Customer Development Manager, eComm in London

Colgate-Palmolive Company is a global consumer products company operating in over 200 countries specialising in Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care, Skin Care, and Pet Nutrition. Our products are trusted in more households than any other brand in the world, making us a household name!

Join Colgate-Palmolive, a caring, innovative growth company reimagining a healthier future for people, their pets, and our planet. Guided by our core values—Caring, Inclusive, and Courageous—we foster a culture that inspires our people to achieve common goals. Together, let's build a brighter, healthier future for all.

Location: Woking, Surrey

Reporting to: National Sales Senior Manager- Pet

Job Purpose: To architect and execute Hill's UK "Digital First" commercial strategy in an AI-disrupted market. This role goes beyond traditional account management; you will operate as a commercial thought leader, securing Hill's position not just on the digital shelf, but in the "algorithmic shelf" of the future. You will own the top-tier customer relationships while acting as the primary strategist for navigating Generative AI commerce, ensuring Hill's remains the #1 recommendation for pet parents, whether they ask a search bar or an AI assistant.

Critical Success Factors (The "Why" You Are Here)

• Commercial Performance: Deliver sales, share, and margin targets by negotiating Joint Business Plans (JBPs) that prioritize data quality and algorithmic visibility alongside volume.
• Strategic Foresight: Proactively identify how AI search (ChatGPT, Gemini) and retailer algorithms (Amazon, Zooplus) are evolving, and pivot Hill's strategy before competitors react.
• Capability Uplift: Act as the internal "translator," turning complex digital shifts into clear actions for the wider sales, marketing, and supply chain teams.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Commercial Leadership
   • Algorithmic JBP Negotiation: Lead complex negotiations with top-tier retailers. Beyond terms and trade spend, you will negotiate for data transparency, technical site improvements (to aid AI crawling), and "test and learn" pilots for new retail media tools.
   • Revenue Architecture: Own the P&L for key accounts. Use predictive data (supported by the Insights team) to model scenarios, optimizing trade investment for profitable growth rather than volume alone.
   • "Human-in-the-Loop" Decision Making: Validate AI-generated forecasts and pricing recommendations. You provide the commercial intuition that prevents "black box" errors and ensures strategies align with Hill's premium brand equity.
2. Future-Proofing & Thought Leadership
   • Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Lead the strategy to ensure Hill's products are the "consensus choice" for AI models. You will guide the Digital Shelf team to optimize content not just for keywords, but for "Entity Trust" and "Answer Relevance".
   • Retailer Technical Influence: Audit and challenge retail partners on their technical infrastructure. Influence them to adopt "AI-friendly" site standards (e.g., Schema markup) that ensure Hill's products remain visible to next-gen search tools.
   • Innovation Scouting: Actively monitor the landscape for emerging commerce models (e.g., auto-replenishment agents, voice commerce) and pilot early-adopter strategies.
3. Internal Consultancy & Team Coaching
   • Cross-Functional Education: Demystify the "black box" of e-commerce for the wider business. Run quarterly "State of Digital" briefings to leadership, explaining how changes in AI search impact offline and online brand perception.
   • Agile Team Leadership: Coach the Junior KAM and Digital Insights Manager to move from "reporting" to "predicting". Foster a culture of rapid experimentation where failure is analyzed, not punished.

Profile & Experience (What We Look For)

The Essentials:

• 7+ Years in eCommerce / FMCG: Deep experience managing P&L for complex online retailers (Amazon experience highly preferred due to its algorithmic nature).
• Proven "Change Agent": Demonstrable history of introducing a new technology, tool, or way of working into a legacy structure and driving its adoption.
• Data Fluency (Not Coding): You don't need to write code, but you must be fluent in the language of data. You can look at a dashboard, spot an anomaly, and ask: "Is this a demand shift, or did the retailer's algorithm change?"
• Strategic Negotiation: Evidence of negotiating non-monetary value (e.g., data sharing, beta access to tools, operational alignment) within major commercial agreements.

The "Thought Leader" Differentiators:

• Curiosity & Self-Learning: You are the person who reads about the latest Google Core Update or OpenAI release and immediately asks, "What does this mean for our dog food listings?"
• Technical Empathy: Ability to speak with Product Managers and SEO technical teams at retailers, understanding the basics of how their site architecture impacts sales.
• Analytical Storytelling: The ability to synthesize complex digital data points into a simple, compelling 1-page business case for the General Manager.

Demonstrable Capabilities (Assessment Criteria)

• Algorithmic Intuition: Can you explain why a product dropped in ranking without blaming "the market"? Can you hypothesize technical vs. commercial causes?
• Ambiguity Navigation: When asked "How do we win on ChatGPT?", you don't say "I don't know." You say, "Here is how we analyze the current output, here are the levers we think matter (reviews, availability), and here is the test I would run next week."
• Commercial Creativity: Can you demonstrate a time you used data to unlock a "deadlocked" negotiation?

Our Commitment to Inclusion

Our journey begins with our people—developing strong talent with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to best serve our consumers around the world and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels a true sense of belonging. We are dedicated to ensuring that each individual can be their authentic self, is treated with respect, and is empowered by leadership to contribute meaningfully to our business.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Colgate is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, marital status, veteran status (United States positions), or any other characteristic protected by law. Reasonable accommodation during the application process is available for persons with disabilities.