Solutions Development Manager

Ocado Group is an equal opportunities employer and makes every effort to ensure that all potential employees are treated fairly and equally, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, age, or disability or union membership status.

Our teams are putting the world’s retailers online using the cloud, robotics, AI, ML and leading edge hardware solutions. We provide services to partner clients globally via our innovative advanced robotics and software technology, known as the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP), which drives our highly automated, multi-million pound Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs). In our CFCs - together with the proprietary software applications - we operate a world-class online grocery business that automates the single pick of products, ready for your online delivery.

This position sits within Ocado Solutions. At Ocado Solutions, we are responsible for our corporate international partnerships, offering the proprietary Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) as a service to retailers around the world. Since 2017, we have signed agreements to provide our unique e-commerce solutions to a number of the world’s leading grocers, including Groupe Casino (France), Sobeys (Canada), ICA (Sweden), Kroger (USA), Coles (Australia), AEON (Japan), Auchan Poland (Poland), all joining our UK partner Morrisons and the Ocado/M&S joint venture. We continue to invest significantly in our technology and people in order to deliver to current clients and to forge new exciting partnerships!

About the role

The Solutions Development Manager works cross functionally with prospective clients, existing partners and stakeholders across Ocado Group, and is responsible for representing OSP through the end to end pre-sales process, selling the value, benefits and USPs of the solution. From clarifying retailer requirements, costing potential solutions, through to supporting the negotiation of key legal terms, you will be the key point of contact for all product related considerations across the platform, gaining an understanding of the client, their business and their business requirements to support the successful sales of future OSP deals.

What you will be doing

• Leading client engagement activities including outreach, presentations, site tours, and visiting prospects around the world to assist in delivering the end-to-end pre-sales process.
• Delivery of the full pre-sales methodology, taking partners & prospects from the first point of contact to signing a contract.
• Writing, updating and negotiating key legal contractual documents for specific deals.
• Lead discussions with partners & prospects to help them understand the benefits of the OSP Solution; acting as the subject matter expert in the room.
• Work collaboratively with Technology & Marketing on the development and pricing of new concepts, including associated contractual documents and generic client engagement materials.
• Build and share knowledge on our competitors and our position within the market, helping ensure we have a compelling proposition to offer prospective partners.
• Creating clear and compelling content for senior internal stakeholders to obtain sign-off for projects and key business decisions.
• Actively gather and clarify prospect requirements; representing any capability gaps between their needs and the current OSP Solution to internal Technology stakeholders to drive prioritisation.
• Thorough understanding of client-specific business or operational metrics and their impact on choosing the right OSP solution.
• Use, develop & improve models/tools for costing, CFC sizing considerations and content to support the sales process.
• Leading on continuous improvement projects to further improve departmental processes and ensuring the actioning of lessons learnt.

We’d love to talk to you if you have...

• Loves to be client facing, enjoys challenging conversations and resolving conflicting agendas.
• Genuine interest in the products we are selling and the retailers we are selling them to, our role is to understand their challenges and identify how our products can help.
• Excellent interpersonal skills - ability to build strong relationships both internally and externally and be viewed as a trusted advisor to our prospects and internal customers.
• Strong presentation skills - ability to describe a complex solution and its benefits at the level appropriate to the audience.
• Adept at facilitating meetings to achieve specific outcomes, including Discovery, Assessment, Milestones and Stage Gates.
• Able to quickly understand and explain technical complex subjects and technologies to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Able to converse with retailers at all levels, from C-suite down.
• Excellent problem solving and strong analytical skills.
• Ability to travel globally for short periods, often at short notice, according to client requirements.
• Knowledge and experience of Retail (preferably Grocery) an advantage.
• Experience working for technology companies - managing clients needs and strategic objectives an advantage.

What we offer you...

• Our employee benefits are designed for you, we care about people and we’ve ensured we have a wealth of benefits that focus on your well-being.
• Currently, we offer technically stretching work, a competitive salary and; 30 days ‘working from anywhere in the world’ policy.
• Wellbeing support through dedicated apps and an Employee Assistance Programme.
• 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after 5 years service (plus optional holiday purchase).
• Pension scheme (various options available including employer contribution matching up to 7%).
• Generous Private Medical Insurance (within the first month of joining!).
• Income Protection (can be up to 50% of salary for 3 years) and Life Assurance (3 x annual salary).
• 22 weeks paid maternity/primary parent leave and 6 weeks paid paternity leave (once relevant service requirements complete).
• Train Ticket loan (interest-free).
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Free shuttle bus to and from Hatfield Train Station to the Hatfield offices.
• Free shuttle bus to and from Welwyn Garden City Train Station to the Welwyn Garden City offices.
• Opportunity to participate in Sharesave and Buy as You Earn share schemes.
• 15% discount on Ocado.com and free delivery for all employees (within the first month of joining!).

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