Job Introduction
As we continue our mission to make people and nature happy through reinventing chocolate, we are looking for a Cacao Transformation Program Manager to join our team on a fixed-term contract basis.
This is one of the most exciting strategic transformation roles in the business, helping to deliver a programme that will shape the trajectory of the Hotel Chocolat brand for the next 10 to 20 years.
The strategic direction and overall ambition will be owned by the programme sponsor. This role will be responsible for turning that ambition into a credible, investable and deliverable programme, establishing what it will take to move from strategic intent to execution.
You will act as both programme leader and thinking partner to the Sustainability & Procurement Director who is responsible for the successful delivery of this transformational change. You will not be accountable for setting the strategy, but you will be expected to understand it deeply, challenge and pressure-test its assumptions, identify gaps or unintended consequences, and bring forward clear recommendations where further choices are required.
You will lead the cross-functional programme, developing the business case and strategic roadmap, establishing governance, defining the resources and investment required, and creating alignment around the choices, trade-offs, dependencies and decisions needed to deliver the transformation.
This is not a functional delivery role. You will orchestrate activity across the business, ensuring the right experts are mobilised, functional accountabilities are clear, critical dependencies are managed and the programme remains focused on outcomes.
Sustainability will be a major part of the transformation, including our ambition to build the world’s most compelling example of sustainable cacao. However, the programme extends well beyond sustainability alone. Maintaining the right balance between positive impact, brand differentiation, operational feasibility and commercial return will be central to the role.
The successful candidate will be an exceptional transformation leader: commercially sharp, strategically curious, highly structured and influential with senior stakeholders, with the communication skills to turn complexity into clear, compelling narratives and actions. You will be comfortable navigating complexity across both Hotel Chocolat and Mars, constructively challenging senior thinking and creating momentum in an environment where not every answer has yet been defined.
As well as a competitive salary and a range of company benefits including private healthcare cover, enhanced maternity and paternity leave and Company pension contributions, you’ll receive 50% discount on all products, and a 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia.
Here at Hotel Chocolat, we've adopted hybrid working. You’ll join us on site for minimum of 3 days a week to engage and collaborate as a team, with our stakeholders and suppliers, but you can figure out which sites, which days and where you need to be to get your work done. Stakeholders for this role are mainly based across our on-site locations in St. Neots (Cambs), Huntingdon (Cambs), Harpole (Northampton) and Royston (Herts). For the other 2 days – you can work from wherever you like!
What you’ll be doing….
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Lead the overarching transformation programme to build the world’s most compelling example of sustainability cacao, translating the ambition into a qualified, investable and deliverable plan.
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Responsible to deliver & update the business case, including the strategic rationale, commercial opportunity, investment requirements, resource needs, risks, roadmap and expected return.
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Define the programme roadmap, governance, milestones, dependencies and decision points required to deliver the transformation.
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Orchestrate cross-functional workstreams across sourcing, sustainability, product, technical, supply chain, brand, commercial, finance and market activation.
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Excellent communication skills, with the ability to turn complexity into clear narratives, decisions and actions.
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Work with Finance and senior leaders to test and refine the commercial case, ensuring assumptions, economics and routes to return are robust.
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Ensure functional owners are clear on their deliverables, timelines and accountabilities, without personally owning every functional output.
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Mobilise the right resources across Hotel Chocolat, Mars, suppliers and external partners to unlock delivery.
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Identify and manage critical risks, trade-offs and decisions, escalating early with clear options and recommendations.
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Hold the business to account for progress, ensuring the programme remains focused on outcomes rather than activity.
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Define measures of success across impact, brand, consumer, commercial, operational and financial outcomes.
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Build belief, clarity and momentum across the organisation around a complex, multi-year transformation.
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Resilient, pacey and comfortable operating in ambiguity.
Who you are…
Essential
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Proven experience leading complex, business-wide transformation or change programmes across multiple functions and senior stakeholder groups.
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Strong experience building and owning business cases for strategic transformation, including investment, benefits, risks, assumptions and return.
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Experience leading through influence in a matrix organisation, creating alignment across teams who may not report into the role.
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Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management to inspire others.
Desirable
- Experience in food, drink, FMCG, agriculture, retail, hospitality or consumer brands.
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Experience with sustainability, regenerative agriculture, responsible sourcing, cocoa, commodities or agricultural supply chains.
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Experience working across both entrepreneurial/growth brand environments and larger corporate organisations.
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Experience operating across UK and US markets.
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Experience working with suppliers, external partners, NGOs, farming communities or technical experts.
Who are we?
We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser™.
A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.
Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to over 160 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.
To learn more about us and read about our People Pledge – our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion – click here: hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html
