high-performing practice in a demanding market.

Qualifications

• Proven track record selling and closing consulting or advisory engagements.
• Experience leading senior consulting engagements in UK retail, FMCG or foodservice.
• Experience managing consultants and raising team standards.
• Operational control of live engagements: scoping, resourcing and profitability.

Responsibilities

• Deliver and lead IGD’s largest, most complex engagements with senior stakeholders.
• Lead client meetings and workshops with a clear point of view.
• Set standard for project structure, thinking and recommendations that are practical and valuable.
• Review work early, spot issues, and unblock projects or relationships.
• Own scope, resourcing and profitability of the consulting practice.

Skills

Sales & proposals

Senior engagements

Team management

Project profitability

Senior workshops

Job description

At IGD, we’re proud to be a Great Place to Work, where our people are empowered to grow, inspired to lead and ready to make a difference. At the heart of that experience is how we attract, welcome, and support new colleagues to join us.

That’s where you come in.

We’re looking for a Head of Insight & Foresight Consulting who will drive revenue, profitability and build a world class team of consultants.

What you’ll do

Delivery and client leadership

Accountable for the quality, commercial value and profitability of every Insights & Foresight consulting engagement.

• Lead IGD’s largest and most complex engagements, especially where briefs are ambiguous or senior stakeholders are involved
• Lead senior client meetings and workshops with a clear point of view, challenging where evidence supports it
• Set the standard for project structure, thinking and recommendations that are commercial, practical and useful
• Review work early, spot issues before clients do and step in when projects or relationships need unblocking
• Own scope, resourcing and profitability, ensuring the practice sells what it can deliver

Business development

Owns the Insights & Foresight consulting pipeline and revenue number, working with the Director of Consulting, new business and client success.

• Generate opportunities by understanding client challenges and spotting where IGD can help
• Turn conversations into projects by shaping the approach, bringing in expertise and writing strong proposals
• Own proposals,
  scope and pricing, including £50k+ bids
• Keep the pipeline moving and build upsell opportunities into delivered engagements
  • Help new business and client success teams sell consulting clearly and confidently across IGD

  Team and practice

  Leads the Insights & Foresight consulting team and builds its commercial and consulting capability.

  • Lead and develop the team, improving utilisation, performance, commercial confidence and client impact
  • Provide accurate resourcing, forecast and project profitability inputs to the Director of Consulting's practice review
  • Turn recurring client needs into clear, repeatable propositions with a buyer, price and business case
  • Connect retail knowledge, insight, data, learning and expertise around client problems

  What we’re looking for

  You’ll be client-facing, commercial and curious, with strong consulting judgement. You’ll know how to ask the right questions, build credibility and bring the right expertise together around a client problem.

  Essential

  • Proven success selling and closing consulting or advisory work, including shaping and pricing proposals
  • Experience leading senior consulting engagements in or around UK retail, FMCG or foodservice
  • Experience managing consultants and raising team standards
  • Operational grip on live engagements: scoping, resourcing and project profitability
  • Comfortable leading senior workshops and challenging clients with a point of view

  Strongly preferred

  • Experience creating, pricing, launching and repeatedly selling a proposition
  • Experience working across a matrix organisation to bring insight, data and expertise together
  • Credibility with retail category, commercial or supply chain leaders