Country Plan Project Manager

A major retail company is seeking an experienced contractor to lead the development and implementation of its Country Plan process across European markets for a 3 to 4-month period. This role is critical in translating central strategic initiatives and local market insights into actionable, market-specific plans that drive business success.

The Country Plans will serve as a key interface between in-country teams and central functions, supporting annual reviews and providing practical guidance for operations. The immediate objective is to establish and run a robust, repeatable process for developing Country Plans across all European markets, working closely with Country Leads and stakeholders to ensure each plan is grounded in local realities. The contractor will also codify the approach, templates, governance, and handover materials to embed this as an internal capability for future cycles.

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Tasks

Scope of Role:

1. Define and operationalise the Country Plan approach: - Develop a practical, end-to-end Country Plan process for the European markets - Set out process milestones, stakeholder engagement, decision points, and required outputs. - Translate central strategic initiatives into actionable market-level plans, allowing for local adaptation. - Create repeatable templates, guidance, and governance for future annual cycles.

2. Lead the first version of Country Plan development: - Manage day-to-day delivery across all markets. - Engage stakeholders to gather market-to-centre input and consolidate insights. - Integrate internal materials, strategic initiatives, and country-level inputs into coherent Country Plans. - Ensure high-quality, consistent plans that can be refreshed annually.

3. Develop the insight base and strategic implications by country: - Consolidate market, customer, and competitor insights as appropriate by country tier. - Assess the market position, performance, challenges, and opportunities in each market. - Identify where central strategy should be adapted by country across key growth levers. - Clearly articulate strategic nuances and rationale for each market.

4. Consolidate initiatives, plans, and governance outputs: - Translate strategy and insights into concrete actions and governance outputs at the country level. - Develop a clear view of key trading events, operational implications, and support needs by country. - Prepare materials for regular country presentations and leadership discussions. - Shape the development schedule and governance cadence for ongoing reviews.

5. Create a repeatable internal capability and handover: - Produce templates, playbooks, and guidance for future cycles. - Document roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders. - Recommend an effective operating model for sustaining the process internally. - Support knowledge transfer and handover to enable Country Leads to own the process annually.

Requirements

We are looking for an individual who is:

- An experienced Independent Consultant - Skilled in implementing and operationalising strategy, ideally with experience translating central initiatives into country-level plans. - Experienced in the retail sector, with strong market and trading insight. - Comfortable engaging with senior stakeholders, including market leadership and central functions. - Able to operate effectively in a lean environment, take ownership, and deliver at pace with analytical rigour. - Experienced in working across multiple European markets, with an understanding of cross-market strategy development. - A strong communicator, able to synthesise multiple viewpoints and create outputs that are embedded within the company. - The role will require travel between the Head Office and European markets, with flexibility to work from home between trips.