UK

United Kingdom · Marketing · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports25-100+ reports
  • Reports toVP of Marketing
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as Head of Commercial Marketing · Senior Director, Customer Development · VP, Retail Strategy

Built on an analysis of 43,079 real UK job descriptions · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Start with a free Future Fluency check, tuned to Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing

Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this role rather than a generic one. About five minutes, and no card.

Start the check, free

1What this role really is

This role is about setting the strategic direction for how our brands show up and sell in retail, both online and in physical stores. You'll be the architect behind our commercial marketing strategy, making sure we're not just selling products, but building categories and strong, lasting relationships with our key retail partners. It's a big job, shaping the entire business unit's go-to-market approach.

2What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

NielsenIQ / Circana (IRI) / SPINSStrategic

Integrating data sources to inform business unit channel strategy, challenging data provider methodologies, and negotiating data contracts. You'll use these to shape your strategic narrative.

Tableau / Power BIArchitect

Defining the BI strategy for the entire commercial team, ensuring data governance, and presenting high-level insights to C-suite and board members. You're not building dashboards, but ensuring they exist and serve the strategic need.

UpClear (BluePlanner) / Exceedra / SAP TPMStrategic

Leading TPM system selection, implementation, and defining the planning and approval workflows for the entire organisation. You'll ensure the system supports our strategic commercial objectives.

Salesforce (Partner Communities) / ImpartnerStrategic

Designing the partner engagement framework within the PRM, defining key metrics for partner success, and ensuring the system supports our strategic retailer relationships.

Bynder / Canto / BrandfolderStrategic

Setting the DAM governance policy for the business unit, working with IT and Brand to select and integrate the platform, ensuring brand consistency across all commercial touchpoints.

Asana / Monday.com / SmartsheetStrategic

Managing the entire portfolio of commercial projects for the business unit, allocating resources across teams, and reporting on high-level progress to leadership. You're overseeing, not updating tasks.

Excel (Power Query, PivotTables, Advanced Modelling)Strategic

Auditing and standardising financial models used by your team, focusing on high-level PowerPoint storytelling, and challenging complex data analyses presented by your team or Finance.

3What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing inWhere you are nowThe step above
Commercial Strategy & Channel PrioritisationNo input, executes assigned tasks.Proposes tactical adjustments within existing strategy.Recommends strategic shifts for specific accounts/channels, with Director input.
Trade Spend & Shopper Marketing Budget AllocationTracks spend against allocated budget.Manages budget for assigned promotions/accounts, flags overspends.Allocates budget for a workstream or small portfolio of accounts, within overall channel budget.
Team Structure & HiringNot applicable.Provides input on junior hires.Interviews and recommends hires for junior roles; mentors 0-2 individuals.
Major Retailer Partnership Agreements (JBPs)Supports data gathering for JBP reviews.Prepares sections of JBP presentations.Leads JBP development for specific accounts, presents to mid-level buyers.

4How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, honestly: the hard targets, how often each one is actually looked at, and the quiet human signals that never make it onto a dashboard.

Total Trade Spend Optimisation
The efficiency of our overall investment in trade promotions and shopper marketing activities as a percentage of gross revenue.
Target · Optimise total trade spend to <15% of gross revenue while maintaining or growing volume.

Reducing trade spend from 16.5% to 14.8% of gross revenue in a year, without sacrificing market share in key categories.

Joint Business Plan (JBP) Growth Targets
Achieving the mutually agreed-upon growth objectives with our top strategic retail partners.
Target · Achieve 95% of JBP growth targets across our top 3 strategic customers.

Hitting 98% of the agreed-upon volume and profit targets with Tesco and Sainsbury's in the last financial year.

Category Health & Market Share Growth
Improving the overall health and growth rate of the categories we operate in, demonstrating our value as a category leader to retailers.
Target · Grow market share by +50bps (basis points) in our top 5 categories, and increase retailer satisfaction scores (e.g., Advantage Report) by 5% year-on-year.

Increasing our share of the 'Ready Meals' category by 0.6% points in NielsenIQ data, while seeing our Advantage Report scores for category insights improve by 7%.

Retail Media Network (RMN) ROI
The return on investment from our advertising spend on retailer-owned digital platforms.
Target · Achieve a minimum 2.5x ROI on RMN spend, driving incremental sales.

An RMN campaign on Amazon Advertising generating £250,000 in incremental sales from a £100,000 ad spend, resulting in a 2.5x ROI.

