Job Introduction
As we continue our mission to make people and nature happy through chocolate, we're looking for a Retail Partners National Account Manager to join our Wholesale team on a full time, permanent basis.
This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially driven account manager to take ownership of established UK Wholesale accounts, drive profitable sales growth and build strong, long-lasting partnerships with our Wholesale Partners.
As our Wholesale Account Manager, you’ll own the commercial performance of your accounts, with responsibility for delivering sales and profit targets across your P&L. You’ll be the primary relationship owner for your accounts, acting as the face of Hotel Chocolat to our partners and the voice of the account internally.
Working closely with the Wholesale Merchandiser and teams across the business, you’ll identify commercial opportunities, shape account strategies and ensure excellent execution.
As well as a competitive salary and a range of company benefits, you’ll receive 50% discount on all products, and a 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia.
Here at Hotel Chocolat, we've adopted hybrid working. The on-site location for this role is our support office, ‘Mint House’, in Royston, Hertfordshire. Our home from the very beginning, it’s just off the A505 and 10 minutes’ walk from Royston train station, with direct rail links to London King’s Cross.
JOB ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Owning the P&L for your accounts, delivering sales and profit targets and taking proactive action to maximise performance.
- Building and maintaining strong relationships with Wholesale Partners.
- Analysing account performance to identify trends, opportunities and risks and developing action plans to drive results.
- Providing demand insights and supporting accurate SKU- and category-level forecasting.
- Working closely with the Wholesale Merchandiser to optimise stock allocation, minimise short-dated stock and maintain excellent service levels.
- Supporting joint business planning and contract renewals for key accounts.
- Collaborating with Wholesale Marketing to ensure activity is aligned with our strategic objectives and brand.
- Working with Category Strategy, Trading and Omnichannel teams to develop NPD, seasonal and activity plans.
- Regularly reforecasting demand and contributing to S&OE and S&OP processes.
- Using account data and insights to support reporting and commercial decision-making.
- Acting as an escalation point for operational challenges and supporting teams to resolve issues quickly.
- Identifying opportunities to improve processes, increase efficiency and unlock additional revenue and profit.
- Keeping up to date with competitor activity and Wholesale market trends to identify new opportunities.
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Who You Are
You’ll be a commercially minded and analytical professional who enjoys building strong relationships and turning insights into action.
You’ll bring:
- Experience in account management, merchandising, demand planning or a similar commercial role.
- Strong commercial acumen, including experience managing a P&L.
- Experience with short- and mid-term forecasting at product and category level.
- Strong analytical skills and confidence using Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.
- Strong negotiation skills and the ability to build effective commercial partnerships.
- The ability to turn complex data into clear, actionable insights.
- A proactive approach to identifying opportunities and solving problems.
- Willingness to travel approximately 25% across the UK.
It Would Be Great If You Also Have
- Experience working in a Wholesale environment, either in account management or buying.
- Experience using Power BI, Tableau or similar data visualisation tools.
- Experience within retail, FMCG, food, luxury or consumer goods.
Who We Are…
We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol, and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser™.
A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.
Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to 135 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers, and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together. To learn more about us and read about our People Pledge – our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion – click here: hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html