Head of Commercial in East Grinstead

Key Tasks/Accountabilities

• Managing all commercial product areas relating to the UK Campsite portfolio (c.150 owned UK Club campsites and 30 Affiliated campsites) including ensuring the Club has the right campsites in the best locations.
• Product management of all UK campsites products (touring and camping pitches, seasonal/fixed duration pitches, storage pitches, glamping - marketed under the Experience Freedom brand - and holiday cottages/lets, F&B etc.).
• Budget setting and delivery; pricing and inventory releases; competitor analysis; cross-functional product leadership and collaboration.
• Lead and manage the Commercial Accommodation team in optimising performance and developing product propositions to ensure competitiveness and relevancy for current and future audiences.
• Leading and managing the Pricing and Revenue Management team in all pricing/RM activities: Pricing up the UK campsite network and all associated products.
• Ensuring prices are competitive, deliver required margins and take advantage of excess demand.
• Employing all revenue management tools and tactics to proactively revenue manage UK campsites to deliver/exceed the budgeted revenue: optimising yield, introducing effective price promotions, applying appropriate inventory fences and influencing marketing activities.
• Supporting the Group Revenue Manager in developing the Revenue Management System (SaaS) in parallel with developing the Revenue Management strategy.
• Releasing inventory for all products, across all channels (direct and indirect) in a planned, timely manner to capitalize on early demand and facilitate optimum revenue.
• Responsible for the end to end annual process of setting the UK Campsite occupancy, yield and revenue budgets across all products over a rolling 3-year period.
• Collaboration with operations, finance and approval from the board of Directors as well as the Executive Committee.
• Ensuring all products are performance managed, across all channels: providing inspiring, informative product briefs to marketing; collaborating with operations to optimise the supply of inventory; adapting to the evolving performance context to overcome challenges and take opportunities.
• Leading and managing the Commercial Analysis and Insights team (2 x FTEs) in identifying, monitoring and socialising key performance metrics for UK Club campsites, plus membership and overseas travel (European campsites and channel crossings, Worldwide tours).
• Applying data analysis techniques to build predictive models to forecast future trends and performance.
• Owner of the Club’s campsite representation plan: using data, market intelligence and customer insights to identify new regional locations for new campsite acquisitions and investments.
• Supporting the Heads of Marketing, Publishing and Digital in delivering Club objectives.

Expertise Required

• Budgeting & Commercial Management: track record in senior management/leadership role with direct responsibility for setting and achieving ambitious budgets and optimising all commercial areas.
• Product management: demonstrable experience in product development and lifecycle management within leisure, travel or hospitality sectors.
• Strategic application of Revenue Management: leading the RM strategy, managing RM teams and deep knowledge of RM Systems (SaaS).
• Demonstrable application of effective promotions.
• Expert level Pricing application, with evidence of how pricing improved financial KPIs.
• P&L & Financial Management: demonstrable optimisation of the P&L, utilising pricing and yield to drive margins.
• Strong experience of optimising high capital investment opportunities.
• Data and Analysis: expert level user of reporting and forecasting tools and techniques including BI tools (such as Tableau, Qlik, or Business Object), Microsoft Excel etc.
• Leadership & management: an excellent manager of people who provides clear guidance and coaching, shapes and improves processes, works with confidence and collaborates well with others.
• Related experience in Marketing, Loyalty, CRM: demonstrable experience in relevant product and performance management disciplines.

Skills Required

• Strong verbal, written and presentation communication skills.
• Ability to demonstrate sound judgement, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Good organisational skills, including the ability to plan and prioritise work independently and collaboratively, with attention to detail.
• Comfortable working in a collaborative, fast-paced team environment where ideas and perspectives are openly discussed and constructively challenged.
• Demonstrates motivation, reliability and a proactive approach to delivering high-quality work.
• Strong data analysis skills, including experience working with large datasets and using advanced spreadsheet functions (e.g., Excel).
• Experience with additional data analysis or forecasting tools is beneficial.
• Experience with Revenue Management Systems (SaaS), pricing structures and pricing methodologies is desirable.
• Experience using business intelligence and reporting tools such as Tableau, Qlik, or Business Objects, or similar platforms.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office or Google Workspace applications.
• Relevant education, training, or equivalent practical experience suitable for a multifaceted role.
• Willingness and ability to travel within the UK to visit campsite properties as required.