Strategic Influence & Thought Leadership
Being recognised internally and externally as a strategic leader who shapes commercial thinking and drives innovation.
  • Regularly invited to present at C-Suite strategy sessions
  • sought out by Sales and Brand VPs for commercial input
  • actively participating in industry forums and shaping best practices
  • successfully challenging established thinking with data-driven insights.
Team Development & Retention
Building a high-performing, engaged, and capable commercial marketing team.
  • High employee engagement scores within your team
  • low voluntary turnover
  • successful internal promotions from your team
  • positive 360-degree feedback from direct reports and peers on leadership and mentoring
  • a clear succession plan for key roles.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Alignment
Ensuring seamless working relationships and shared objectives across Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Supply Chain.
  • Jointly developed and approved commercial plans with Sales and Brand
  • Finance sign-off on trade spend forecasts with minimal friction
  • proactive involvement of Supply Chain in promotional planning
  • positive feedback from internal partners on your team's collaborative behaviour.
External Reputation & Partnership Strength
Being seen as a valued, strategic partner by key retailers and industry peers.
  • Retailers proactively seeking our input on category initiatives
  • positive feedback from retail partners on JBP effectiveness and collaborative problem-solving
  • invitations to speak at retailer conferences or participate in industry working groups
  • strong relationships with key decision-makers at major accounts.

5Would you like it

The honest version. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Shaping Strategic Direction

You'll spend a lot of time in strategic planning meetings, defining the commercial roadmap for a business unit. This means influencing where we invest, which channels we prioritise, and how we win with retailers.

Leading the annual commercial strategy workshop, setting the 3-year plan for a major product portfolio, and getting C-suite buy-in.

Building & Developing High-Performing Teams

You'll be mentoring and coaching a large team, including managers, helping them grow their careers and tackle complex commercial challenges. Seeing your people succeed is a big part of the job.

Implementing a new talent development programme for your team, leading to several internal promotions and improved team engagement scores.

Driving Tangible Business Growth & Impact

Your decisions directly impact millions of pounds in revenue and profit. You'll be motivated by seeing your strategies translate into market share gains, stronger retailer partnerships, and a healthier P&L.

Successfully negotiating a new JBP with a top-tier retailer that unlocks significant incremental growth and improves profitability for both parties.

What frustrates people
  • Navigating the constant tension between Sales' short-term volume targets and Brand's long-term equity protection, often feeling like the referee.
  • Dealing with significant budget cuts or reallocations mid-year, forcing painful conversations and strategic pivots.
  • The sheer complexity of managing dozens of simultaneous initiatives across multiple channels and a large team, with constant demands for your time and input.
  • The frustration of poor in-store execution by retail partners, despite robust planning and investment, requiring constant follow-up and problem-solving.
  • The slow pace of change in large organisations or with major retailers, where strategic initiatives can take years to fully materialise.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, predictable work environment with minimal conflict.
  • The ability to focus solely on creative marketing without deep commercial and financial considerations.
  • A role where you're always popular; sometimes, you'll have to make unpopular but necessary decisions.
  • A job where you're constantly in the weeds of execution; your focus is strategic oversight and leadership.

6Who you work with

You'll directly shape the commercial strategy for a significant business unit, impacting annual revenue of £2M-£10M+. Your decisions will dictate market share, profitability, and the long-term health of our relationships with top retailers. Frankly, you're responsible for ensuring our products win where it matters most: at the checkout.

Inside the business
  • C-Suite (CEO, CFO, COO)
  • Sales Leadership (VP of Sales, National Account Directors)
  • Brand Leadership (VP of Brand, Brand Directors)
  • Finance Director
  • Supply Chain & Operations Directors
Outside the business
  • Major Retailer Senior Buyers & Category Directors
  • Retailer Media Network Directors
  • Industry Bodies & Associations
  • Strategic Agency Partners (Shopper Marketing, Data Analytics)

7What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven track record of leading and developing large commercial marketing teams (20+ people), including managers, for at least 5 years.
  • Extensive experience (10+ years) in Trade Marketing, Shopper Marketing, or Category Management within the FMCG/CPG sector, with a significant portion at a Senior Manager or Head of level.
  • Demonstrated success in defining and executing commercial strategies that have delivered significant revenue growth and market share gains for a business unit.
  • Expertise in managing large P&Ls (minimum £2M+) and optimising trade spend for maximum ROI.
  • Strong relationships and a proven ability to negotiate and collaborate with senior-level contacts at major UK retailers.
  • Exceptional strategic thinking, analytical, and executive communication skills (both written and verbal).

