Head of New Business Acquisition

at  Ocado Group

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 New Business Acquisition 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 Head of New Business Acquisition, 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 Head of New Business Acquisitions will report to the New Business Acquisitions 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