Head of Modern Trade (Strategic & Commercial Lead)

Head of Modern Trade (Strategic & Commercial Lead)

Our client is a well-established and growing food and beverage outlet offering quality tea and light refreshments in a clean, customer-focused environment. The organization is committed to excellent service standards, hygiene, and efficiency, and provides a supportive workplace for reliable and service-oriented staff. They seek to recruiy the Head of Modern Trade who is a strategic commercial leader accountable for profitability, governance, and scalable execution across all Modern Trade chains. The role exists to design systems, lead senior stakeholders, and delegate execution, NOT to personally manage day-to-day selling. Success is measured by clarity, discipline, margin protection, and leadership depth.

Core Accountability Areas:

1. Strategic & Commercial Ownership

1. Own Modern Trade P&L including margins, rebates, and trade investments.
2. Translate company strategy into clear Modern Trade growth choices (what to push, protect, or exit).
3. Design price architecture, promo ladders, and trade terms governance.
4. Act as final escalation authority for commercial risk decisions.

2. Executive Account Leadership

1. Lead C-level / Head Office relationships with Naivas, Quickmart, Chandarana, Clean shelf, Eastmatt, etc.
2. Own Joint Business Planning (JBP): targets, assumptions, risks, ROI.
3. Negotiate annual contracts, rebates, claims, and deductions.

3. Governance, Not Micromanagement

1. Define execution standards; do not personally enforce them.
2. Build reporting dashboards that replace supervision.
3. Ensure credit, claims, and pricing compliance through process, not presence.

4. Leadership, Delegation & Scale

1. Lead and develop Key Account Executives as managers of outcomes.
2. Delegate execution fully while retaining decision rights clarity.
3. Build succession and reduce single-point dependency.

5. Cross-Functional Authority

1. Drive alignment with Finance (margin, trade spend), Supply Chain (OTIF), Marketing (NPD, activation).
2. Provide executive-level insight, not operational reporting

Required Profile

1. 10+ years FMCG experience with senior Modern Trade exposure (Non-Negotiable)
2. Demonstrated JBP ownership
3. Proven P&L and trade spend governance
4. History of leading managers, not just teams
5. Comfortable saying NO to volume when margin is at risk