First Point Group is recruiting for a Sales Director (Retail)

First Point Group is recruiting for a Sales Director (Retail) with recent experience (last 5-10 years) of launching and scaling a food / snacking scale-up brand (that is founded less than 10 years ago) across UK retail accounts.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a high-growth, science-led, food wellness brand at a pivotal stage of growth. With national retail opportunities developing, increased production capacity coming online and international demand emerging, the business is looking for a senior commercial leader to take ownership of its next phase of UK growth and future European expansion via retail.

This is a build-and-scale leadership role for someone who has already helped take a challenger food, snacking or FMCG brand from early commercial traction into meaningful national retail distribution. This is an exciting opportunity for someone that shares the Founder's passion in health / wellness with a proven history of defining and executing the retail strategy to successfully launch and scale into UK retail accounts.

Please note – visa sponsorship is not available, so candidates must live in the UK with valid rights to work.

The Opportunity

The business is at an important stage of its growth and is looking for someone who wants genuine influence over product, commercial strategy and brand development as it scales. The business is backed by experienced investors and has ambitious plans for the UK market. This is a broad leadership opportunity with considerably more influence than a traditional commercial role, particularly for someone who enjoys building and scaling challenger brands within FMCG.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full commercial ownership of the UK FMCG business, including P&L, retail revenue, wholesale, commercial strategy and operational performance.
• Build and execute the strategy for winning and scaling national retail listings across major UK grocery, premium, online, health, convenience and travel channels.
• Personally lead senior retailer and buyer relationships, range reviews, category presentations, commercial negotiations and Joint Business Plans.
• Develop a structured retail pipeline covering target accounts, buyer engagement, range-review windows, opportunities, launches and retained listings.
• Drive rate of sale following launch through distribution, placement, promotional activity, retail media, shopper activation and effective account management.
• Own annual commercial planning and optimise revenue mix, gross margin, pricing, trade spend, cost-to-serve and working capital.
• Build and manage wholesale and distribution partnerships that expand profitable market coverage.
• Work closely with Brand and Marketing to align consumer activity, retail launches, shopper marketing and product positioning.
• Partner with supply chain and manufacturing teams on forecasting, S&OP, production planning, stock availability, service levels and OTIF performance.
• Support the ramp-up of increased production capacity and ensure operational readiness for significant new retail listings.
• Build, hire, coach and develop the commercial and operational team required to support the company's next stage of growth.
• Provide commercial performance reporting and strategic insight to the Founder, senior leadership team and board.
• Once the UK business is established at scale, develop and lead the strategy for expansion into selected European markets.