Head of Commercial

Head of Commercial Peterborough (With UK wide travel) £55,000 - £60,000

Want to play a key role in developing the future talent pipeline for the UK food and fresh produce industry?

This is an exciting opportunity to join MDS, the UK's leading graduate development programme for the food, fresh produce and horticulture sectors.

This is a brand-new senior role reporting directly to the CEO, giving you the opportunity to shape how MDS works with its members and influence the future direction of the organisation.

As Head of Commercial, you'll take ownership of relationships with more than 65 member companies, helping them maximise the value of their membership while driving engagement, increasing secondment opportunities and supporting the continued growth of MDS.

What's on Offer?

• A newly created senior role with real strategic influence
• Opportunity to shape the commercial future of a respected industry organisation
• Build relationships with some of the UK's leading food, fresh produce and horticulture businesses
• Salary of £55,000-£60,000 depending on experience
• 25 days of holiday + 3 bank holiday days

What's the Job?

You'll be responsible for leading MDS's commercial relationships with its member companies, ensuring they receive outstanding value while helping grow participation across the MDS programme. This is a relationship-led commercial role where you'll have the autonomy to develop new ideas, influence business strategy and make a genuine impact across the organisation.

Day to day, you'll be:

• Building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across member organisations
• Developing engagement plans that strengthen member participation and retention
• Growing secondment opportunities to support the MDS graduate programme
• Leading the Voice of Member programme to gather insight and improve the member experience
• Re-engaging inactive members and helping them become active participants again
• Identifying and recruiting new member organisations
• Overseeing the onboarding of new members to ensure a first-class experience
• Using CRM data and commercial insight to monitor engagement and identify opportunities
• Working closely with colleagues across recruitment, marketing, people development and operations to deliver the best outcomes for members

What do I need?

• Proven experience in account management, client relationship management or commercial partnership development
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the confidence to influence senior decision-makers
• A commercial mindset, with experience in indentifiying opportunities for growth and long-term value
• Experience working within the food, fresh produce, agriculture or horticulture sectors (or a closely related field)
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills
• Experience using CRM systems to manage customer or member relationships

What's next?

For an informal chat, please call Georgie on or email .

Don't worry if your CV isn't completely up to date. Send over what you have, and we'll take it from there.