Principal Solutions Strategist

Ocado Group is an equal opportunities employer and as such makes every effort to ensure that all potential employees are treated fairly and equally, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, age, or disability or union membership status.

About Us

The Ocado Intelligent Automation (OIA) division is marketing Ocado's proven, unique warehouse fulfilment technology in sectors outside of grocery retail. It operates as an independent client-facing business, combining the dynamism and vision of a start-up with the resources, IP and reputation established over 20 years by Ocado Group. In Nov 2023 OIA announced its first customer, the leading pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Canada, and has ambitious growth plans in 2024. In December 2023, Goldman Sachs valued the OIA part of Ocado Group at 2bn.

OIA Solutions Strategy was created to define automated warehouse propositions and products that meet the needs of OIA's potential customers, and ensure that related development work (software and hardware) is valued, prioritised and delivered by Ocado Technology teams.

About the role

The Principal Strategist will work closely with Sales and Commercial leaders and external research sources to quickly become an expert in OIA's target markets, their segmentation and trajectory, and our competitive positioning. They will also work with Ocado Technology product leaders to understand existing technology, provide the 'voice of the market' and articulate where and how OIA products can be most successful. They will have an influential role during a pivotal time for a fast-growing business.

What You'll Do

• Develop a deep understanding of the size and segmentation of our non-grocery clients and prospects, what business problems they are facing and what outcomes / products they are looking for
• Analyse and report on trends/data which will affect our markets and the relevance of our propositions over time
• Understand our competitors, identify the relative strengths / weaknesses of our different propositions, and articulate our market positioning in increasing detail
• Understand and communicate to Ocado Technology 'what success looks like' (i.e. 'product KPIs') for non-grocery propositions and subproducts (e.g. functionality or documentation required, and product KPIs like reliability levels or cost targets)
• Understand and communicate the value of OIA product development work (e.g. 'size of market opportunity' for add-ons, 'client P&L benefit' for improvements); support and input to the relevant business cases
• Support the prioritisation of OIA development work, and review/support the development of the non-grocery roadmap, short and long term
• Lead on key ad-hoc strategic projects as sponsored by OIA senior leadership
• Where relevant, support Commercial team in establishing commercial models for new products that we are developing to introduce into the market.
• Lead internal projects to improve wider team impact and cross-business collaboration (e.g. improving market intelligence-gathering).

About You

• Creative problem-solving skills, intellectual curiosity and a critical mindset - likely gained in a strategy consulting or similar role
• Excellent ability to make decisions based on complex data, research and analysis
• Strong sense of ownership and proactive can-do attitude
• High empathy and EQ; natural ability to build trusting relationships with others
• Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) at all levels of an organisation; ability to see the big picture and use data to tell a clear story
• Experienced in handling multiple competing priorities/projects in a fast-paced environment
• Proven ability to plan, manage, track and deliver on commitments with high autonomy
• A good level of expertise in warehouse fulfilment, logistics, automation or robotics; more than one would be a bonus

What we offer you

Our employee benefits are designed for you, we care about people and we've ensured we have a wealth of benefits that focus on your well-being. We regularly review our benefits to ensure we are supporting our employees appropriately.

• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical Insurance
• 25 days holiday, increasing to 27 with 5 years' service
• Employee Assistance Program
• Free Shares
• Opportunity to participate in Sharesave and Buy as You Earn schemes
• Discounted shopping on Ocado.com, Smart Pass