Senior Retail Media Sales & Planning Manager

As a Senior Media Sales Manager in the world of Retail Media, you will be the pivotal commercial force, engaging directly with Buyers and CPG partners to unlock the value of supplier funds against our diverse portfolio of internal and external media assets. Your mission is to strategically negotiate and secure high-value deals with Medium & Large sized suppliers, ensuring spend is maximised against available assets. You will drive maximum return for both Waitrose and the Suppliers by seamlessly aligning their investment ambitions with the customer plan to maximize the outcome for all parties.

Success in this role requires close collaboration with key internal stakeholders, including:
-Trading Teams (Buyers, Merchandisers, CPG's)
-The Customer Retail Media Campaigns and Planning Team
-The Retail Media Proposition team
-The Wider RM Sales team

• Expected salary - Salary up to £65,000 depending on experience.

• Contract type- This position is a Secondment/Fixed Term contract until May 2027.

• Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The team complete 3 days per week in the office to connect.

• Location - Bracknell Head Office

• Interviews - Interviews for this role are expected to take place WC 25th May

Key responsibilities

• Build relationships with medium & large sized Suppliers to sell in Waitrose campaigns and tactical opportunities.  

• Decide which suppliers to give dedicated time to and which to provide pre packaged opportunities, depending on spend commitment.  

• Maximising supplier funded investment in Waitrose within your category. Working collaboratively with your Retail Media Partners and Commercial Stakeholders to unlock new opportunities.  

• Own your Retail Media target to deliver the plan set out within your category to meet the Partnership, customer and supplier needs.  

• Ensuring your suppliers are given robust ROI feedback on campaign performance to support future investment decisions.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Minimum 5 years experience working for an FMCG brand, an agency dealing with FMCG clients or a FMCG retailer outside of The Partnership where you built out and sold Retail Media activation plans for brands.  

• Consultative Media Sales experience with a proven track record of meeting and exceeding revenue targets.  

• Strong levels of stakeholder management - can influence vertically at all levels as well horizontally to deliver the best outcomes. 

• Knowledge of the Grocery Retail Media market

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Experience of using Insight to build out media activation plans to meet brand objectives.  

• Digitally savvy, with experience of selling Onsite Media solutions including Sponsored Products via ad tech platforms. 

• Experience of situations which require a high degree of initiative and self-starter capability

For internal Partners, your existing benefits will remain unchanged during your secondment.

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We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.  

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.   

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect. 

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective. 

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.  

Important points to note:  

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.  

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.