Commerce Strategy & Platform Lead in City of London

Join Merkle’s Design Experience, Content Platforms & Commerce (DXC) solutions team as a transformation leader responsible for shaping Commerce pre‑sales capabilities across a variety of ecosystems. You will own strategic business‑led solutioning for RFPs, RFIs, proactive client engagements and existing programs, ensuring Merkle stays ahead of platform innovations and monetisation opportunities while driving multi‑year commerce strategies.

Key Objectives

• Revenue Growth
  • Co‑own Revenue Growth opportunities across Net‑New Logo and Existing Clients.
  • Underpin Existing Client commerce program strategy and revenue growth, including deep involvement in renewal strategies.
• Commerce Solution Leadership
  • Lead Commerce transformation and solutioning powered by commerce ecosystems (Salesforce Commerce, Adobe Commerce/Magento, Shopify Plus, SAP Commerce, commerce tools, and other composable stacks).
  • Shape digital strategy that underpins commerce scale, flexibility, and integration with broader DXC capabilities.
  • Ensure solutions align to measurable outcomes such as conversion uplift, omnichannel enablement, speed‑to‑market, and operational efficiency.
• Pre‑Sales Excellence
  • Drive and own the commerce dimension of RFPs, RFIs, and pitches.
  • Translate platform features (e.g. headless commerce, composable services, dynamic pricing, real‑time inventory) into compelling business cases.
  • Develop reusable commerce frameworks, demos, and accelerators that improve speed, consistency, and win rates.
• Innovation & Product Evolution
  • Stay informed of product roadmaps, quarterly releases, and innovations from commerce vendors.
  • Rapidly assess monetisation opportunities from new product launches and embed them into GTM propositions.
  • Build strong relationships with platform partners (Salesforce, Adobe, Shopify, commerce tools, SAP, etc.) to co‑create GTM plays and strengthen ecosystem positioning.
• Client Advisory & Market Engagement
  • Serve as a trusted advisor to client CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, and CMOs on commerce and digital engineering strategy.
  • Lead and facilitate client workshops on commerce architecture, operating models, and innovation roadmaps.
  • Represent Merkle externally at commerce partner events, industry forums, and client roundtables.
• Team Leadership & Capability Development
  • Contribute to building a high‑performing pre‑sales community of commerce specialists.
  • Drive and support enablement on commerce certifications, vendor releases, and emerging technologies.
  • Help foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and measurable client impact across the DXC solutions team.

Key KPIs

• Growth Impact: Contribution to new business revenue and existing account expansion.
• Solution Reuse & Scalability: Percentage of solutions reused across accounts and markets.
• Customer Impact: Evidence of transformation outcomes delivered to clients (NPS, cost‑to‑serve reduction, revenue uplift).
• Win Rate: Improvement in RFP / pitch win rates.
• Team Engagement & Development: Measured through internal engagement surveys and career progression of team members.

Core Competencies & Experience

• Commerce Expertise
  • Expertise in commerce platforms (Salesforce, Adobe, Shopify Plus, SAP Commerce, commerce tools, BigCommerce, etc.).
  • Strong understanding of digital engineering practices: composable architectures, headless services, API‑first integration, cloud‑native development.
• Pre‑Sales & Solutioning
  • Track record leading pre‑sales pursuits for large, complex commerce transformation programs (£1M–£10M+).
  • Skilled at translating commerce and platform complexity into clear business outcomes and ROI‑driven propositions.
• Innovation & Ecosystem Awareness
  • Familiarity with commerce vendor product roadmaps and ability to identify monetisation opportunities from launches.
  • Awareness of trends such as composable commerce, agentic AI in commerce, hyper‑personalisation, and algorithmic CX.
• Commercial Acumen
  • Skilled at structuring commerce solutions into profitable, ROI‑focused business cases.
  • Strong ability to influence pipeline growth and win rates.
• Client Engagement
  • Executive presence; able to advise senior stakeholders on commerce transformation and technology strategy.
  • Confident facilitator of roadmap workshops and innovation sessions at CxO level.
• Leadership
  • Experience in building, mentoring and inspiring communities of Commerce and UX pre‑sales professionals.
  • Team‑orientated mindset with the ability to connect commerce, engineering and experience design disciplines.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 6+ years’ experience in business transformation and commerce technology, in either pre‑sales or consulting roles.
• Strong working relationships with leading vendors, for example: Salesforce, Adobe, Shopify, commerce tools, or SAP.
• Demonstrated success in supporting or leading commerce transformation engagements.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate commerce with design, content, and CRM into cohesive client propositions.
• Future‑focused: excited by composable commerce, AI‑driven decisioning, automation, and agentic models.

Inclusion and Diversity

At Dentsu, we embrace diversity and inclusion, valuing the unique perspectives and contributions of every individual. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic. We strive to create an environment where everyone feels respected, supported, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work.

We recognise the importance of work‑life balance and are open to discussing flexible working arrangements for all roles. If you need reasonable adjustments due to a disability or medical condition during our recruitment process, please contact us at accommodations@dentsu.com, quoting the reference number of the role that you are applying for.