8What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Data Governance & Strategic Data Utilisation

As data sources proliferate (POS, RMN, loyalty, web analytics), ensuring data quality, accessibility, and ethical use becomes paramount. You'll need to define the strategic data architecture for commercial marketing, ensuring your team has the right data to make informed decisions.

Data Lineage & Quality · Data Democratisation · Data Security & Compliance · Advanced Analytics for Strategic Insights

  • This quarter: Review our current commercial data infrastructure and identify bottlenecks or gaps in data quality and accessibility.
  • Next 6 months: Partner with IT and Data Science to define a strategic roadmap for commercial data governance and a unified data view.
  • Next 12 months: Implement new processes and tools to improve data quality and empower your team with self-service analytics capabilities.
  • Ongoing: Regularly audit data usage and ensure compliance with evolving data regulations.

Quick win: Work with your BI team to standardise key commercial dashboards across all channels and accounts, ensuring consistent metrics and definitions for your leadership team.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending and presenting at leading industry conferences (e.g., IGD, Retail Week, Marketing Week Live) to stay abreast of market trends and network with peers.
  • Participating in executive leadership development programmes focused on strategic thinking, change management, and advanced negotiation.
  • Engaging in continuous learning around emerging technologies like AI, advanced analytics, and e-commerce platforms, understanding their strategic implications.
  • Mentoring junior talent within the organisation and actively participating in internal knowledge-sharing initiatives.

10How the AI economy is changing work like this

Before we ask anything of you, here's what we can already say about AI and work of this kind:

The new skill this role is being asked for: AI-Driven Commercial Strategy & Automation Leadership

AI is rapidly transforming how we analyse market data, predict promotional outcomes, and even automate elements of retailer communication. Leaders who can strategically integrate AI into their commercial marketing operations will gain a significant competitive advantage, driving efficiency and more precise decision-making across their teams.

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing

3 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Digital StrategyChartered Institute of Marketing · covers 1 of 2 standardsLevel 6
  2. Digital MarketingGateway Qualifications Limited · covers 2 of 2 standardsLevel 2
  3. Digital Marketing for the Digital and Creative IndustriesGateway Qualifications Limited · covers 2 of 2 standardsLevel 2
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI-Driven Commercial Strategy & Automation Leadership

AI is rapidly transforming how we analyse market data, predict promotional outcomes, and even automate elements of retailer communication. Leaders who can strategically integrate AI into their commercial marketing operations will gain a significant competitive advantage, driving efficiency and more precise decision-making across their teams.

  • Leading AI Adoption
  • Ethical AI & Data Governance
  • AI-Powered Predictive Analytics
  • AI for Personalised Shopper Experiences

Advanced E-commerce & Omni-channel Commercial Strategy

The lines between physical and digital retail are blurring, and e-commerce continues its rapid growth. As a Director, you need to define a seamless, integrated commercial strategy that optimises performance across all touchpoints, from online marketplaces to physical stores, ensuring a consistent brand and shopper experience.

  • Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Integration
  • E-commerce Trade Marketing
  • Omni-channel Shopper Journey Mapping
  • Last-Mile Delivery & Fulfilment Impact

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Advanced Category Management Strategy
  • Joint Business Planning (JBP) & Strategic Partnership Development
  • Shopper & Customer Marketing Transformation
  • Retail Media Network (RMN) Strategy & Investment
  • Channel Strategy & Price Pack Architecture Optimisation
  • Promotional Effectiveness & ROI Governance

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    From Senior Manager, Trade Marketing / Head of Category

    5-8 years at the Senior Manager/Head of level

    Skills to master

    • Mastering cross-functional influence, managing multi-million-pound budgets, developing multi-year commercial strategies, and leading teams of managers.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently exceeding business unit commercial targets and demonstrating significant market share growth.
    • Successfully leading major strategic projects (e.g., new channel entry, significant category reset) end-to-end.
    • Strong 360-degree feedback on leadership, strategic thinking, and ability to influence senior stakeholders.
    • Proactively identifying and developing talent within your team, with a clear succession plan for your direct reports.
  2. 2

    From Director-level roles in Sales or Brand Marketing

    Transition typically takes 3-5 years in a related Director role

    Skills to master

    • Deepening understanding of trade mechanics, shopper behaviour, and retailer P&Ls. Bridging the gap between brand equity and commercial execution. Building strong relationships with commercial teams.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Demonstrated ability to translate brand strategy into commercial outcomes or sales targets into profitable growth.
    • Strong understanding of the retail landscape and key customer dynamics.
    • Proven track record of cross-functional collaboration and influencing commercial decisions.
    • A clear passion for the 'last mile' of marketing and driving sales at the point of purchase.

