Retail Director - FMCG

First Point Group is recruiting for a Retail Director / Head of Retail with recent experience working for a food / beverage company that are at scale-up stage (ideally less than 10-15 years old) and have been successful in scaling them into Retail accounts across the UK.

If you have this experience, this is an exciting scale-up opportunity to join a high-growth, science-led, food wellness brand at a pivitol stage of growth. With national retail opportunities developing, increased production capacity coming online and international demand emerging, the business is looking for a senior commercial leader to take ownership of its next phase of UK growth and future European expansion via retail.

This is a build-and-scale leadership role for someone who has already helped take a challenger food, snacking or FMCG brand from early commercial traction into meaningful national retail distribution. This is an exciting opportunity for someone that shares the Founder's passion in health / wellness with a proven history of defining and executing the retail strategy to successfully launch and scale into UK retail accounts.

***** Please note – visa sponsorship is not available, so candidates must live in the UK with valid rights to work.

The Opportunity

The business is at an important stage of its growth and is looking for someone who wants genuine influence over product, commercial strategy and brand development as it scales. The business is backed by experienced investors and has ambitious plans for the UK market. This is a broad leadership opportunity with considerably more influence than a traditional commercial role, particularly for someone who enjoys building and scaling challenger brands within FMCG.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full commercial ownership of the UK FMCG business, including P&L, retail revenue, wholesale, commercial strategy and operational performance.


• Build and execute the strategy for winning and scaling national retail listings across major UK grocery, premium, online, health, convenience and travel channels.


• Personally lead senior retailer and buyer relationships, range reviews, category presentations, commercial negotiations and Joint Business Plans.


• Develop a structured retail pipeline covering target accounts, buyer engagement, range-review windows, opportunities, launches and retained listings.


• Drive rate of sale following launch through distribution, placement, promotional activity, retail media, shopper activation and effective account management.


• Own annual commercial planning and optimise revenue mix, gross margin, pricing, trade spend, cost-to-serve and working capital.


• Build and manage wholesale and distribution partnerships that expand profitable market coverage.


• Work closely with Brand and Marketing to align consumer activity, retail launches, shopper marketing and product positioning.


• Partner with supply chain and manufacturing teams on forecasting, S&OP, production planning, stock availability, service levels and OTIF performance.


• Support the ramp-up of increased production capacity and ensure operational readiness for significant new retail listings.


• Build, hire, coach and develop the commercial and operational team required to support the company's next stage of growth.


• Provide commercial performance reporting and strategic insight to the Founder, senior leadership team and board.


• Once the UK business is established at scale, develop and lead the strategy for expansion into selected European markets.

Experience Required

• 8+ years' experience within FMCG/CPG, ideally food, snacking, functional food, free-from, health & wellness or adjacent consumer categories.


• Proven experience in a senior Commercial, Sales, General Management or Country Leadership position.


• Demonstrable experience helping build and scale a challenger FMCG brand within the UK.


• Personally secured significant listings with major UK retailers and understands the process from buyer engagement and range review through to negotiation, launch and retained distribution.


• Strong existing relationships within relevant UK retail buying teams would be highly advantageous.


• Experience across major grocery, premium, online, health, convenience and/or travel retail channels.


• Strong understanding of category management, pricing, promotions, retailer economics and Joint Business Planning (JBP).


• Genuine P&L accountability with a strong understanding of revenue, gross margin, COGS, trade spend and operating profitability.


• Commercially analytical and comfortable using category, shopper and performance data to drive decisions.


• Understanding of forecasting, S&OP, manufacturing/co-manufacturing, stock management and OTIF/service levels.


• Experience building or developing commercial teams within a high-growth environment.


• Entrepreneurial and comfortable operating within a fast-moving challenger-brand or scale-up environment.


• Experience expanding a UK FMCG brand into European markets would be highly advantageous.

Highly Desirable

• Experience within healthier snacking, functional food, nutrition, wellness or better-for-you FMCG categories.


• Experience scaling a challenger brand from early-stage distribution into major UK retailers.


• Experience securing and expanding listings across major UK grocery and retail accounts.


• Experience working within founder-led, entrepreneurial or venture-backed consumer businesses.

What are the measurements of success?

• New UK retail listings secured and retained.


• Rate of sale and performance of products following launch.


• Strength and conversion of the retailer/buyer pipeline.


• Revenue growth and gross/operating margin improvement.


• Forecast accuracy, stock availability, OTIF and operational performance.


• Development of a scalable commercial and operations team.


• Creation and execution of a credible European expansion strategy