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.
The Head of Modern Trade is a strategic commercial leader accountable for profitability, governance, and scalable execution across all Modern Trade chains. The primary purpose of this senior role is to design systems, lead senior stakeholders, and delegate execution, NOT to personally manage day-to-day selling operations. Success is fundamentally measured by clarity, discipline, margin protection, and leadership depth within the modern trade segment.
Core Accountability Areas
1. Strategic & Commercial Ownership
- Own the Modern Trade P&L, including management of margins, rebates, and trade investments.
- Translate overall company strategy into clear Modern Trade growth choices (defining what to push, protect, or exit).
- Design and govern the price architecture, promotional ladders, and trade terms.
- Act as the final escalation authority for critical commercial risk decisions.
2. Executive Account Leadership
- Lead C-level and Head Office relationships with key modern trade chains (e.g., Naivas, Quickmart, Chandarana, Clean shelf, Eastmatt, etc.).
- Own Joint Business Planning (JBP): targets, assumptions, risks, and ROI.
- Negotiate annual contracts, rebates, claims, and deductions with key accounts.
3. Governance, Not Micromanagement
- Define execution standards for the department; do not personally enforce them.
- Build comprehensive reporting dashboards that effectively replace the need for hands-on supervision.
- Ensure credit, claims, and pricing compliance through robust process establishment, rather than personal presence.
4. Leadership, Delegation & Scale
- Lead and develop Key Account Executives as managers of outcomes.
- Delegate execution fully while retaining clear decision rights.
- Build succession plans and actively reduce single-point dependency within the team.
5. Cross-Functional Authority
- Drive alignment across functional departments, including Finance (for margin and trade spend control), Supply Chain (for On-Time, In-Full/OTIF delivery), and Marketing (for New Product Development/NPD and activation efforts).
- Provide executive-level strategic insight, focusing on high-level direction rather than routine operational reporting.
Required Profile
- 10+ years of FMCG experience with non-negotiable senior Modern Trade exposure.
- Demonstrated ownership and execution of Joint Business Planning (JBP).
- Proven expertise in P&L management and trade spend governance.
- History of successfully leading and mentoring managers, not just managing teams.
- Comfortable demonstrating commercial discipline by saying NO to volume when margin health is at risk.