11Where this role leads

The long view:This Director role is a launchpad for significant executive leadership. We're looking for someone who isn't just ready for the next step, but who has a clear vision for their long-term impact and the drive to make it happen. If you're ready to shape the future of commercial marketing and lead a substantial part of our business, we want to hear from you.

Pay & demand

Pay and demand for this role will appear here, each figure traced to a named authoritative source (e.g. the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, under the Open Government Licence). We don’t show numbers we can’t attribute.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing is actually changing. In about two minutes, the free confidence check asks where you stand on each of the ten. That's the whole check, and it's what makes the plan yours rather than generic.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

Also named as a next step, with no page in the catalogue yet:

  • Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) / VP of Sales

12The team that's yours

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

Zavmo is a hyper-personalised AI learning platform. Twelve virtual tutors, each with a different way of teaching, and one orchestration agent that picks the right one for the moment. So every single lesson is shaped around you, your role, and the way you learn. Not a course everyone sits through. A conversation built for you, and no one else.

…and nine more, matched to you after your first chat. Meet all twelve

Start free and meet yours

13What it feels like

A conversation, not a course

Because your tutor knows your role, your projects and your last session, learning sounds like this. And it's different for every single person:

Digital StrategyLevel 6

Applied to your work in Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing

This unit aims to enable learners to critically evaluate and develop effective digital strategies aligned with business goals. Upon completion, learners will understand the impact of digital technologies, analyse digital performance metrics, and appreciate the importance of digital governance in ensuring compliance and managing risk.

How the thinking builds
  1. Remember
  2. Understand
  3. Apply
  4. Analyse
  5. Evaluate
  6. Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

  1. Your actual work Every lesson is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
  2. What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
  3. The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
  4. How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
  5. Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

DemonstrateIllustration

Evidenced on your work in Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing

You do not finish by watching something. You finish by showing it on the work you already do, against the measures this job is judged on.

  • Total Trade Spend OptimisationThe efficiency of our overall investment in trade promotions and shopper marketing activities as a percentage of gross revenue.Reducing trade spend from 16.5% to 14.8% of gross revenue in a year, without sacrificing market share in key categories.Optimise total trade spend to <15% of gross revenue while maintaining or growing volume.
  • Joint Business Plan (JBP) Growth TargetsAchieving the mutually agreed-upon growth objectives with our top strategic retail partners.Hitting 98% of the agreed-upon volume and profit targets with Tesco and Sainsbury's in the last financial year.Achieve 95% of JBP growth targets across our top 3 strategic customers.
  • Category Health & Market Share GrowthImproving the overall health and growth rate of the categories we operate in, demonstrating our value as a category leader to retailers.Increasing our share of the 'Ready Meals' category by 0.6% points in NielsenIQ data, while seeing our Advantage Report scores for category insights improve by 7%.Grow market share by +50bps (basis points) in our top 5 categories, and increase retailer satisfaction scores (e.g., Advantage Report) by 5% year-on-year.
  • Retail Media Network (RMN) ROIThe return on investment from our advertising spend on retailer-owned digital platforms.An RMN campaign on Amazon Advertising generating £250,000 in incremental sales from a £100,000 ad spend, resulting in a 2.5x ROI.Achieve a minimum 2.5x ROI on RMN spend, driving incremental sales.
These are this job's own measures, with its own targets. Nothing is marked evidenced, because nobody has started this yet. Yours would fill in from the work you bring.

Your passport

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Every credit you earn and every fluency you build adds up: evidence where it counts, carried with you. Zavmo keeps the map: where you are, where you're heading, and the next step, at your pace, around your life. From Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing to VP of Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 7 · in progressAI Fluency→ VP of Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)→ your design
Where this takes you

This Director role is a launchpad for significant executive leadership. We're looking for someone who isn't just ready for the next step, but who has a clear vision for their long-term impact and the drive to make it happen. If you're ready to shape the future of commercial marketing and lead a substantial part of our business, we want to hear from you.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing
  • Advanced Category Management Strategy
  • Joint Business Planning (JBP) & Strategic Partnership Development
  • Shopper & Customer Marketing Transformation
  • Retail Media Network (RMN) Strategy & Investment
  • Channel Strategy & Price Pack Architecture Optimisation
  • Promotional Effectiveness & ROI Governance
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

14The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP of Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

    3-5 years in the Director role

    This is a significant step up to enterprise-level strategic leadership, often with board-level accountability.

    • Defining and executing global marketing strategies.
    • Managing complex agency ecosystems at an enterprise level.
    • Driving innovation across the entire marketing mix (product, pricing, promotion, place).
    • Shaping corporate reputation and thought leadership.

