Commercial Project Manager

Job Title: Commercial Project Manager
Contract type: Permanent
Location: London & Hybrid (2 days a week in our London office)
Team: Finance and Business 
Reports to: Chief Financial Officer
Salary: Competitive
Closing date: 
*Please not we are unable to provide work visa sponsorships

This is a commercially focused project-management role for an individual who can operate at the intersection of commercial strategy, financial performance, operational delivery and business change.
The successful candidate will be able to take a commercial objective—such as improving margin, reducing costs, increasing revenue or improving customer profitability—and translate it into a structured programme of activity with clear ownership, milestones, financial outcomes and measurable benefits.

The role requires someone who is:
Commercial | Analytical | Financially Literate | Delivery-Focused | Collaborative | Influential | Pragmatic | Results-Oriented

Why join us?
Working principally across Revenue & Brand and Partnerships & Events as well as other business functions as required, the Commercial Project Manager will ensure that commercial projects are clearly defined, appropriately governed and delivered on time, within agreed budgets and to the required commercial outcomes.

What you'll be doing:

Commercial Project Delivery

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of commercially focused projects.
• Establish clear project objectives, scope, deliverables, milestones and success measures.
• Develop and maintain project plans, budgets, resource requirements and delivery schedules.
• Establish appropriate project governance and reporting arrangements.
• Coordinate cross-functional project teams and ensure clear accountability for deliverables.
• Manage project dependencies across all functional areas
• Monitor progress and take proactive action where delivery is at risk.
• Ensure projects are delivered within agreed scope, timescales, budget and quality requirements.
• Lead project closure, lessons learned and transition into business-as-usual operations.

Commercial Strategy & Performance

• Support the implementation of the RKC’s commercial strategy.
• Translate strategic commercial priorities into structured projects and deliverable workstreams.
• Identify opportunities to increase revenue, improve margin and reduce avoidable costs.
• Support commercial reviews and identify areas requiring corrective action.
• Analyse commercial performance and develop improvement initiatives.
• Support the development of pricing, margin and profitability improvement programmes.
• Challenge assumptions and ensure that commercial decisions are supported by robust analysis.
• Ensure commercial projects remain aligned with organisational strategy and financial objectives.

Revenue & Margin Improvement

• Lead projects designed to improve gross margin and contribution.
• Analyse customer, product, service and channel profitability.
• Identify margin leakage and develop corrective actions.
• Support pricing reviews and implementation of pricing strategies.
• Develop and manage initiatives to improve pricing discipline and commercial governance.
• Identify opportunities for revenue growth, cross-selling, new products and services.
• Monitor the financial impact of commercial initiatives.
• Ensure agreed financial benefits are measured and reported.

Customer & Contract Management

• Lead projects relating to customer contracts, commercial terms and account management.
• Coordinate contract reviews and implementation of agreed commercial changes.
• Ensure commercial commitments are clearly understood and operationally deliverable.
• Work with Finance and Operations to assess the financial and operational impact of contract changes.
• Support negotiations with customers and suppliers where appropriate.
• Ensure contract obligations, pricing, rebates, discounts and service requirements are properly documented.
• Identify and manage commercial risks arising from contracts.
• Support the development of appropriate commercial controls and processes.

Procurement & Supplier Projects

• Lead commercial projects involving suppliers, procurement and cost optimisation.
• Identify opportunities to improve supplier value, pricing and contractual arrangements.
• Support supplier tender and selection exercises.
• Coordinate supplier evaluations and commercial assessments.
• Develop and maintain project-level supplier performance measures.
• Work with Procurement and Finance to assess total cost and value for money.
• Support negotiations and implementation of new supplier arrangements.
• Ensure supplier-related commercial benefits are tracked and realised.

Business Case & Financial Analysis

• Develop and support robust commercial business cases.
• Define project costs, investment requirements, expected revenue and financial benefits.
• Work closely with Finance to validate financial assumptions and forecasts.
• Prepare financial models and scenario analysis where required.
• Assess payback, ROI, margin impact and other relevant financial measures.
• Ensure commercial projects have clearly defined benefits and measurable outcomes.
• Track actual financial performance against the approved business case.
• Escalate material variances and recommend corrective action.

