Commercial Manager
Job Description – Commercial Manager (Maternity Cover)
Reporting to: Head of Food Partnerships
Location: Field based
Contract: 9 month FTC
Hours: Full Time, 35 Hours
Salary: £36,302-£38,213 (We normally offer a starting salary at the start of the range)
We welcome applications from all backgrounds. We are a Disability Confident Employer that welcome disabled applicants and provide reasonable adjustments.
About FareShare
FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, made up of 18 independent organisations. Together, we take good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and get it to nearly 8,500 frontline charities and community groups.
The food we redistribute is nutritious and good to eat. It reaches charities across the UK, including school breakfast clubs, older people’s lunch clubs, homeless shelters, and community cafes. Every week we provide enough food to create almost a million meals for vulnerable people.
Every year, more than three million tonnes of food go to waste in the UK, enough for 7 billion meals. Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis is driving millions into food insecurity.
We are fortunate to benefit from the support of major retailers, the media, ambassadors and a groundswell of public engagement. As a result, there has never been a more exciting time to join an organisation at the heart of public consciousness.
FareShare’s Strategy & Vision
Vision: We have the vision of a UK where “No good food goes to waste”.
Mission: To use surplus, fit for consumption, food to feed those who are vulnerable in the UK by supporting front line charitable organisations that tackle the cause and not just the symptoms of food poverty.
Our Purpose: We are doers. We are a community. We change lives.
Our Values: Passion – for our cause and the challenge that lies ahead
Ambition – to go the extra mile and drive the change that must happen
Respect – for ourselves, each other, our volunteers, our partners and our beneficiaries
Collaboration – it’s only by working with others that we can be stronger
The role
This role will identify, develop and manage top food partners relationships and strengthen existing business relationships with companies in the food industry, generating value for the partner and to secure growing and sustainable volumes of surplus food for the FareShare Network.
For designated top food partners, you will be their day to day point of contact with regular face to face contact at all levels. You will undertake structured, strategic account management, leading and coordinating FareShare’s engagement across our organisation. This will mean agreeing and executing a bespoke joint business plan with each account to get more food, money and strategic support. You will also feedback on ways that we can better support our accounts and improve our services to them.
You will work directly and be on-site with top food partners to help identify and overcome the barriers which exist to giving surplus food to people in need as well as increasing money and strategic resource.
You will also be required to work closely with FareShare colleagues within FareShare and across the UK in our partner organisations in order to identify and understand opportunities for creating mutual and shared value.
Main areas of responsibility
Partnership Management
- Contribute to the development of consistent, structured Joint Business plans with designated accounts that take into account food, funding and other strategic initiatives to drive growth in food, money and other strategic resources.
- Work on behalf of the account to develop and embed services relevant to the account and
- agreed through the joint business plan – e.g. employability or store level redistribution.
- Execute joint business plans and report internally and externally on progress.
- Research and understand your accounts, including key ESG initiatives, waste streams, key personnel within the organisation that will help drive its success and engage the relevant internal departments through both desked based research and face to face contact.
- Proactively drive account forwards and progress these relationships with regular on-site visits and linking FareShare exec with key contacts.
- Keep up to date with industry and charity insights and ensure this is reflected back strategically across ways of working and account management
Project and Initiative Management
- Be responsible for managing and communicating key projects and initiatives to increase food volumes and strategic value, securing support from a range of stakeholders within food partners and across the FareShare network.
- Work closely with Supply Chain and Logistics, Operations and Network Development teams with the aim of optimising food out to our network
- Develop and lead FareShare cross-departmental strategic activity to enable us to derive maximum value from key food partners including liaising with fundraising, marketing and volunteering teams
Person specification
As an employer committed to Equal Opportunities, we will assess applications in line with these criteria that we consider either as being essential or desirable in this role.
Essential
- Demonstrable experience managing multiple accounts in the FMCG, food, retail or comparable sector with professionalism and integrity consistently meeting or exceeding challenging targets
- Good working knowledge of the key players across the food industry and their ways of working
- Successful track record of managing cross-functional projects to tight timescales and budgets, ensuring involvement of all key stakeholders
- Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships at a range of levels and across multiple functions with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to use own initiative working independently and responsibly
Desirable
- Experience of working in a retail or food industry sector
- Experience of project evaluation, data-driven analysis and impact reporting
- Relationship and stakeholder management experience of large corporate partners
- Knowledge of and interest in Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility and experience of its application within the business environment
Competencies and behaviours
- Proactive, organised and able to work under pressure, whilst maintaining excellent attention to detail
- Excellent written and verbal communication with effective presentation skills
- Good knowledge of Microsoft Offices packages, ideally at an advanced level and with a good
- level of numeracy and literacy
- Analytical and data-driven approach to problem solving
- Creative approach to problem solving and developing new opportunities and initiatives
Benefits
- Hybrid / Flexible working, with regular UK travel
- 28 days’ annual leave + 8 bank holidays
- Employers pension contribution
- Employee Assistance Program
- Interest free bicycl