  2. Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) / VP of Sales

    3-5 years in the Director role

    This moves into broader commercial leadership, often encompassing both sales and marketing functions.

    • Sales force effectiveness and optimisation.
    • Key account management and relationship building at the highest levels.
    • Supply chain integration with commercial strategy.
    • International market expansion and commercialisation.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

As a Director, your time is precious, and every hour counts towards shaping strategy and leading your team. Imagine if you could cut down on repetitive analysis, get faster competitive intelligence, or even automate parts of your strategic reporting. Well, you can. We're leaning into AI to make our commercial marketing leaders more effective, giving you back valuable time to focus on what truly matters: driving growth and innovation.

AI isn't just for junior roles; it's a game-changer for senior leaders too. For you, it's about augmenting your strategic decision-making, streamlining team workflows, and ensuring your commercial marketing efforts are always a step ahead. Think less time digging for data, more time interpreting it and acting on it. It's about making your entire team more productive, not just individual contributors.

Strategic Scenario Modelling

Use AI to run complex 'what-if' scenarios for commercial strategies. Instantly model the impact of different trade spend allocations, pricing changes, or channel shifts on P&L, market share, and retailer profitability. This means quicker, more robust strategic decisions for your business unit.

Advanced Market & Competitor Intelligence

Deploy AI agents to continuously monitor and summarise vast amounts of market data, competitor activity, and retailer earnings calls. Get concise, actionable strategic briefings delivered directly to you and your leadership team, allowing for proactive strategic adjustments.

Board-Level Report Generation

Leverage AI to assist in drafting initial versions of board presentations, strategic reviews, and executive summaries. Auto-populate key performance indicators, market trends, and competitive insights into polished documents, freeing up your time for critical review and strategic storytelling.

Optimised JBP Negotiation Prep

Use AI to analyse historical JBP performance, identify optimal negotiation levers, and even simulate retailer responses to proposed terms. This provides your team with a significant strategic advantage, leading to more favourable agreements and stronger partnerships.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing?

Common routes in include From Senior Manager, Trade Marketing / Head of Category (5-8 years at the Senior Manager/Head of level) and From Director-level roles in Sales or Brand Marketing (Transition typically takes 3-5 years in a related Director role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing progress to?

This role can lead on to VP of Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) (3-5 years in the Director role) and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) / VP of Sales (3-5 years in the Director role), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 7 on the UK framework, a guide to the depth of qualification it maps to, not a hard entry bar.

What new skills matter most for a Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing?

Increasingly, AI-Driven Commercial Strategy & Automation Leadership and Advanced E-commerce & Omni-channel Commercial Strategy. These are the areas where the higher-paid, future-proof work is heading.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most of them were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

What it costs

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

A single career-coaching hour costs more than a month of this, and it ends when the hour does. Zavmo doesn't. It's £70 a month, about £2.30 a day, for a companion that knows a Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing, works on the job you actually do, and keeps going at your pace rather than a timetable's.

  • Searching and planning stay free. You only pay when you start learning.
  • Your credits are yours. Regulated, and they don't vanish when a subscription ends.
  • Cancel any time and billing stops. No notice period, no minimum term.

Your path, personalised

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.

This route runs to 2 national skill standards. That is a real journey.

Zavmo shapes a learning experience as unique as you are. It fits how you learn, your pace and the work you already do. Every step stays benchmarked to recognised national standards. That’s the plan for becoming a Director of Trade Marketing / Director, Shopper & Customer Marketing: personal to you, and it still counts. The first steps are free.

Independent research finds well-designed intelligent tutoring performs nearly as well as one-to-one human tutoring: VanLehn (2011), Educational Psychologist.

A private tutor in the UK averages £35–40 an hour . Zavmo is £70/month.

A real plan on learn.zavmo.ai: Ofqual-regulated units, credits, and a three-month run at your own pace.
Start free No commitment. See your first steps free.

15Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 7

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

Other roles in Marketing

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The skills developed in this role—strategic commercial leadership, P&L management, team development, and complex stakeholder influence—are highly transferable. You could move into similar Director or VP-level roles in other FMCG/CPG companies, or even transition into related sectors like retail, e-commerce platforms, or even agency leadership, where commercial strategy is paramount.

Not sure this is the right direction?

Work out what you actually want from work first, then come back and see which roles fit it. Takes about ten minutes.

This role profile is © 2026Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Build my plan, free Here's the first ten minutes: a 2-minute confidence check → your personalised roadmap → meet the tutors matched to you. No card, cancel any time. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.