Location: This is a hybrid role, offering a combination of being able to work remotely and from our London and Corby offices, or base in Frankfurt – it is likely you will attend our offices when the needs of the business arise.
The Opportunity
Serve as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to the Senior Vice President of EMEA Product & Supplier Management and the leadership team. Director of Strategic Operations, P&SM ensures alignment between vision, priorities, and execution by driving operational excellence, coordinating strategic initiatives, and acting as a bridge between EMEA P&SM function and the wider organization. By driving alignment between strategic intent and operational execution this role enables focus on key priorities, strengthens collaboration and enhances effectiveness of the P&SM function. It plays a key part in translating the executive vision into tangible outcomes, fostering accountability, and helping embed a high-performance culture.
Strategic Leadership & Execution
1. Translate strategic goals into actionable plans with clear milestones, ownership, and measures of success.
2. Drive delivery of the P&SM strategy, ensuring alignment between local, regional and global priorities.
3. Identify emerging risks, opportunities, and interdependencies that could impact project outcomes.
4. Coordinate strategic reviews, annual operating plans, and quarterly business updates for the SVP and
5. leadership team.
6. Partner with Finance and People Partners to track budgets, headcount, and resource allocations
7. aligned to strategic objectives
8. Act as primary strategic deputy to the SVP of P&SM, stepping in to represent leadership priorities and driving decision-making continuity when SVP in unavailable
9. Act as an extension of the VP of P&SM’s commercial responsibilities by ensuring strategic initiatives are commercially viable, value-adding, and aligned with broader business strategy
Executive Partnership
10. Serve as the primary point of contact and strategic advisor to the SVP on business priorities, communications, and decision-making.
11. Provide analysis, insights, and recommendations to support informed, timely, and data-driven leadership decisions.
12. Anticipate the needs of the SVP and leadership team, proactively managing agendas, information flow, and stakeholder engagement.
Operational Excellence & Governance
13. Design and oversee business cadence and governance processes (e.g., leadership meetings, performance reviews, and operating mechanisms).
14. Monitor progress against KPIs and strategic goals, ensuring accountability across the function.
15. Champion process improvement initiatives that enhance efficiency, collaboration, and scalability across teams.
16. Implement tools and reporting frameworks to support transparency and continuous improvement.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
17. Foster strong working relationships across markets and other functions to ensure seamless execution of initiatives.
18. Lead or support cross-functional projects that require executive oversight or strategic coordination.
19. Act as a connector between P&SM regional teams to ensure consistency and alignment across geographies.
20. Plays a key role in joining up the PSM team across markets, Go-To-Market (GTM), and Supply Chain (SC) to ensure alignment, collaboration, and consistent delivery of strategic priorities
Stakeholder Engagement & Communication
21. Represent the SVP in key internal and external forums, ensuring clarity, credibility, and follow-through on commitments.
22. Build and maintain trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, suppliers, and key business partners.
23. Support internal communications, ensuring that strategic messages are cascaded effectively throughout the P&SM function.
Leadership & Culture
24. Model RS Group’s values and leadership behaviours, fostering a culture of collaboration, trust, and accountability.
25. Create an environment that empowers teams to deliver their best work and encourages innovation.
26. Build comprehensive knowledge of P&SM priorities, stakeholders, and operating rhythms to maintain seamless leadership continuity during transitions or periods of change
27. Provide strategic leadership to the Data & Analytics team, ensuring analytics capabilities are aligned with P&SM priorities and drive high-quality, data-informed decision-making.
28. Champion a culture of curiosity, continuous learning, and analytical excellence within the Data & Analytics function.
29. Strengthen data governance, analytical standards, and reporting frameworks to improve accuracy, transparency, and trust in insights across the organisation.
30. Mentor and develop analytics talent, supporting skill growth in areas such as advanced analytics, storytelling with data, and business partnering
What You’ll Bring
Essential Skills & Experience
31. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate data and insights into actionable recommendations.
32. Exceptional organizational, prioritization, and communication skills, capable of managing multiple workstreams and deadlines effectively.
33. Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate with senior stakeholders across different functions and diverse teams to drive alignment and decision-making.
34. Proven experience in operational planning, business governance, and process improvement, ensuring effective execution of strategic initiatives.
35. Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft clear, compelling narratives for diverse audiences and influence outcomes up to and including board – level audience
36. Exceptional command of business English, both written and verbal, to ensure clarity, precision, and professionalism in all communications
37. High degree of confidentiality, discretion, and sound judgement, with the ability to operate effectively in sensitive or high-pressure situations.
38. Demonstrated track record of delivering results through others, with strong relationship-building and stakeholder engagement capabilities.
39. PowerPoint expertise: Highly proficient in creating impactful, executive-ready presentations that support strategic storytelling and decision-making
Desirable Skills & Experience
40. Proven experience in strategy, operations, or senior project management, ideally within a complex matrix organisation
41. Experience working within product, supplier, category, or commercial functions ideally in a comparable industry
42. Background in consulting, business transformation, or executive support roles, with exposure to executive/senior roles
43. Experience implementing or managing governance frameworks, performance dashboards, or cross-functional program management.
44. Strong understanding of strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, or product lifecycle processes.
45. Comfort with data tools and business reporting platforms
We Are RS
We’ve been solving industry problems for over 80 years. We turn the ‘what ifs’ into the ‘why nots’, the impossible into the possible.
Our purpose? Making amazing happen for a better world.
We offer service and product solutions to over 1.2 million customers globally, shipping a parcel every 2 seconds to over 130 countries. With over 800,000 stocked and 3 million unstocked products, we’re a trusted partner to the world’s leading industries.
We’re looking for curious, driven, and empathetic professionals to join our journey. People who think differently, act with purpose, and want to make a real impact.
Rewards
Our Reward Strategy Philosophy is designed to offer market competitive base salaries and provide all of our people the opportunity to participate in a short-term incentive, enabling them to share in the success of the Company.
Our total reward package is more than just the cash; our recognition and benefit offering provide the opportunity for us to recognise, reward and enable the wellbeing of our people at all stages of their journey with RS. Our rewards and benefits vary by country, but include:
46. Financial - pension/retirement; life assurance; salary finance (payroll deduction loan scheme)
47. Wellbeing - medical plans; health screening; critical illness; disability insurance; holiday / paid time off; employee assistance programme; discounted gym/health club membership
48. Lifestyle - transportation assistance schemes (e.g., cycle to work, travel loans, car leasing); onsite catering/lunch vouchers; retail discounts
49. Spotlight – our global recognition programme provides a platform to highlight and recognise people role modelling our values
Ready to Make Amazing Happen?
Join c. 9,000 colleagues and help us shape the future of our industry. Whoever you are, wherever you are — it all starts here.
Apply now and make RS a part of your journey.
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