Head of Sales

Consumer Search; Greater Manchester; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Consumer Search is seeking a Head of Sales UK to build and lead a direct UK business unit within a family-owned confectionery group. You will shape the sales culture, recruit and manage key roles, and execute a strategy to hit ambitious £15–20m UK revenue targets.

Based at home (ideally within 1.5 hours of Manchester), you will drive growth across discount, grocery and own-label, while collaborating with a European MD and the broader group.

Qualifications

• Experience leading UK sales for confectionery or fast-moving consumer goods.
• Proven ability to drive growth from £10m–£12m to £15m–£20m revenue within a defined timeline.
• Reports to European MD and handles a small team including NAM and a Demand & Supply Manager.

Responsibilities

• Shape the UK sales organization and trading rhythm.
• Sell reduced-calorie snacking and growing own-label ranges.
• Expand across discount, grocery and own-label channels with a focus on German discounters.

Skills

Leadership

Sales strategy

P&L management

Channel management

Team development

Job description

Most Head of Sales roles come with a team, a plan and a P&L someone else built.

This one comes with a blank sheet of paper, £10m+ of existing UK business, and a factory that’s been making confectionery for 100 years.

I'm working with a family-owned European confectionery manufacturer. Owned by the same family since the war, group turnover north of £150m, and a €7m new plant and warehouse built three years ago. These are serious people making proper product.

For the last decade they've run the UK through a consultancy. It's worked well enough to get UK sales to £10–12m, but trading's been scattered and reactive. Now they want £15–20m within two years, and they've decided the UK deserves its own directly employed business unit to get there.

That's where you come in. This is the chance to:

• Shape how the UK business runs, from the first hires to the trading rhythm
• Sell a reduced-calorie snacking brand alongside a growing own-label range
• Grow across discount, grocery and own label, with the German discounters a real priority
• Do it inside a family business that’s chosen to invest in the UK, not retreat from it

They want entrepreneurial over the finished article. Someone who'd rather build than inherit, and who’ll roll their sleeves up at the coal face as well as set the direction.

Brass tacks:

• Head of Sales, UK
• Reporting to European MD
• Leading a small team of a NAM and a Customer Demand & Supply Manager
• Home based, [location, e.g. ideally within c1.5 hour of Manchester]
• Package – well I can’t tell you that here, that would be mad as I’m old school and my client values discretion… but we can chat it through on the phone?

PS. I hear a lot of pessimism about the UK as a place to do business. My client book tells a different story.