Director, Omnichannel Retail Consulting

London (Hybrid) | Permanent | Typically 15 plus years

Our client, a global tier-1 IT services and consulting firm, is building a new omnichannel consulting capability inside its retail strategic initiatives practice. This is a founding Director seat. You will not inherit a practice, you will help build one, with real ownership, senior visibility and access to global technology, engineering and AI scale behind you.

The role

• You will work with some of the best-known retailers in the UK, Europe and beyond across the full omnichannel agenda. One engagement may be shaping a client's channel and operating model strategy, the next diagnosing where value leaks across a fulfilment network, the next scoping how agentic AI reshapes customer experience. You will operate in small, senior-led teams that span strategy through to execution and never hand off. At Director level, origination and practice P&L contribution sit alongside delivery as core parts of the seat.
• What you will do
• Lead client engagements across the omnichannel agenda: channel strategy, channel economics, operating model, connected commerce, AI, supply chain and store
• Structure and solve ambiguous, board-level problems using hypothesis-led, structured problem-solving
• Own senior client relationships and become the go-to advisor for the accounts you lead
• Translate analysis into clear recommendations and executive-ready storytelling
• Originate and shape new work: proposals, diagnostics, workshops and buyable plays
• Contribute to practice P&L growth and manage engagement commercials
• Build reusable IP, frameworks and accelerators that let the practice scale
• Publish points of view and represent the practice at industry forums
• Coach and grow the team as it builds out

What you bring

• Proven management or strategy consulting experience at Director, Principal or Partner level, or equivalent seniority
• Retail or consumer sector depth, whether earned in consulting, in industry, or both
• Genuine command of channel economics, operating model design and the commercial pressures reshaping retail today
• Structured problem-solving and analytical rigour, including comfort interrogating data directly
• Origination track record: proposals won, whitespace opened, multi-year relationships built
• Executive-level communication and storytelling, credible in the boardroom
• Ability to define strategy and plans independently and traverse unfamiliar domains at pace
• Commercial acumen and a builder's instinct, someone who wants to create the practice rather than join a finished one
• Willingness to travel to client sites as business needs require
• Right to work in the UK; sponsorship is not available
• Valuable but not essential
• Depth in one or more of: omnichannel and operating model, connected commerce (OMS, POS, CDP), AI and personalisation, supply chain and fulfilment, store reinvention, or change and capability
• Experience of AI or agentic commerce in a retail context
• Practice-building or new-capability track record
• EMEA or international retail market experience
• Published thought leadership or a recognised external profile

Who this role is NOT for

• Delivery, platform or implementation leaders without a strategy consulting motion
• Client Partner or account management profiles without hands-on engagement leadership
• Organisation design, change management or PMO specialists without commercial and channel depth
• Strategy generalists with no retail or consumer grounding
• Manager or Senior Manager level candidates seeking a step up into this seat
• Candidates requiring visa sponsorship or seeking fully remote work
• Process note: selection includes a case study and a written exercise alongside interviews

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