Head of Commercial

Job description

HEAD OF COMMERCIAL QSR DEPARTMENT 💷 £80k - £110k OTE (Basic 80K + Monthly Uncapped Commission) 🚆HYBRID - London Based (Victoria Station) & Remote 1 or 2 days per week with some travel based duties. WHO ARE WE? #14 - Fastest Growing UK Tech Company (Sunday Times) #65 - Fastest Growing UK&I Company (Sifted) #77 - Fastest Growing Europe Company (Sifted) Sessions is building the operating model for the future of restaurants, giving consumers instant access to the brands they love, wherever they live. The Sessions distribution engine runs through 400+ delivery kitchens and 16 high street restaurants across the UK. Founded in 2020 and led by ex-Deliveroo MD Dan Warne, Sessions has grown 7x in three years. Our platform has processed over 5 million orders and reaches 60% of the UK population. Our team brings experience from Deliveroo, Amazon, BrewDog, and Gousto. We scale brands at a pace that redefines what's possible in food. Examples include Miko's Gyros, which went from launch to 100+ live sites in under two months and SoBe Burger, which is live in over 200 delivery locations and has opened 15 physical high street stores. 🏃‍♀️ We are Agile - Thrive in fast-pace. We sprint, adapt, and learn. 🌍 We are Ambitious - Contribute to something big. Watch your career grow bigger. 🤪 We are Fun - High performance, high fives. Join a team you'll love. 🤖We are Data-Driven - Turn insights into action. We lead with evidence. 💡 We have Initiative - Anticipate problems. Drive the solution. ABOUT THE ROLE: As the Head of Commercial for our fast-growing Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) division, you will be the chief architect of our expansion, directly responsible for fuelling the company's growth through creating and delivering the franchise sales strategy for multiple brands including SoBe Burger, Ivan Ramen and future star brands. This is a high-impact leadership role that requires a blend of strategic foresight, sales acumen, and exceptional people management skills. Your primary mandate is to ensure an ambitious, qualified, and diverse pipeline of future franchise openings that aligns with our aggressive expansion goals and brand standards. You will lead, mentor, and motivate a high-performing team of Development Managers, providing them with the tools, training, and strategic direction necessary to successfully identify, qualify, and close deals with prospective franchise partners. Furthermore, you will take ownership of the entire open pipeline, from initial lead generation and discovery through to final contract execution, ensuring process efficiency and maximising conversion rates. Success in this role will be defined by your ability to develop and execute a comprehensive, scalable franchise sales strategy across multiple headline brands, hitting annual unit growth targets, and establishing robust systems for long-term sustainable development. RESPONSIBILITIES: Pioneering Growth Strategy: Create, develop, own, and execute the comprehensive sales strategy for the Sessions QSR vertical. This includes leveraging market data, competitive intelligence, and internal performance metrics to identify and prioritise high-potential growth territories and target demographics for new franchise partner acquisition. Performance & P&L Accountability: Establish, monitor, and enforce ambitious, data-driven targets across the entire sales pipeline (including prospecting volume, conversion rates, and overall net new franchise launches), ensuring alignment with the QSR P&L and aggressive market penetration goals. Cross-Functional Onboarding Excellence: Act as the Executive Sponsor and primary liaison with Operations and Launch Teams to design and enforce a seamless, high-velocity, and scalable new Franchise onboarding pipeline. Proactively resolve systemic bottlenecks to guarantee a "right first time" execution of new launches. Franchise Value Maximisation & Retention: Direct and empower Operations teams to holistically monitor and improve operational and financial performance. Maximise partner lifetime value and overall system profitability, and own the strategy to prevent critical partner churn. Team Leadership & Capability Building: Recruit, train, mentor and performance manage the QSR team’s Development Managers, growing the team as the business expands. Strategic Market Intervention: Collaborate closely with the Growth and Finance functions to define and initiate targeted, high-impact commercial and discounting strategies that accelerate market share capture and optimise the quality and size of the acquired partner base. Executive Reporting & Forecasting: Deliver high-stakes monthly and quarterly performance reviews and accurate forward-looking forecasts to the Managing Director and the wider Executive Team (including the COO/CEO), articulating key drivers, strategic risks, and necessary course corrections. REQUIREMENTS: Academic background from a top-tier university 3+ years of complex sales/ commercial leadership experience Experience growing a foundational team into a fully-fledged business Strong commercial and management experience Innovative thinker - can build a new model in a new region Passion for great food and an entrepreneurial mindset is essential Street hustler, prepared to ‘get stuck in’ and do what it takes to close deals and grow revenue Prepared to work very hard, take decisions at speed and get things done, comfortable finding order in chaos; Strategic thinker - able to elevate the business from the day-to-day where appropriate Well-rounded individual able and willing to flex to take ownership where necessary outside of their areas of core responsibility Strong commercial acumen with strong negotiation skills Charismatic and energetic with a passion for food Expert level of English language Right to work in the UK BENEFITS & PERKS 💷 Financial Share Options - Receive an amount of share options for Sessions Market Ltd. Pay day on demand - Access to pay whenever needed Expense card - Company Card Finance Platform - Access to 'Mintago', Financial Wellbeing Platform 🌴Social, Mental & Physical Wellbeing: Hybrid Working - up to 2 days working remotely per week Holidays - 25 days + bank holidays + Birthday Off Healthcare - Healthcare Cash Plan scheme Employee Assistance Programme - Support for mental health and legal services Socials - Monthly socials Dog Friendly - We love our fluffy pals, they're welcome in the office! Wear what you like - No suits and ties please, that's so 18th century.... 💻Technology Perks: Laptop - Apple Mac Phone - Apple iPhone and company sim provided 📈 Progression & Development: High Growth Start Up - This is a great chance to be part of a growing company with plenty of progression opportunities, responsibility from day 1 Be Inspired - Learn from a team that's scaled some of the UK's biggest consumer companies Membership & Qualifications - Sessions have helped support a number of our employees by providing funds for work-based qualifications and memberships Sessions are a living wage and equal opportunity employer. all applicants are reviewed 'anonymously' where only work experience and education will be available for the hiring manager to view - all applicants will be considered for employment without attention to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, family or parental status, national origin, veteran, neurodiversity status or disability status. #LI-KD1