Senior Commercial Manager
Job description
Senior Commercial Manager – Food Manufacturing
Location: South-East England / Hybrid
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £60,000–£70,000 + car allowance
Role Overview
Our client is an established international food manufacturer with a strong presence across premium sweet treats and in-store bakery.
As the business continues to develop its UK commercial operation, it is seeking an experienced Senior Commercial Manager to manage and grow relationships with major UK retail customers.
The successful candidate will take ownership of key accounts, lead customer negotiations and identify opportunities to increase sales, distribution and profitability.
This is a highly visible position offering the opportunity to play an important role in the continued commercial growth of the UK business.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage and develop relationships with major UK grocery and retail customers.
- Create and deliver commercial account plans aligned with the company’s growth strategy.
- Lead customer negotiations across pricing, promotions, trading terms and annual agreements.
- Identify opportunities for growth through new listings, range extensions, increased distribution and new product development.
- Develop a strong understanding of each customer’s strategy, performance and future requirements.
- Monitor account sales, margin, profitability and overall commercial performance.
- Manage customer forecasting, promotional planning and commercial reporting.
- Prepare and lead customer presentations, range reviews and commercial updates.
- Identify and develop new business opportunities within the UK retail market.
- Work closely with NPD, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Production and Technical teams.
- Ensure customer requirements are delivered while protecting manufacturing capability and profitability.
- Provide clear commercial reporting and recommendations to senior leadership.
Candidate Requirements
- Proven commercial experience within food manufacturing or the wider FMCG market.
- Experience managing major UK grocery or retail customers.
- Strong account-management, customer-development and commercial-negotiation skills.
- Evidence of delivering sustainable sales, margin and account growth.
- Experience with pricing, promotions, forecasting, trading terms and commercial planning.
- A good understanding of how commercial decisions affect production, supply chain and profitability.
- Strong analytical, communication, presentation and stakeholder-management skills.
- Confidence working cross-functionally with NPD, Technical, Finance, Supply Chain and Operations.
- Ability to build credible relationships with senior customer contacts.
- Bakery, in-store bakery or premium sweet-treat experience would be advantageous, but it is not essential.
- Able to attend the company’s South-East office regularly as part of the hybrid working arrangement.
Personal Profile
The ideal candidate will be commercially astute, ambitious and confident managing senior customer relationships.
They will combine strong negotiation skills with a practical understanding of food manufacturing and be comfortable identifying opportunities, challenging customers constructively and taking ownership of commercial performance.
This role would suit someone who enjoys working within a growing business, can operate with a high level of autonomy and wants to make a visible contribution to the development of a UK commercial operation.
