Strategy and Business Development Manager

Ocado Group is an equal opportunities employer and as such makes every effort to ensure that all potential employees are treated fairly and equally, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, age, or disability or union membership status. 

About Us

Ocado Solutions is responsible for our corporate international partnerships, offering the proprietary Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) as a service to retailers around the world. OSP comprises access to Ocado’s physical automation, allowing highly efficient preparation of orders, together with the full end-to-end software applications required to operate a world class online grocery business, bringing the best possible operational economics, consumer experience and service to our partners. Since 2017 we have signed agreements to provide our unique e-commerce solution to a number of the world’s largest grocers, including Groupe Casino (France), Sobeys (Canada), ICA (Sweden), Kroger (USA), Coles (Australia), AEON (Japan), Alcampo (Spain), Lotte (South Korea) joining our UK partner Morrisons and the Ocado/M&S joint venture.

About the role

The Ocado Solutions Strategy and Business Development team is responsible for signing new international partners, managing the full sales process from research and initial contact to detailed joint work and ultimately contract signing.

As the Strategy and Business Development Manager you will be responsible for leading multiple business development projects in parallel, demonstrating a strong level of ownership and autonomy, coordinating the various work streams overall (Tech, Logistics, Network Planning, Legal, etc.) and being the main day-to-day senior project lead on the commercial work stream, building up business modelling and driving strategic commercial decisions. You will hold a key role in the successful delivery of Ocado’s ambitious growth plans. You will also be responsible for the Business Development efforts of key target prospects.

The Strategy and Business Development Manager will report to the Strategy and Business Development Director and will work closely with the Ocado leadership team, including the Ocado Solutions Regional Presidents as well as the rest of the Ocado Group and Ocado Solutions senior leadership team. 

What you will be doing

• Lead multiple (between three and five) simultaneous business development projects at varying levels of maturity
• Be the lead Ocado Solutions contact for selected prospect relationships, using consultative selling skills to understand the needs of senior prospect stakeholders, define project plans, advise prospects on strategic direction and make a compelling business case
• Build and deepen relationships with potential partners, and where appropriate continue those relationships post-signing
• Provide inputs towards commercial strategies, tactics and processes e.g. pricing and positioning of products
• Oversee the work of project managers and associates, support their problem solving and maintaining momentum on projects
• Drive deal negotiation strategy and execution, and the closure of OSP deals
• Perform a wide range of quantitative analyses including deal profitability models
• Ensure deal pricing and profitability is at an acceptable level
• Develop a strong personal understanding of customer trends and requirements in the global retail market and of the retail channel shift; develop the team’s understanding of these dynamics; ensure our information is up-to-date and relevant
• Build productive working relationships with subject matter experts across Ocado to facilitate successful sales activities
• Measure and accelerate progress on defined sales projects
• Define and lead the improvement of team processes and materials

About you 

• Significant experience in top tier strategy consulting, finance or business development role
• Relevant academic background
• Open to international travel
• Experience in Retail/FMCG and tech/ecommerce
• Good understanding of commercial developments within the retail market
• Excellent analytical, and presentation skills
• Experience in business development activities
• Excellent relationship management abilities with the ability to influence others
• Excellent leadership, project management and multi-tasking skills
• Strong ownership and bias to action
• Very comfortable dealing with data, analytics and financial modeling
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Highly driven, passionate and intellectually curious

What we offer you

Our employee benefits are designed for you, we care about people and we’ve ensured we have a wealth of benefits that focus on your well-being. We regularly review our benefits to ensure we are supporting our employees appropriately.

• 30 days ‘working from anywhere in the world’ policy 
• Wellbeing support through dedicated apps and an Employee Assistance Programme 
• 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after 5 years service (plus optional holiday purchase)
• Pension scheme (various options available including employer contribution matching up to 7%)
• Generous Private Medical Insurance (within the first month of joining!)
• Income Protection (can be up to 50% of salary for 3 years) and Life Assurance (3 x annual salary) 
• 22 weeks paid maternity leave and 6 weeks paid paternity leave (once relevant service requirements complete) 
• Train Ticket loan (interest-free)
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Free shuttle bus to and from Hatfield Train Station to the Hatfield offices 
• Free shuttle bus to and from Welwyn Garden City Train Station to the Welwyn Garden City offices
• Opportunity to participate in Sharesave and Buy as You Earn share schemes
• 15% discount on Ocado.com and free delivery for all employees (within the first month of joining!)