Culina Group is a leading UK 3rd party food & drinks logistics provider offering dedicated and shared user warehousing and distribution solutions.
At Culina we have a winning culture, we believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive… A place where you're valued, challenged, and inspired!
Job DescriptionWe have an exciting new opportunity to join our team as the Head of Business Development & Solution Design. The Culina Group Chilled & Fresh Division is a market leading 3PL, specialising in the management and delivery of time sensitive and perishable goods. Supporting a blue-chip client base, the business has a turnover in excess of £650m and delivers more than 17m pallets per year.
The Head of Business Development & Solution Design will help to shape, deliver and support the execution of the commercial growth strategy for the Chilled & Fresh Division over the next 3-5 years. This role combines strategic planning, with hands on leadership of business development activities, focusing on both new business acquisition and development of targeted existing key accounts with high growth potential.
Strategic planning is key to the critical success of this role and in line with developing a pipeline of new business coming into the Company, you will be required to ensure a thorough knowledge of the industry, its competitors and the solutions and services that the Company can provide. Developing tailor made customer solutions across the Chilled & Fresh Division and the wider Culina Group will be fundamental to the success of the role.
A high level of experience and a proven track record of owning a new business opportunity throughout the sales cycle and into a strong Contractual agreement is critical. Equally important, is the ability to work across all levels, both internally and externally to help ensure the best possible outcome for Culina and the customer.
Key responsibilities of the Head of Business Development & Solution Design:
- New Business Development: Establish and implement a structured approach to lead generation, pipeline management, and performance tracking.
- Complete Sales Cycle: Own the customer onboarding process from introduction, solution design, pricing agreement, Contract negotiation and implementation.
- Development of Existing Customers: Working with the rest of the Chilled & Fresh commercial team, to identify customers with significant development opportunities and develop plans to increase EBIT and lock in those customers for the long-term.
- Strategic Account Management: Ownership of a limited, but very select group of customers that are critical to the businesses long-term growth aspirations.
- Solution Design: Help to develop & design complex logistical and IT solutions to form part of the value proposition. Solutions may require bespoke development and investment, which must form part of the internal business case.
- Develop Group Opportunities: Work with the various Group commercial teams, to ensure all potential group opportunities are identified and progressed in an elegant and timely manner.
- Marketing: In collaboration with the central marketing function, help to develop a coherent marketing strategy and visual content for the Chilled & Fresh Division.
- Act as an ambassador for the Chilled & Fresh Division, engaging with internal/external stakeholders, industry bodies, and strategic partners.
- Proven track record in driving significant revenue growth through both new business acquisition and strategic account expansion, essentially within a logistics, warehousing, or supply chain environment.
- Strong understanding of the UK logistics and supply chain sector, including market dynamics, customer expectations, and operational models.
- Experienced in the writing of high quality proposals and tender documents, which are both creative and compelling with strong commercial acumen underpinning the commercials and content.
- An emotionally intelligent and proactive individual, able to represent the Company to the highest possible standards to a wide-ranging audience.
- Excellent numeracy and analytical skills, with attention to detail and capability to translate the operational and commercial solutions into a dynamic visual format.
- Direct experience managing high value strategic accounts, including contract negotiation, service expansion, and relationship development.
- Extensive experience of negotiating Contracts with a solid understanding of Contracting principles in the third party logistics sector.
- Experience of managing and developing a small but high performing team and then indirectly managing wider stakeholders involved in the solution design and delivery.
As part of our drive to make Culina Group a great place to work. We are proud to be an inclusive and diverse organisation where we are committed to employee development and recognising success for hard working performers.
Our dedicated learning and development programmes are open to every employee to give you the opportunity to shape your own future within logistics and continue to work in an environment where team culture thrives.
Our People are the driving force behind our success, which is why we offer a wide range of benefits which include:
- Annual Leave – Competitive holiday entitlement of 25 Days plus 8 Bank Holidays
- Company Bonus – We do our best work to succeed together. When we achieve our goals you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme
- Private Medical Cover – This gives you peace of mind, you have choice, flexibility and speed of access to the most clinically appropriate care via Bupa
- Car Allowance
- Pension scheme – we want colleagues to enjoy a comfortable retirement so we offer a great contribution of 5% employee and 8% employer
- Life Assurance - x4 your annual salary
- Wellness – Via our Employee Assistance Programme we offer immediate access to a confidential telephone counselling and legal information service that operates 24 hours a days, 365 days a year
- Eye Care Vouchers – We can provide you with substantial savings with free eye tests and discounts on prescription glasses
- Reward & Recognition – We recognise that employees have gone the extra mile via Employee of the month and year, special recognition and long service awards.
- Everyday discounts - via our benefit platform you will have access to over 50 retailer discounts for everyday savings!
If you meet the requirements for the above role and are looking for your next career opportunity please apply now and become a part of our #WinningTeam!
Skills Required
- Proven track record driving significant revenue growth through new business acquisition and strategic account expansion within logistics/warehousing/supply chain
- Strong understanding of the UK logistics and supply chain sector, market dynamics, customer expectations and operational models
- Experience owning full sales cycle: lead generation, solution design, pricing, contract negotiation and implementation
- Experience writing high-quality proposals and tender documents with strong commercial acumen
- Direct experience managing high-value strategic accounts including contract negotiation and service expansion
- Extensive experience negotiating contracts with solid understanding of contracting principles in third party logistics
- Experience developing bespoke logistical and IT solutions and building internal business cases for investment
- Experience managing and developing a small high-performing team and influencing wider stakeholders
- Excellent numeracy and analytical skills with attention to detail and ability to present operational/commercial solutions visually
- High emotional intelligence and ability to represent the company to senior internal and external stakeholders
What We Do
Culina Group is a market leading provider of high quality logistics services for food and drink companies in the UK and Ireland. We serve a sizeable portfolio of customers - ranging from niche operators to major multinational companies - across our vast depot network, comprised of over 100 strategically located sites. We work with over 22,000 fantastic people at peak and specialise in the development and implementation of total supply chain solutions for ambient and chilled brand manufacturers and distributors. We are totally customer focused and always seek to add real value to our clients, providing a holistic solution to meet the challenges faced by manufacturers and the changing demands of the retail sector.
