Head of Trading (Ambient)

Description:

Location: Willenhall (West Midlands) or Talbot Green (South Wales), with remote working
Salary: Competitive plus Company Car (or Car Allowance) plus excellent benefits
Hours: 40 Hours Per Week
Contract: Permanent
Department: Group Trading

We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Trading covering BWS, C&T and Soft Drinks to join our AFB team; leading a team of 4 direct reports, ensuring that they lead and drive the commercial growth, procurement excellence, and net profit development of Ambient goods across the SPAR retail and wholesale business.

Reporting to the Trading Director, this high-impact role is key to driving commercial performance through insight led decision making, precision execution, and strategic leadership. You'll play a pivotal role in shaping a market leading product portfolio for SPAR stores and customers while leading a team of Trading specialists and working cross functionally across the business.

About Us

A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd is a dynamic, family-owned business with a proud heritage dating back to 1917. As one of the UK's largest privately owned companies, we employ over 7,000 people and generate a turnover of £1.1 billion. Ranked among the UK's top 100 private businesses, we're passionate about food, innovation, and service. Our operations span retail, wholesale distribution, foodservice, fresh meat and logistics.

What You'll Be Doing

Maximise Net Profit: Own the P&L performance across key Ambient categories, implementing advanced pricing models and margin management strategies to protect the bottom line
Advanced Supplier Negotiations: Secure market leading corporate terms, volume rebates, and long term supply agreements with suppliers to benefit SPAR retailers
Cost Mitigation: Continuously analyse commodity markets and inflation trends to proactively mitigate cost price increases (CPIs) and protect business viability
Compliance & Safety Assurance: Ensure all sourced vendors and products comply with strict food safety standards, allergen tracking, and technical specifications
Capability Building: Lead, mentor, and upskill a high-performing team, fostering a culture of sharp commercial accountability
Distribution Centre (DC) Efficiency: Drive range rationalisation and supplier delivery alignment to minimise SKU complexity, improve warehouse space utilisation, and maximise operational throughput in the RDCs and DCs
Cross-Functional Alignment: Champion cross-functional collaboration on range architecture and retailer offers, ensuring procurement decisions balance commercial profitability with operations, logistics, and retailer and shopper needs
Retailer & Customer Requirement Execution: Secure and validate that all sourced ranges directly reflect and fulfil strict retailer and customer requirements, bespoke specifications, and service-level agreements
Team Leadership & Development

Lead, coach and develop a team of specialists
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement
Establish clear objectives, development plans and performance metrics
Build succession pipelines and identify future talent needs
What's In It For You

You will play a key role in our organisation and make a significant contribution to our ongoing success. In return, we offer comprehensive training, ongoing support, and continuous development opportunities — along with a competitive salary and an excellent benefits package.

34 days holiday per year including public holidays (increasing after 3, 5 and 10 years)
Cycle to work scheme
Develop your skills and capability in a highly supportive and multi-diverse culture
Outstanding training & development opportunities
Gain hands-on experience in a high volume, fast paced environment
Enhanced maternity & paternity pay packages
Flexible working hours opportunity
Early access to your pay through 'EarlyPay'
24/7 access to your payslips via HR/Payroll portal
12.5% staff discount on fresh items & 10% staff discount on ambient products in our SPAR stores (excluding alcohol & cigarettes)
Wellbeing support – access to emotional support, counselling, legal and financial advice
Company pension scheme
Company life insurance worth 1 x annual salary and 6 x annual salary with company pension scheme
NEST pension scheme
Extra holiday purchase scheme
Long service awards
As a Disability Confident Committed employer, we are dedicated to creating a fair, inclusive workplace for all. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the role.

Job Description available for download.

You may have experience in the following: Trading Manager, Category Trading Manager, Head of Procurement, Head of Category Management, Commercial Trading Manager, Group Trading Manager, Buying Director, Head of Buying, Ambient Category Manager, Senior Procurement Manager, Commercial Director, etc