Listgrove Ltd
Commercial Director
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT & HR EXPERTS ACROSS THE PLASTICS, PACKAGING, SPECIALITY CHEMICALS, LIFE SCIENCES, BIOPOLYMER, FOOD ADDITIVES & INGREDIENTS, ENERGY AND RECYCLING SECTORS SINCE 1975.
Plastics manufacturer
Home based but with regular travel to Scotland. Ideal location will be Midlands, North West, Yorkshire, North East or Scotland
Job ref: CST/65168
Salary: £75000 basic salary + car
The Company:
Our client is a leading well-respected and long-standing plastics manufacturer that is seeking a Commercial Director to develop and implement a business strategy that will enable the company to refine its market focus, improve customer execution through a more partnership-led approach and deliver significant, sustainable sales growth.
Overview of role:
Reporting directly to the MD, this role is being created to lead the front-end growth of the business. The Commercial Director will own the sales, marketing and customer service functions — running them day-to-day while reshaping the commercial strategy — and act as a genuine strategic partner to the MD, jointly accountable for delivering the company's growth plan.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic partnership to the MD:
- Act as a close, analytically credible sounding board to the MD on commercial and wider business strategy, bringing structured thinking and data — not just opinion — to decisions.
- Co-own the company's growth strategy with the MD, deputising on commercial matters and representing the commercial function at senior leadership and board level.
- Agree and own a commercial KPI scorecard with the MD, covering sales growth, gross margin, cost-to-serve, distributor concentration, customer retention and service levels.
- Translate the strategy into a concrete, resourced commercial plan with clear ownership, milestones and measures of success.
- Provide the MD with regular, evidence-based reporting on commercial performance against the strategic plan, including the headline objective of delivering 25% sales growth within the next two years.
Customer and sales strategy:
- Lead a full mapping exercise of the customer base to identify spend thresholds and segment accounts by value and strategic fit.
- Run a rigorous cost-to-serve and margin analysis by account, to build an evidence-based (not purely size-based) case for which accounts to retain, grow, transition or exit.
- Reduce the active account base from 150+ to a focused list of under 20 strategically valuable accounts, targeting 80% of sales from the top 10 master distributors.
- Identify and re-engage lapsed customers who previously traded above the target spend threshold.
- Proactively target and win new strategically valuable distributor and key accounts, including in adjacent sectors and geographies, to replace lower-value volume and drive net growth.
- Decide, and build the commercial case for, a distributor-only vs. hybrid route-to-market model.
- Review and refine the existing tiered pricing and terms framework, recommend enhancements in line with market drivers and manage its rollout to the distributor base.
- Design and implement a tiered pricing and terms framework and manage its rollout to the distributor base.
- Quantify revenue-at-risk from any accounts being transitioned or exited and own a mitigation plan per account.
- Lead the review of the trade show and exhibition programme, through the Marketing team, to identify and convert higher-spend prospects.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Commercial sales & marketing leadership:
- Own and upgrade the overall commercial and sales strategy, moving the function from reactive order-taking to proactive, targeted account management.
- Manage, coach and where necessary restructure the sales team to match the new strategic direction and required calibre.
- Own sales forecasting, pipeline and revenue reporting.
- Select, implement and manage a CRM system as the single source of truth for accounts, pipeline and customer activity, and embed its use across the sales, marketing and customer service teams.
- Work closely with Production and Product pillars to ensure the customer and product portfolios are simplified in a coordinated way.
- Directly manage the Marketing function, owning the marketing strategy, plan and budget so that brand, digital, campaign and exhibition activity generates qualified demand from target accounts.
- Directly manage the Customer Service / Sales Administration team, setting service standards and ensuring order processing and customer communication support a partnership approach with key accounts.
Person Profile:
Experience:
- Proven track record of delivering measurable sales and margin growth in a senior commercial leadership role (Commercial Director / Head of Sales / Commercial Manager or equivalent), ideally in a B2B manufacturing, industrial or distribution-led business.
- Direct experience of customer base rationalisation, account segmentation, or route-to-market redesign (e.g. distributor vs. direct, tiered pricing) — not just growing a book of business.
- Experience operating at or close to board/MD level, contributing to strategy rather than only executing it.
- Experience managing and developing a sales team, including performance management and capability upgrades.
- Experience of leading, or having direct responsibility for, marketing and customer service/sales administration teams.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Skills & attributes:
- Strong commercial and financial acumen — comfortable building and interrogating margin, cost-to-serve and pricing models.
- Highly analytical: able to develop account and sales data into clear segmentation, evidence-based decisions and a prioritised action plan.
- Strategic mindset with the ability to zoom out to the wider business plan and zoom in to individual account economics.
- Confident, credible operator at senior level — able to challenge constructively and act as a genuine thinking partner to the MD.
- Strong negotiation and relationship-management skills for senior distributor and key-account relationships.
- Growth-oriented and commercially entrepreneurial — able to spot, shape and close new business opportunities, not just manage existing accounts.
- Comfortable leading change — including difficult conversations around exiting or transitioning unprofitable accounts.
- Proficient with data/analysis tools (advanced Excel as a minimum; CRM and BI tool experience an advantage), with hands-on experience of implementing and embedding a CRM system.
Please understand that due to the expected high number of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly.
Applicants must have the legal right to work in the country where the role is located. Evidence of the right to work may be required during the recruitment process.
For reasons of readability, gender-specific language has been simplified. All references to individuals apply equally to people of all genders.
To apply:
Please contact Conrad Taylor
conrad.taylor@listgrove.com
0044 (0) 1789 207070
Why select Listgrove?
- Five Decades of Market Intelligence
- Unrivalled Industry Networks
- Recognised International brand
- HR Qualified Professionals
To hear from our clients on how we have supported their search for talent and HR needs, please visit Listgrove’s Case Studies page.
Throughout 2026 & 2027 you can meet with Listgrove at the following exhibitions: Interpack, France Innovation Plasturgie, Interplas UK, Plast Milan, Fakuma, ArabPlast, NPE 2027.
Performance through People.
Please visit www.listgrove.com for more information on our services, global success and testimonials.
Listgrove Limited Registered in England No: 01197713
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location