Head of Trade - Ireland
- Team
- Food
- Location
- Dublin 1, Dublin
- Position type
- Full Time
- Contract type
- Permanent
- Salary
- Competitive + Benefits
How We Hire
Everyone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you. And when you’re part of M&S, that individuality has the potential to make waves.
About the role
This section tells you all you need to know about the position and its responsibilities, outlining everything we hope to see in a successful candidate.
All the details
Role Purpose
Lead the commercial performance, trading strategy and local sourcing agenda of the M&S Food business across Ireland ensuring the business delivers against sales, profit, customer, availability and strategic growth objectives.
As the senior commercial leader for Ireland, translating local market dynamics, regulation (inc SPS transition), customer trends and competitor activity into trading decisions, whilst representing the Irish business with suppliers, external stakeholders and GB functions.
Key Responsibilities
Commercial Leadership & Trading Performance
- Own overall Food commercial performance across ROI
- Set the Irish market trading agenda across buying, pricing, promotions and insight
- Deliver sales, profit, margin, market share and availability targets.
- Lead seasonal planning and event trading (with additional oversite of NI)
- Review category performance and identify commercial opportunities and risks
- Provide recommendations on ranging, pricing, promotions and category investment
- Translate competitor activity and market trends into commercial actions
Local Sourcing & Supplier Strategy
- Lead M&S Ireland's local sourcing agenda and supplier strategy. .
- Build strategic partnerships with Irish food suppliers, working to develop a growth resilience plan.
- Identify opportunities to increase Irish provenance and local relevance within the range.
- Maintain executive relationships with major suppliers and industry bodies.
- Manage supplier risk, continuity and contingency planning.
- Lead supplier engagement events and forums.
Pricing, Promotions & Commercial Insight
- Sponsor the Ireland pricing strategy.
- Oversee promotional planning and execution.
- Maintain market competitiveness against Irish retailers.
- Review KVI performance and competitive price positioning.
- Govern ROI-specific and NI-specific pricing requirements.
- Ensure insights are translated into commercial action
- Lead post-investment reviews and event performance analysis
Regulation, Legislation & Market Representation
Act as the senior commercial owner for Irish market requirements including:
- DRS
- MUP
- SPS
- Windsor Framework implications
- Food labelling requirements
- Cross-border trading considerations
- Irish regulatory changes
- Industry consultations
Supply Chain & Availability
- Oversee Irish food supply chain performance, govern forecasting and demand planning processes.
- Manage availability, waste and stock flow.
- Escalate supply risks affecting ROI and NI.
- Support major logistics programmes and regulatory transitions.
- Ensure launch readiness and event readiness across categories.
Team Leadership
Led a multifunctional commercial organisation comprising:
- Buyers
- Pricing & Promotions
- Trade Planning
- Commercial Insight
- Technical and Agronomy support/ Product Development (dotted line engagement)
Strategic Planning & Growth
- Define the commercial growth strategy for Food Ireland.
- Build business cases for investment.
- Lead transformation initiatives.
- Influence long-term estate, channel and franchise plans.
- Support Board and ExCo discussions.
Cross-Functional Leadership
Acted as the commercial interface between:
- GB Food Commercial
- Marketing
- Retail Operations
- Supply Chain/ Logistics
- Finance
- Product Development/ Technical
Being an in-person business
We're at our best when we're close to customers, and for many of us at M&S, that means working in store every day.
To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected. It also means we can solve problems as soon as they arise, learn and grow as a team, build trust, and get closer to our colleagues.
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Make Your Mark
Opportunities to be heard
Your voice matters here. You can share your ideas ‘Straight to Stuart’, our CEO, or get involved in our BIG (Business involvement Group). Our colleague networks are also great places to find support, listen to each other and encourage debate.
Experience the business
We’re passionate about our customers and colleagues. To get closer to our customers we work in our stores 7 days per year. That way we can see how operations run and look for ways to do better each day.
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Benefits
How to Apply
Here’s what to expect at each stage of the application process. This can change depending on the role you’ve applied to. If you need any reasonable adjustments made at any stage, let us know and we can help.
Send us your application
Fill in our short application form and hit submit.
Online assessment
We’ll invite you to take part in an online assessment. This could be before or after your interview.
In-person assessment centre
We’ll invite you to an in-person assessment centre for an interview. This process may differ depending on the role you’ve applied to.
Decision
After we’ve decided, we’ll be in touch. If you’ve been successful, we’ll officially invite you to join the team and let you know the next steps.
Head of Trade - Ireland
- Team
- Food
- Location
- Dublin 1, Dublin
- Position type
- Full Time
- Contract type
- Permanent
- Salary
- Competitive + Benefits
- Reference: 141981