Head of Commercial at Robert Walters

Robert Walters is a global, specialist professional recruitment consultancy. "Our story begins in 1985, when our CEO, Robert Walters, opened the first office in Central London. Rob has led the company ever since and has the same passion and commitment today. Over the last 30 years the business has grown and so has our ambition. We now operate across 25 countries and employ over 2,900 people. It’s a powerful success story built on the strength of our people. Organizations rely on us to find high quality professionals for a range of specialist roles. Professionals who are looking for a new role, whether it’s on a permanent, interim or contract basis, trust us to find them their ideal job.

A leading paints and coatings manufacturer and distributor is looking for a Head of Commercial to join their team. The Head of Commercial will lead the organisation’s commercial strategy and drive profitable growth across sales, distribution, project and technical sales, retail development, and customer experience. (Reports to MD)

Key Responsibilities

Develop and execute the overall commercial strategy to deliver revenue, margin and market-share growth.
Lead sales, distribution, key accounts, project/technical sales and customer experience.
Expand and optimise the distributor, dealer and retail network across Nigeria.
Drive the growth and profitability of the retail store network, including new-store rollout and underperforming-store turnaround.
Build project, technical and B2B sales into a significant growth channel.
Strengthen customer acquisition, retention, satisfaction and overall customer experience.
Own commercial forecasting, pricing, budgeting, performance reporting and key commercial KPIs.
Manage channel profitability, trade terms, credit exposure and commercial risks.
Build, coach and retain a high-performing commercial leadership team.
Work closely with Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, HR and Technical teams to deliver business objectives.
Represent the organisation with major customers, partners, industry bodies and other external stakeholders.

Key Performance Measures

Revenue and gross-margin growth.
Market-share growth.
Customer and distribution expansion.
Project and technical sales growth.
Retail-store growth, same-store sales and profitability.
Customer satisfaction and retention.
Forecast accuracy and sales-force productivity.
Commercial team capability and succession.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, Engineering or a related field; MBA is an advantage.
15+ years’ relevant commercial/sales experience, with significant senior leadership exposure.
Strong experience in FMCG, building materials, paints/coatings, consumer products or similar sectors.
Proven track record of delivering revenue and margin growth.
Strong knowledge of Nigerian distribution and route-to-market dynamics.
Experience managing a P&L, large commercial teams and multi-channel operations.
Experience in retail network expansion and/or franchise operations is highly desirable.
Strong commercial, financial, analytical and stakeholder-management skills.