In a nutshell

To drive the growth of our Ecommerce marketplace by identifying, engaging, and onboarding new sellers and partners, expanding our product and service offering in line with the marketplace strategy. This role is pivotal in delivering ambitious growth targets and enhancing our marketplace’s value proposition to customers and sellers alike.

What I am accountable for 

• Identify, research, and prospect new business opportunities, including brands, retailers, and service providers, to join the marketplace.
• Conduct initial analysis and viability checks to ensure the target sellers and partners are the right ‘fit’ (e.g. product access, pricing, logistics, brand reputation etc.) to achieve the marketplace objectives.
• Lead, coach, and develop the New Business development team to develop and execute outreach strategies to attract high-potential sellers and partners. 
• Effectively pitch the marketplace’s value proposition to potential sellers and partners, both in one-to-one meetings and at designated industry events, clearly articulating the benefits of joining our platform and tailoring messaging to the audience’s needs.
• Lead commercial, SLA and contracting negotiations with new sellers to deliver our commercial targets and ensure smooth processing.
• Collaborate with internal teams (e.g., Marketing, Product, Operations) to deliver compelling propositions and integration solutions. 
• Regularly monitor and report on pipeline progress, conversion rates, and commercial outcomes against agreed KPIs. 
• Build and maintain strong relationships with prospective and onboarded sellers and  partners, acting as a trusted advisor. 
• Analyse market trends and competitor activity to inform business development strategy. 
• Resolve challenges and remove barriers to onboarding, using experience and established processes, working in a continuous improvement framework to improve speed to market and scalability. 
• Communicate regularly with internal and external stakeholders to ensure alignment and progress. 
• Own and maintain all materials to support seller acquisition.
• Coach and develop Direct reports and colleagues to achieve their best potential.

Key Performance Measures:

• Number and quality of new sellers/partners onboarded
• Revenue and GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) generated from new business
• Seller and partner pipeline conversion rates and time-to-sign
• Seller and partner satisfaction and retention rates
• Contribution to overall marketplace growth targets
• Range coverage in target categories
• Team engagement and development

What I need to know 

Essential

• Proven experience in business development, sales, or commercial roles within ecommerce, retail, or digital marketplaces. 
• Strong commercial acumen and negotiation skills. 
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities. 
• Proven people management and team leadership skills.
• Analytical mindset with experience using data to drive decisions. 
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment. 
• Knowledge of ecommerce platforms, seller ecosystems, and marketplace dynamics.

Desirable 

• Experience onboarding partners or sellers to a digital marketplace. 
• Understanding of seller acquisition and experience using CRM and email campaigns to achieve outreach goals.
• Familiarity with integration processes (APIs, feeds, etc.). 
• Degree or equivalent experience in Business, Marketing, or related field.

What I need to show

Our Valued Behaviours are our common DNA that every colleague should live by and provide the benchmark for how we deliver our goals/individual contribution, and how we relate to other colleagues in the organisation.

• Own it
  • Do what you say you’ll do
  • Don’t walk past a problem
• Make it better 
  • Improve things for your customer             
  • Spot opportunities to simplify 
• Be human 
  • Walk in the shoes of your colleagues and customers
  • Show care and respect to everyone

Valued Behaviours (C5):

C5

• Own it
  • Consistently deliver on outcomes and communicate clear plans and goals to others, resolving problems independently
  • Clearly and respectfully speak you mind, invite others to challenge or build on ideas and actively listen 
  • Proactively seek to understand the changing business context and work with peers to solve business challenges. Regularly review your goals to ensure you are focused on the right things 
• Make it better 
  • Embrace new ways of doing things without fear of failure, supporting others to do the same 
  • Open minded and proactively adapt your approach during times of change, supporting others to deal with unforeseen situations
  • Show curiosity about how the wider business operates 
  • Proactively seek feedback from a broad range of colleagues to build a robust development plan. Give feedback to colleagues at all levels.
• Be human 
  • Appreciate others’ moods and feelings and consciously adjust your approach accordingly
  • Proactively build relationships based on honesty and integrity
  • Always consider the customer’s perspective, continually looking for opportunities to build a great customer experience

In addition to role modelling the Valued Behaviours, all People Managers should be consistently driving all four Leadership Performance Expectations, all the time. 

The Leadership Performance Expectations are:

• Obsessed with the customer

You must:

• Use data and insight to understand customer needs and solve customer problems
  • Use our Purpose to support decision making everyday
  • Role model living our customer commitments and guide teams to do the same

• Obsessed with performance

  You must:

  • Know and be accountable for your part to play, delivering it brilliantly
  • Align team goals and ruthlessly prioritise resources to deliver our Customer Commitments 
  • Assign clear accountabilities, hold people accountable (in your team and out) and act on performance both good and bad

• Lead beyond boundaries

  You must:

  • Actively share and seek to understand the big picture, both internal and external
  • Story tell our Next Level Sainsbury’s strategy to drive end-to-end thinking 
  • Build productive partnership inside and outside our organisation

• Lead fearless teams

  You must:

  • Create the environment for diverse perspective and challenge, where we are always looking to raise the bar
  • Grow everyone around you (up, down and across) through adult-to-adult feedback and coaching
  • Know yourself (strengths, weaknesses and impact on others) and continuously develop 

 Support we will provide

• Access to training and development, including online learning, mentoring, and industry events. 
• Regular feedback and personal development planning. 
• Tools and resources to enable success in the role.

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