Head of Sales – Grocery
About Pukpip
We are on a mission to help consumers eat more fruit in fun, delicious and convenient ways. In Jan 2023, Pukpip launched the UK’s first range of Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas and is now disrupting the ice cream category with indulgent frozen fruit across the UK as well as Dubai. Pukpip brings consumers the best of both words; real fruit, that’s real & indulgent so you can feel good about treating yourself.
Sustainability is at the heart of the brand; Pukpip upcycles the bananas that would otherwise go to waste, helping them find their true calling as tasty, chocolate covered treats. Once the bananas are peeled, dipped and safely in the freezer, the skins are upcycled back into the ecosystem.
Job Description
We are looking for a passionate, highly motivated, hardworking, and entrepreneurial Head of Sales to join the Pukpip team. Reporting into and working closely alongside the Managing Director this role will lead the Pukpip sales strategy, with clear category story and reason for the buyers to buy into the brand.
The Head of Sales will unlock new grocery listings in the UK, where the business is currently focusing, demonstrating the strength of our brand and products to retailers by adding category value & incrementality and winning market share. We are here to challenge, disrupt and transform the ice cream category with indulgent frozen fruit.
You will unlock new wholesalers and as well as continue to drive our presence in Saudi and Dubai. We are keen to expand into new geographies, once we have established the brand in the UK. The role will be supported by our Business Development and Marketing Manager.
We are looking for someone who is passionate about better-for-you snacking, social impact, and people and is laser-focused on revenue and distribution growth. This role will be integral to driving the growth and success of the brand. This is an opportunity to join a business right at the beginning and to be an instrumental player in bringing rapid growth to a totally new category in the UK.
Key Responsibilities
Customer management & New Business
- Develop, lead & deliver the overall sales growth plans for the UK and future expansion.
- Day to day contact for existing key accounts including Ocado, Whole Foods Market and 3 Wholesalers, responsible for all admin associated with the support of the BDM
- Responsible for developing value-creating relationships with Buyers and Category Directors and their teams to drive growth & new listings in the Top 6 grocery retailers
- Responsible for driving new business wins across a number of channels outside of grocery – as a start up business this is a huge focus for us
- Develop and refine our category story to support winning new business
- Partner with supply chain on day-to-day sales, stock and distributor relationships to execute and maximise sales & promo activity across key customers
- Deliver the revenue & margin targets for UK and constantly review the P&L to find cost savings
Manage a team of 1 BDM
- Set and deliver the commercial strategy to guide the team including pricing, RRPs, cost price increases, and setting the team’s revenue and profit targets
- Attend key new customer meetings & support during all negotiations
- Sign off all commercial deals
- Weekly 121’s
- Ensure you and the team is analysing category data and implementing strategies to win in the market, keeping a close eye on competition in the category
- Deliver monthly forecasting process, ensuring it’s on time and accurate. Work closely with supply chain to ensure manufacturing aligns to forecast changes
- Recruit, train, motivate and develop a high performing team
The Person
- You have proven experience within FMCG sales & activation, with extensive knowledge of the UK market– ideally frozen &/ or Ice Cream
- Passionate about better for you snacking and social impact
- Fantastic strategic skills and highly commercial
- A real people person who is positive and enthusiastic
- You have a proven track record in business development particularly winning new business, and executing shopper brand activations
- You are a dynamic high performer who is hungry to make an impact and be integral in creating an outstanding company and category
- You have excellent written and oral communication skills aligned with impressive presentation and negotiation skills
- You understand and have experience in developing category stories for the retailers
- You love problem-solving and have analytical skills to interpret sales performance and market trend information
- Ambitious and entrepreneurial, in that you are comfortable with ambiguity and are energised by the process of building something lasting from the ground up & the ability to work autonomously to drive business growth
Benefits
- Competitive Salary with an annual bonus
- Flexible working hours & working from home options with 3 days in a central London Co-working space
- Free gym membership and classes in our 2 Central London locations
- Private health care
- 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
- All the Frozen Banana products you could wish for!
Interview process
- 1st stage: Teams call, intro and run through CV
- 2nd stage: F2F interview with presentation
All applications are being handled by our retained partner Swish Recruitment ltd.
For more information, please contact Claire Steeper on 07488 254 312 or email claire.steeper@swishrecruitment.com
All direct and third party applications will be forwarded to Swish Recruitment for consideration.
