Wine Buying Director

As you would expect from a FTSE 250 business, there are many central and shared services roles that keep the business running behind the scenes and work across all our group businesses. From roles in Marketing, HR, Legal, Finance, Health & Safety, Technical, and Technology and Transformation, these functions provide the skills, expertise and business support required to power our businesses across the UK and Ireland and to work alongside our Board and Executive functions to continue to operate a healthy and profitable business for our colleagues and our shareholders.

A unique opportunity has arisen in the form of Wine Buying Director, joining a passionate and high-performing commercial team responsible for supporting Matthew Clark, Bibendum,Tennent’s wholesale, Bibendum Off Trade and Walker & Wodehouse. This impactful role will directly influence the wine commercial strategy, delivering EBIT % growth, leveraging national and group purchasing strength whilst servicing the unique needs of each business unit’s customers.

About the Role 

We are looking for someone who excels in stakeholder communication, irrespective of seniority or background, and possesses a genuine interest in the human side of business. Committed to building lasting relationships, you will play a crucial role in fostering high-performing teams and transparent leadership, aiming to lead the nation's premier wine trading team.

In terms of strategy execution, you will manage the Wine trading P&L, contribute to budget reviews, and maintain leadership in product innovation and marketing. You will effectively communicate performance and changes throughout the organisation, demonstrating a strategic focus on sourcing from diverse suppliers.

The role involves creating scalable wine distribution methods while preserving the uniqueness of business units. Collaboration across the group is essential for optimizing the value chain, and you will set supplier strategy, manage long-term relationships, and represent the organization with industry bodies.

In addition to leading projects, you will adhere to company policies and procedures, showcasing a commitment to integrity and excellence in their role.

Key Accountabilities 

• Foster teams directly and indirectly. Ensure clear performance measures, personal development opportunities, succession planning and transparent leadership delivering the number one wine trading team in the country.
• Demonstrate creativity and curiousity, striving for continuous improvement with a key focus on being first to market and breaking new ground. Deliver the ambition to grow market share and profitability through innovation in product, processes, market approach and unlock new revenue streams.
• Work closely with the Commercial Director, Marketing Director, Head of Commercial Analysis and PROOF team to deliver customer centric wine strategy, supporting the customer proposition and business unit brands.
• Implement and develop wine strategy now and for the future delivering EBIT % growth and KPI’s. Responsible for Wine trading P&L into each business unit and annual budget/quarterly review process/monthly reviews. Strategy focused on sourcing from across a wide spectrum of suppliers, including some of the top artisan and blue chip producers.
• Maintain leadership in product, award winning proposition, innovation and marketing. Ensuring the team maintains a pioneering and market leading position with awareness of industry trends and direction.
• Key role in GB leadership. Communicate performance, opportunities, threats and change clearly and effectively to all levels of the business units and group.

About you 

With your extensive experience in Wine Buying and a background in wine brand and marketing, you bring a proven track record of negotiating successfully at various levels. Your leadership style, grounded in a deep understanding of your own impact on others, has enabled you to build and manage high-performing teams.

Possessing a strong commercial awareness, you excel in distinguishing between Volume and Passion producers. Your ability to communicate clearly, both in writing and verbally, extends to all levels within the business. You have a comprehensive understanding of the UK Drinks Market, including its trends and challenges, further enhancing your strategic approach to the role.

About Us 

Operating through the Matthew Clark, Bibendum, Tennent’s and Bulmers Ireland brands, the Group has a market leading range, scale and reach including an intimate understanding of the markets it serves.  

Together we grow, brew, manufacture, market, and deliver some of the world’s favourite drinks. From grass to glass, and everything in between. C&C Group plc is a premium drinks company which owns, manufactures, markets, and distributes a unique portfolio of beer and cider brands in its home markets and across the globe. 

C&C Group’s portfolio of owned/exclusive brands include: Bulmers, the leading Irish cider brand; Tennent’s, the leading Scottish beer brand; Magners the premium international cider brand; as well as a range of fast-growing, premium and craft ciders and beers, such as Heverlee, Menabrea, Five Lamps and Orchard Pig.  

We seek to champion and embed sustainability in everything that we do at C&C. While delivering joy to customers, we always shine a light on people and the planet. We have a clear ESG vision delivering to a better world. We respect, support, and develop all our people to be their best, with a focus on results by creating a culture of winning together. 

We also recognize that people come with a wealth of experience and talent beyond just the technical requirements of a job. If your experience is close to what you see listed here, please still consider applying. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to delivering on our mission. Therefore, we encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. Please let us know if you require accommodations during the interview process. 

C&C Group (and inclusive companies) do not accept unsolicited CVs from recruiters or employment agencies in response to any of our roles. For help, please contact our Talent Acquisition Team at careers@candcgroup.com. All applications need to come through the candidate portal https://careers.candcgroupplc.com/vacancies/