Senior National Account Manager

Advocate Group; West of England; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Advocate Group is seeking a Senior National Account Manager to lead the commercial strategy for key accounts including Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. This role offers visibility and direct management responsibility, ideal for someone looking to develop leadership skills in a fast-paced environment.

The successful candidate will have a strong commercial background, capable of driving growth through effective management of joint business plans and trade spends. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a high-performing food business.

Qualifications

• Strong capability in JBPs, forecasting, promotions, negotiation, and P&L understanding.
• Experience leading launches and distribution wins.
• Comfortable analyzing data and translating insights into action.

Responsibilities

• Lead the commercial strategy across Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, and Ocado.
• Own the JBP process and deliver growth across key metrics.
• Manage trade spend effectively and ensure strong ROI on promotions.

Skills

Commercial capability

Data analytics

People leadership

Job description

Senior National Account Manager – Sainsburys, Waitrose

We’re working with a well‑established, high-performing food business in a genuinely exciting growth phase. The business is already established with strong relationships across UK Grocery and a clear plan to accelerate branded growth. They’re now looking to hire a Senior National Account Manager to take ownership of a key portfolio: Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Ocado.

This is a high-impact role with real visibility. Waitrose is the biggest customer, and Sainsbury’s is having some fantastic growth – this portfolio represents a major opportunity to scale branded distribution quickly and build long‑term strategic partnerships.

You’ll also have one direct report, so this is ideal for someone who enjoys leading from the front, developing others, and driving best‑in‑class execution. The business have a track record of developing from within.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the commercial strategy across Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Ocado
• Own the JBP process, delivering growth across distribution, ROS, revenue and margin
• Play a key role in the Sainsbury’s business, ensuring flawless planning and execution
• Full responsibility for forecasting, promotional planning, and performance tracking
• Manage trade spend effectively and ensure strong ROI across promotional investment
• Build strong relationships with buyers and cross-functional customer contacts
• Work closely with internal teams (marketing, supply chain, finance, NPD) to deliver plans
• Line manage and develop one direct report, driving capability and performance

Qualifications:

• Strong commercial capability: JBPs, forecasting, promotions, negotiation and P&L understanding
• Confident leading launches, distribution wins and shopper activation plans
• Analytical and data‑led, comfortable turning insight into action
• Collaborative, proactive, and able to operate at pace in a fast‑moving environment
• People leadership experience (or ready to step into it) with a coaching mindset

The Advocate Group is a leading recruitment partner, based in the UK, to the FMCG and consumer product sectors. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation, or age. By applying for this role, you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy, which can be found on our website. Please note that The Advocate Group is acting as an employment agency in relation to this vacancy.