Managing Director - #2157975

Managing Director


Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Salary: Circa £90k – £120k base Car Bonus LTIP Benefits
Reports to: Founder

The Role

As Managing Director, you will take overall responsibility for the performance, development and direction of the business. You will lead the business through a combination of strategic thinking, commercial leadership, operational understanding, people development and continuous improvement. You will spend time across the organisation and be highly visible on site. You will understand the detail without becoming trapped by it, knowing when to step in, when to challenge, when to delegate and when to take a longer-term view. The overarching commercial objective will be to increase market share and strengthen the business position within its chosen markets, using a combination of organic growth, sales development, customer retention, proposition development, operational improvement and other strategic opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Take overall responsibility for the performance, direction and future development of the business. Act as the principal leader and figurehead, representing the company with employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
• Develop and execute a clear, commercially focused strategy designed to increase market share, revenue, profitability and long-term enterprise value.
• Continually assess the business model, proposition, markets and competitive landscape to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
• Challenge existing thinking and ensure the organisation remains forward-looking, commercially relevant and responsive to changing customer and market requirements.
• Identify and evaluate new routes to growth, including customer development, new markets, product opportunities, partnerships and other strategic initiatives.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer needs, buying behaviour, market dynamics and competitor activity. Ensure the business remains focused on customer retention, customer development and winning new business.
• Ensure commercial opportunities are translated into sustainable and profitable growth.
• Maintain oversight of the full operation, including distribution, warehousing, logistics, procurement, supply chain, customer service, sales, finance, people and technology.
• Ensure the business has the systems, processes and organisational capability required to deliver excellent customer service efficiently and consistently.
• Identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, duplication and unnecessary cost across the organisation and lead initiatives to address them. Establish clear performance measures and accountability across functions.
• Act as a senior troubleshooter, bringing structure and commercial judgement to complex or cross-functional problems.
• A key differentiator of this role will be the requirement to understand and utilise technology, data and analytics as business tools. Develop a strong understanding of systems, technology infrastructure, data and reporting capabilities.
• Be a highly visible, present and approachable leader. Coach and challenge senior leaders while giving them appropriate ownership and accountability. Identify capability gaps and ensure the organisation develops the skills required for future growth.
• Personally engage where senior-level intervention, relationship management or problem-solving is required.
• Take overall accountability for business performance and financial outcomes. Establish appropriate budgets, forecasts and performance measures. Identify opportunities to improve profitability without compromising customer experience or long-term growth.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will think and act like an owner, taking genuine accountability for overall business performance and combining strong commercial and sales acumen with a clear understanding of how to grow market share profitably. They will be a broad, hands-on business leader, equally comfortable operating across sales, operations, finance, people, IT and strategy, with the analytical curiosity to understand what the data is telling them and the commercial judgement to turn insight into action. They will enjoy getting close to the detail without losing sight of the bigger picture, be a natural problem solver and troubleshooter, and move confidently between strategic thinking and practical execution.

They will challenge existing processes and conventional thinking, identify opportunities to improve efficiency and performance, and champion a culture of continuous improvement. Equally important, they will be a visible, approachable and people-focused leader who builds credibility at every level of the organisation, develops strong management teams and creates clear accountability. They will be commercially confident with customers and suppliers, possess the maturity and judgement to make difficult decisions when required, and be forward-thinking in anticipating what the business will need next. Ultimately, they will be as comfortable discussing strategy with shareholders as they are working through the detail of a process with an operational team.

Experience & Qualifications

• Significant senior leadership experience within a B2B business.
• Previous responsibility for a broad business operation rather than a single functional area.
• A demonstrable track record of delivering business growth and improving performance.
• Strong commercial and sales understanding.
• Experience within distribution, wholesale, logistics, supply chain or another comparable environment is highly desirable.
• Experience leading operational improvement and efficiency programmes.
• Strong financial and commercial literacy.
• Experience using data and management information to drive decisions. A strong understanding of business systems, IT and digital development.
• Experience developing teams and building organisational capability.
• The ability to operate effectively in a hands-on, entrepreneurial and evolving environment
• Most importantly, they will have the breadth to see the whole business, understanding how people, customers, sales, operations, technology, data and finance connect and the energy and determination to continually make it better.