Stakeholder Management

• Develop strong relationships with senior stakeholders across the organisation.
• Work closely with Commercial, Finance, Operations, Procurement, Technology and other functions.
• Facilitate commercial workshops, project meetings and decision-making forums.
• Communicate complex commercial issues clearly to non-commercial stakeholders.
• Build consensus across teams with differing priorities.
• Provide constructive challenge where commercial assumptions or delivery expectations are unrealistic.
• Ensure stakeholders understand project progress, risks, issues, decisions and required actions.

Governance, Risk & Controls

• Establish appropriate project governance and reporting.
• Maintain project RAID logs covering Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies.
• Identify and proactively manage commercial, financial and operational risks.
• Ensure appropriate approvals are obtained for material commercial decisions.
• Maintain a clear audit trail of key project decisions.
• Ensure projects comply with organisational policies, delegated authorities and contractual requirements.
• Monitor project expenditure and financial commitments.
• Escalate significant commercial risks or issues appropriately.

Change Management

• Assess the operational and organisational impact of commercial change.
• Develop implementation and change plans with relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure colleagues understand new commercial processes, policies and requirements.
• Support communications, training and implementation activities.
• Monitor adoption of new commercial processes.
• Identify barriers to successful implementation and coordinate appropriate actions.
• Ensure new ways of working become embedded into business-as-usual activity.

What you'll bring:

Qualifications - Essential

• Recognised project management experience and/or qualification.
• Significant practical experience in commercial project management, business transformation or a related discipline

Qualification - Desirable

• Recognised project management qualification such as PRINCE2, Agile PM or PMP.
• Commercial or business qualification.
• CIPS qualification or procurement experience.
• Finance or accounting qualification / relevant financial management experience.
• Business analysis or change-management qualification.

Equivalent practical experience will be considered in place of formal qualifications.
Essential Experience

• Proven experience managing commercial, business transformation or cross-functional projects.
• Demonstrable experience delivering projects from initiation through to implementation.
• Strong commercial understanding and business acumen.
• Experience managing project budgets, risks, issues, dependencies and resources.
• Experience working with senior stakeholders.
• Experience working across multiple business functions.
• Experience developing or managing commercial business cases.
• Strong financial and analytical capability.
• Experience managing suppliers, customers or commercial partners.
• Demonstrable ability to deliver measurable business benefits.

Desirable Experience

• Experience in pricing and margin management.
• Experience in procurement and supplier negotiations.
• Experience of contract management.
• Experience of customer profitability analysis.
• Experience of ERP, CRM or commercial systems.
• Experience of business process improvement.
• Experience of data and management information projects.
• Experience in a fast-moving commercial environment.
• Experience of Agile, Waterfall or hybrid project methodologies.

Knowledge & Technical Skills:

• Strong project management and delivery skills.
• Excellent commercial and financial understanding.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
• Ability to interpret financial and commercial information.
• Strong understanding of revenue, margin, contribution and profitability.
• Good understanding of contracts and commercial terms.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Excellent stakeholder-management capability.
• Strong Excel and financial-modelling skills.
• Good Microsoft 365 capability.
• Ability to use data and management information to support decision-making.
• Understanding of commercial systems, ERP and CRM environments

 

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, increasing up to 30 days, in addition to statutory holidays. Staff may also receive additional days for any approved business closure days over the festive period in December, Option to buy up to five days of annual leave per year.
• Employer pension contributions double the percentage of your plan earnings, up to 8%
• Life assurance equivalent to three times your basic salary (two times your basic salary for non-pension scheme members)
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Lifestyle discounts via our EAP and healthcare cashback programme
• Discounts on Royal Kennel Club products and services
• 4X Complimentary staff tickets to Crufts and Discover Dogs
• Healthcare cashback programme with a fixed contribution paid for by the Royal Kennel Club
• Free eye tests with a voucher towards the cost of your spectacles
• Financial support for professional and vocational qualifications, with five days' study leave provided
• Free access to The Royal Kennel Club Library and Art Gallery