Head of Supplier Management & Retail Media Waitrose

About the role

The Head of Supplier Management & Retail Media role is pivotal in strategically leading and optimising the supply base and retail media business within Waitrose. Through strong leadership of the Commercial Management and Value Chain Analysis (VCA) teams, and by working in collaboration with Trading leadership, you will be responsible for driving value from supplier relationships, setting effective supplier strategies and leading cost optimisation programs. As the Head of Supplier Management & Retail Media you'll also be accountable for the Waitrose Retail Media & Supplier Insights business. This involves leading the Retail Media Sales team to generate revenue, cultivate strong client relationships (both with suppliers and beyond), and work in tandem with Customer teams across Waitrose and John Lewis. While Waitrose has an established Retail Media business, there are ambitious growth and transformation targets to achieve.

• Salary - £123,500- £185,300 per annum.

• Contract type - This position is a Permanent contract.

• 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.

• Location - This role is based at our Bracknell Head Office with an expectation to travel to other locations including suppliers and shops as required.

Key responsibilities

The purpose of this role is to optimise the value chain, enhance supplier relationships, and contribute to the overall commercial success of Waitrose. This will involve:

• You will work with the Trading Director, Heads of Category Proposition Groups, Commercial Managers and VCA Leads to develop an ambitious supplier strategy and cost optimisation roadmap that is aligned to Waitrose overall strategic, financial and ethics & sustainability objectives. Under your leadership the Commercial Management/VCA team will work collaboratively to ensure the successful delivery of these plans.

• You will set the longer term development of frameworks and toolkits to support the trading teams in delivering best practice negotiations, VCAs and tenders.

• Accountable for the P&L for retail media within Waitrose, driving 40% growth over the next 3 years. This includes both our retail media assets and supplier insight solutions.

• Accountable for the Retail Media sales strategy and delivery, creating alignment with the Commercial trading teams and across the broader John Lewis Partnership matrix SMEs from Commercial, Customer & Online to one growth plan.

• Influence senior stakeholders and work collaboratively across the business at all levels to deliver the supplier strategy and value chain roadmap - which involves both new approaches to unlocking value and rigorous follow up and constructive challenge.

• Accountable to drive sales team culture transformation, from tactical sales to consultative sales & planning for our clients to build bigger and better campaign plans which delivers better customer experience, increased Waitrose sales and Supplier Brand sales.

• As part of delivering the supplier strategy, you will identify cross-CPG opportunities with a particular focus on the longer term of our largest Branded and Own Label suppliers.

Essential skills/experience you'll need

• Extensive experience in fast paced commercial retail and/or media sales leadership with a proven track records in hitting ambitious sales and profit targets.

• Strong stakeholder management and experience of managing multiple peers and teams with differing interests.

• Retail Media expertise including a solid understanding of retail media propositions, the industry landscape and trends from a retailer, supplier or agency perspective.

• Extensive commercial and value chain management experience in food and associated non-food retail or food manufacturing / supply with experience of commercial and high level and complex supplier negotiations.

• Experience of cost management and optimisation programmes taking into account the risks and opportunities in a dynamic market.

• Experience in building high performance teams and driving cultural transformation.

• Business Leadership, playing a broader role in the leadership and growth of Waitrose and ensuring retail media growth is a part of the overall Waitrose Strategy.

Important points to note:

It's important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you'll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.