Commercial Controller, Commercial Controller

Location:

Uxbridge (Office-Based, 5 Days Per Week)

Travel:
Regular customer and site travel required

Sponsorship:
Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position

At Pilgrim's Europe, we're looking for an experienced Commercial Controller to lead one of our most significant strategic own-label retail partnerships. This is a high-profile commercial leadership role with full accountability for driving growth, profitability, customer relationships, innovation, and team performance across a major grocery retail account.

If you have a strong background managing own-label business within food manufacturing and a proven track record of delivering sustainable growth with major UK retailers, we'd love to hear from you.

Reporting to the Commercial Director, you will be responsible for the commercial and sales strategy of a key strategic customer partnership, driving revenue, volume, and profitability across multiple own-label categories.

You will lead the development and execution of annual and long-term Joint Business Plans, build strong senior-level customer relationships, and work cross-functionally with Technical, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Marketing and NPD teams to deliver exceptional commercial results.

This role offers the opportunity to influence strategic decision-making, lead customer-focused innovation programmes, and shape the future growth of a major retail partnership.

• Own and deliver the commercial strategy for a major strategic retail account
• Maintain full P&L responsibility across own-label product categories
• Develop and implement annual and long-term Joint Business Plans
• Lead, coach and develop a team of Commercial Managers and Commercial Executives
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior customer stakeholders, including Category Directors and Heads of Buying
• Identify and deliver growth opportunities across multiple categories and routes to market
• Lead cross-functional customer business teams across Commercial, Marketing, Category, Innovation, Technical, Supply Chain and Finance
• Drive customer-focused innovation and NPD programmes aligned to long-term customer strategies
• Ensure accurate forecasting and effective management of risks and opportunities
• Own financial governance processes and collaborate closely with Commercial Finance
• Champion the voice of the customer internally and ensure business plans align with customer objectives

You’ll be a commercially astute leader with extensive experience managing own-label retail accounts within food manufacturing. You’ll have a proven track record of building long-term strategic customer partnerships, delivering profitable growth, and successfully managing the complexities of supplying major grocery retailers.

• Significant experience managing major UK grocery retail accounts within a food manufacturing environment
• Strong own-label account management experience
• Previous experience at Commercial Controller level, or a Senior Commercial Manager ready to step into a larger strategic leadership role
• Proven success delivering Joint Business Plans with major grocery retailers
• Strong understanding of retailer own-label strategies, category planning and customer requirements
• Proven track record of delivering sustainable sales, profit and market share growth
• Full P&L management experience
• Experience working closely with Technical, Supply Chain, Operations and NPD teams
• Exceptional negotiation, influencing and relationship-building skills
• Experience leading and developing high-performing teams
• Strong commercial acumen and analytical capability
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to build effective relationships both internally and externally
• Full UK Driving Licence and willingness to travel regularly

• Experience supplying own-label products to leading UK grocery retailers
• Experience with in chilled, fresh or short shelf-life food categories
• Category management knowledge
• Product development and innovation experience
• Understanding of manufacturing operations and supply chain processes

You’ll Thrive In This Role If You

• Have built your career managing own-label retail customers within food manufacturing
• Enjoy developing long-term strategic customer partnerships
• Are comfortable managing complexity across commercial, technical, operational and supply chain functions
• Can influence senior…