Senior Director of eCommerce & Digital Experience

About RS Group

RS is a high-service global product and service solutions provider for industrial customers, enabling them to operate efficiently and sustainably.

We operate in 33 markets, stock over 875,000 industrial and specialist products and list an additional five million relevant for our industrial customers, sourced from over 2,500 suppliers. This extensive range supports our customers across the industrial lifecycle of designing, building and maintaining equipment and operations. We enhance their experience through a tailored service model, leveraging our efficient physical, digital and process infrastructure sustainably. We combine a technically led and digitally enabled approach with an exceptional team of experts; ultimately, it’s our people that make the difference.

Our purpose, making amazing happen for a better world, reflects our focus on delivering results for people, planet and profit.

About the Role

Role Purpose

We are seeking an experienced and visionary head of B2B ecommerce to lead our digital transformation and drive revenue growth in the B2B sector. As the head of B2B ecommerce, you will be responsible for developing and executing the overall ecommerce strategy for the Americas, managing a dedicated team, and optimizing the customer experience to maximize sales and customer satisfaction. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to align ecommerce initiatives with business objectives and ensure seamless integration with other channels.  The ideal candidate should have a creative, problem-solving mind, with strong inter-personal skills to collaborate with leaders within RS, leaders of global manufacturers, and inter-departmental personnel.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive B2B ecommerce strategy aligned with the company’s overall goals and objectives. Autonomous accountability for the digital product strategy, including all decisions, investments and developments to drive sales and customer experience.
• Responsible for driving digital transformation initiatives within key divisions to deliver the digital vision through the development of digital culture, skills, people, technology and processes.
• Responsible for commercial leadership across the product teams, covering commercial performance and planning elements, ensuring the delivery of a coordinated and aligned quarterly roadmap.
• Identify market opportunities, trends, and emerging technologies to drive innovation and competitive advantage in the B2B space.
• Set ambitious revenue targets and develop strategies to achieve them, focusing on customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty.
• Lead, inspire, and manage a high-performing team of ecommerce professionals, including developers, marketers, merchandisers, and customer service representatives.
• Provide clear direction, set performance goals, and foster a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and accountability.

• Accountable for the creation of and putting into effect of design guidelines to ensure that all digital interfaces are consistent and meet the agreed design standards.
• Responsible for defining and developing the UX research practice and the principles it works by.
• Collaborates with colleagues across the globe to implement Digital Experience best practices.
• Accountable for the delivery of customer insight to ensure that our only digital customer delivery channel is producing work that deliver real value to our customers.
• Accountable for the delivery of all customer-impacting technology change, including all business CAPEX investments (business case and gaining internal buy in) through a product led model of agile delivery.
• Accountable for developing Value + Impact process to support opportunities across the business with a clear measurement framework to inform, measure and appraise each initiative and long term value.
• Share design expertise and knowledge with others. Encourage the wider team to actively participate in design thinking processes to help ideate and problem solve.
• Manage relationships, influence and drive cross-functional collaboration with presidents & VPs across the group and their respective divisions.
• Responsible for the coordination of people development and retention agenda across the product function including, clear development plans, driving the talent agenda and drive a leading digital culture.

Candidate Requirements

Essential Skills & Experience

• Expert understanding of Digital experience, having transformed customer journeys in large scale ecommerce business.
• Proven experience in constructing and delivering a complex digital strategy for a core business offer.
• Extensive experience in test and learn approach to delivering product enhancements.
• Proven work experience in product management / product ownership.
• Understanding of scrum framework and agile methodologies.
• Knowledge of and experience with a wide range of design techniques including Interaction design, information architecture, user research, heuristics and experience strategy.
• Experience of appropriate prototyping techniques to maximize test-and-learn potential within available timeframes.
• Good understanding of front-end coding frameworks.
• Solid customer appreciation and understanding of customer insight techniques and capabilities.
• Strong technical understanding of software architecture.
• Strong understanding of data-based decision frameworks and data manipulation.
• Proven ability to influence and negotiate with senior C-level stakeholders
• Ability to work collaboratively with peers and across teams to ensure effective delivery of the strategy
• Demonstrated decision making and problem solving skills
• Self-starter with a passion for continued learning

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Extensive B2B eCommerce experience (12+) with proven experience of driving significant online growth of key KPIs in a commercial environment
• Experience with Adobe eCommerce is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Marketing, or a related field. MBA or equivalent is a plus.

Equal Employment Opportunity

RS Americas is an equal opportunity employer and maintains policies and practices that are designed to prevent and prohibit unlawful discrimination against any qualified employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, military/veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other unlawful classification to the extent protected by law. This policy of non-discrimination applies to all employment practices, including hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, training and termination. Employees who engage in unlawful discrimination will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.