National Account Manager - Waitrose

MacGregor Black; England; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

MacGregor Black is recruiting for a National Account Manager – Waitrose to own and develop a key grocery partnership. You will safeguard performance, drive forecasting accuracy, and protect service levels while seeking profitable growth opportunities.

You will collaborate with buying, category, technical, supply chain and NPD teams to plan, negotiate and deliver on strategic priorities for the account.

Qualifications

• Must have national account management experience in grocery within a food or drink manufacturer.
• Experience handling a sizeable, operationally demanding customer under pressure.
• Strong analytical and commercial judgement with forecasting, margin analysis, and pricing.
• Understanding of how forecasting and supply chain affect customer service.
• Proven negotiation skills, including cost price increases and promotions.
• Ability to challenge constructively while protecting long-term relationships.
• Excellent stakeholder management across commercial, operational and technical teams.
• Calm, organized under pressure with multi-workstream prioritization.
• Willingness to spend time on site with the teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the Waitrose relationship day-to-day and strategically.
• Create and execute an account plan covering sales, margins and forecasts.
• Lead forecasting and demand planning with planning and supply chain.
• Monitor KPIs for service levels, availability and quality.
• Use EPOS and market data to drive evidence-based recommendations.
• Manage account profitability, pricing, and promotional investments.
• Collaborate with supply chain and NPD on delivery and launches.
• Assess new opportunities for capacity, complexity and margin.
• Lead joint business reviews and negotiations with customers.
• Handle escalations with transparent communication.
• Represent the customer to internal teams about standards and expectations.

Skills

National accounts

Grocery industry

Forecasting

P&L management

Negotiation

Stakeholder mgmt

Analytical thinking

Job description

Do you have experience managing a high-volume grocery account where service and relationships matter as much as growth?

Can you use customer and category insight to identify opportunities within an established partnership?

Are you at your best when working closely with manufacturing, planning and NPD teams to deliver what you promise?

MacGregor Black is partnering with an established food and snacking manufacturer on the appointment of a National Account Manager – Waitrose.

You will take ownership of a significant, well-established relationship with one of the UK’s most quality-led grocery retailers. Current volumes are putting real pressure on the business, so your first priority will be to protect performance: keep service levels, quality standards and forecast accuracy where they need to be, and build confidence in both the customer and internal teams. Once that is secure, you will look for credible ways to develop the account where capacity, operational capability and commercial returns support them. This role suits someone who can combine steady relationship management with sharp commercial judgement, and who knows that sustainable growth depends on reliable delivery.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the Waitrose relationship at both day-to-day and strategic level. Build strong, trusted connections with buying, category, technical, supply chain and product development teams, and become the customer’s first point of contact.
• Build and deliver a clear account plan covering sales, margin, forecasting, service levels, range development and future opportunities, aligned to the customer’s strategy and the business’s commercial objectives.
• Own forecasting and demand planning with the planning and supply chain teams, so that customer requirements match production capacity and availability is protected during peak and promotional periods.
• Monitor service, availability and quality KPIs closely. Spot risks early and put action plans in place before they affect the customer.
• Use EPOS, shopper, category and market data to understand performance drivers and make clear, evidence-based recommendations internally and to the customer.
• Manage account profitability, including pricing, cost price increase negotiations, promotional investment and terms, so that the relationship stays commercially sustainable.
• Work with supply chain, operations, technical and NPD colleagues to manage day-to-day delivery, range reviews and new product launches from brief to shelf.
• Assess new opportunities carefully against capacity, complexity and margin, and put forward only those the business can deliver profitably and consistently.
• Lead customer reviews, negotiations and joint business planning sessions with a practical, solutions-led approach.
• Handle escalations and operational issues calmly and quickly, keep communication transparent, and use each issue to strengthen the relationship.
• Represent the customer internally, so that teams across the site understand Waitrose’s standards, priorities and expectations.

What We’re Looking For:

• National account management experience in grocery, gained within a food or drink manufacturer, ideally with own label or premium ranges.
• Evidence of managing a sizeable, operationally demanding customer where service, capacity and quality were under pressure.
• Strong analytical and commercial judgement, with confidence in forecasting, P&L management, margin analysis and pricing.
• A solid grasp of how forecasting, production planning and supply chain performance affect customer service and account health.
• Proven negotiation skills, including cost price increases, terms and promotional investment.
• The confidence to challenge constructively, internally and with the customer, while protecting an important long‑term relationship.
• Excellent stakeholder management across commercial, operational and technical functions.
• A calm, organised approach under pressure, with the ability to prioritise and keep several workstreams moving at once.
• A real interest in the products, and a willingness to spend time on site with the teams who make them.

Salary - TBC Competitive

For more information, please contact Alice Redmond.