UK Sales Leader – Baby & Grocery Channels in Newcastle upon Tyne

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Salary: Competitive

Contract: Permanent

We are looking for two Head of Sales to join our UK commercial team, one will be focused on our Baby Speciality channels and the other will focus on Grocery.

The Head of Sales will lead the end to end P&L, strategic and commercial agenda for the Baby Specialty or Grocery Channels in the UK, owning strategic relationships with major retail partners. You will be accountable for delivering revenue, profit (EBITDA), distribution growth & other brand-building objectives for Tommee Tippee, No1 Baby Brand in the UK across this channel.

These roles combine strong customer relationship development & management, strategic channel leadership, category value growth, category management expertise, trade & performance marketing expertise online and offline, influencing cross-functionally internally and externally to create and drive long term profitable growth for your channel, whilst ensuring the brand continues to lead the market across the UK’s most trusted retailers. Finally, as Mayborn becomes a digital first brand, experience of managing Omni plans and dot.com channels, activating brands digitally in the retail space is also required.

What you will be doing:

• Channel Strategy Leadership
  • Develop and own the long-term commercial strategy for the channel, ensuring alignment to overall business goals and brand positioning.
  • Identify growth drivers, category trends, shopper insights and competitive dynamics to inform channel & individual customer plans.
  • Build annual channel plans, including distribution targets, shopper activation calendars, pricing strategies and work with category to build optimized promotional frameworks.
• Customer & Account Management
  • Lead for & support the team to build and maintain strategic relationships across a cross functional contact strategy. Leading the high level customer relationships.
  • Oversee negotiation of annual joint business plans (JBPs), commercial terms, media partnerships and promotional programmes.
  • Ensure excellence in forecasting, demand planning, and supply chain collaboration to deliver best-in-class availability and on-shelf execution.
  • Support National Account Managers with strategic guidance, coaching, escalation, and development to gain the most growth from these accounts for the brand.
• Commercial Performance
  • Own P&L performance for the channel, including revenue, margin, trade investment and ROI.
  • Report weekly to the Regional MD performance for your channel creating monthly updates for the Monthly Business Unit Meetings.
  • Experience of Revenue Growth management in order to optimise channel pricing, category mix, promotional mechanics and investment strategy to maximise long term profitable growth.
  • Lead through the team CPI negotiations & investment discussions to improve brand profitability in each retailer and across the channel as a whole.
  • Lead the team to proactively manage their forecast to drive forecast accuracy & improve forecasting bias working to optimize the process with demand planning.
  • Drive performance management through weekly business reviews and Monthly x functional performance meetings using Insights & KPI dashboards to inform and drive agile decision making.
• Brand & Category Expansion
  • Lead Category Management & Champion category leadership with key retailers, leveraging data and insights to grow category value and strengthen brand authority.
  • Partner with Marketing, Category & Innovation to shape NPD launch plans, in-store activation, online content and retail theatre.
  • Work with Channel Shopper Marketing Manager to execute shopper budget across retailers to maximise ROI & ensure consistency of brand execution across every customer touchpoint, both in-store and online.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Work closely with Marketing (Global & Local), Customer Services, Demand Planning, Finance and Digital teams to deliver integrated commercial plans.
  • Provide retailer and channel insight into FUEL process via Category Channel leads to cross-functional teams to shape long-term brand strategy.
  • Lead cross-functional readiness for key brand moments (NPD, seasonal peaks, campaigns).
• Leadership & Team Development
  • Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing commercial team, building capability in account management, financial acumen, brand building and channel strategy.
  • Foster a collaborative, customer & consumer centric obsession, results orientated culture that values ownership, accountability and operational excellence.
  • Set clear annual & quarterly performance objectives and provide continuous feedback, support, and development opportunities.
  • Build & develop Team development plans & commercial capability across the entire team ensuring all individuals have Individual Development plans and High Potential talent have clear succession plans.
  • Lead the team through the change management and organisational transformation journey, supporting developing commercial capabilities and processes to be best in class.

What skills and experiences you’ll need to ace this job:

• Proven senior commercial leadership experience within branded FMCG or consumer goods, ideally in baby, beauty, health, or premium speciality categories.
• Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of FMCG sales dynamics, retailer needs, and category management principles as well as strong analytical, negotiation & financial acumen (P&L ownership essential) as well as RGM experience or long-term revenue strategy planning / long term vision.
• Customer Leadership: Proven ability to manage senior retail customer relationships and negotiate high-value deals in premium retail environments & brand building in high trust categories from Category Director to Senior buying team and across into supply chain and marketing.
• Grocery – particularly Tesco.
• Baby Speciality – Particularly Boots & John Lewis.
• Team Leadership: Track record of leading, motivating, and developing account management teams /people.
• Results Orientated: Driven and ambitious, with a bias for action, you will have a proven track record in delivering results.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to translate strategy into action and drive execution with precision.
• Digital Expertise: Experience leading online sales & marketing plans / digital marketing or performance marketing through retailers dotcom sites & e comm accounts is useful.
• Analytical & Data-Led: Skilled in performance analytics, forecasting, and using data to influence decisions.
• Collaborative Mindset: Comfortable working cross-functionally in fast-paced, matrixed organizations.
• Communication: Excellent written and oral communication as well as influencing & stakeholder management.
• Resilient & Entrepreneurial: Can-do attitude with the ability to thrive in dynamic and evolving environments.
• Consumer Obsession: Passion for parent-centric categories and premium consumer experience.
• Culture: Experience working in a change management environment, fast paced, entrepreneurial environment would be ideal.

If this sounds like an exciting opportunity for you, please apply online. Any queries can be directed to Luke at largent@mayborngroup.com or James Davison at jdavison@mayborngroup.com.