Director of Solutions

 
Director of SOLUTIONS

Department: Product

Reports to: Product Director

ABOUT US

IGD is the food and consumer goods industry’s research body, a hub of best practice and thought leadership. Through our charitable activities we bring people and companies together to train and educate employees and deliver public impact. This work is supported by our trading company, which supplies the world's food and grocery businesses with first-class insight.

Those that flourish at IGD are looking to make a difference. A career with us offers you a unique opportunity to work across the food and consumer goods industry, to engage with industry leaders globally, to use your knowledge to share best practice, and to make a real impact.

Our people come from a variety of backgrounds and that’s what makes your time with us so special. We are made up of everyone from scientists to sales people, shopper specialists to economists, and we all learn from each other. Whether in commercial, charity or support roles, what unites us is our passion for the food and consumer goods industry and the way we approach what we do.

If you enjoy bringing people together, have a strong sense of what is right and always hold yourself to high standards, IGD is full of people who share your values. We’ve built a culture based on teamwork, integrity and excellence and these core values underpin everything we do.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

IGD Solutions provides personalised insights, training, and facilitation to IGD members worldwide.

We believe the growth potential is great, and we are looking for a progressive commercial leader to unlock this opportunity.  

The role is to lead the IGD Solutions team. Your time will be spent:

• Leading the Solutions product team, a team of seven dedicated FTE
• Owning and developing the Solutions products we take to market
• Working in partnership with IGD’s customer team to identify opportunities and create solutions to solve our customers challenges
• Customer-facing delivery to leadership team level
• Ensuring ongoing development of the IP that underpins our solutions

The successful candidate will have three key qualities;

• a rich knowledge of, and passion for, the grocery retail market
• consultancy experience with proven track record in being customer-centric with a partnership mindset
• be a great people leader, ready to drive dynamism to a team whilst holding people account to the highest standards

AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Lead Solutions product team

• Owns the development of the team, developing their capability
• Sets clear roles & responsibilities across team and between teams
• Maintains correct behaviours – collaborative, customer-focused, agile, growth mindset
• Owners resource plans and requirements, sets structures and recruitment
• Act as an ambassador for IGD externally and promote the organisation’s capability

Ownership of Solutions product & product plan

• Sets the long-term strategy for IGD Solutions
• Creation and delivery of Solutions product to deliver income and profit budget
• Sets product plans and visions, ensuring relevant and customer-led
• Assess competitor developments and implications for IGD
• Programme of product development to ensure customer relevancy
• Programme of product innovation, to generate new profitable revenues for IGD’s long-term success

Responsible for Solutions delivery

• Responsible for the team that delivers Solutions projects and commercial training
• Creates personalised Solutions to customer problems or opportunities
• Manage risk, mitigating actions and good governance in all operating practices
• Guardian of product quality, setting & maintaining standards
• Responsible for IGD IP that underpins our Solution product proposition
• Strong external network that supports both lead generation and customer insights to ensure customer relevancy, both individually and throughout the team

Financially accountable

• Accountable for the P&L success of the Solutions business unit
• Sets budgets and ensures delivery against them
• Sets processes to ensure pipeline, income, resource allocation and profit are actively managed
• Sets pricing

Leadership position in the Product team

• Identifies and maximises synergies with other Products and wider IGD
• Strong collaboration with sales and marketing colleagues to unlock commercial success for Solutions
• Role models behaviours

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS SOUGHT

• Extensive experience of, and passion for, the consumer goods industry
• Deep understanding of the commercial interface between retailers & manufacturers
• A bold and progressive individual with a forward-looking growth mindset
• Leadership experience in B2B consultancy, advisory services or training programmes
• Excellent, proven leadership skills, good team builder and coach with change management experience
• Commercial acumen, with the ability to create commercial opportunities and maximise value
• Credible at Board level with strong influencing capability
• Strong programme and projects management skills
• Collaborative approach with partnership mindset
• A dynamic individual, self-motivated and driven
• Low ego, high integrity and values led with strong customer focus

YOUR APPROACH

The role of Director of Solutions reports into Product Director, who represents the products team on the Executive Team. The commercial Executive Team make decisions using product, customer, brand and digital lenses with a partnership mindset in everything we do, and you will be expected to role model this collaborative approach.

IGD’s commercial products exist to deliver profit to fund IGD’s charitable initiatives, and the successful candidate will be proud to work for a charity, being motivated by both delivering value to our customers and helping create social impact.

Solutions is one of three commercial product pillars at IGD alongside our Events and Online Insight Services, and as product owner of IGD Solutions you will be part of the Product Leadership Team, identifying and driving synergies across all three products.

Note - Due to a high volume of applications, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. It is therefore recommended that you apply promptly.