“We Bring Passion and Inspiration to the World of Rugby Season after Season”

Canterbury of New Zealand was established back in 1904 when John Lane, Pringle Walker and Alfred Rudkin began producing woollen garments deep in the Canterbury Province of New Zealand. Before long, they were making uniforms for the army during the First World War, and they earned themselves a reputation for manufacturing tough, durable kit. So much so, the legendary All Blacks rugby team approached them to produce rugby attire in which they could play.

The rest as they say is history; Canterbury of New Zealand outfitted the All Blacks team for over 75 years and is now the largest dedicated rugby brand in the world. Canterbury currently supply kit to numerous high-profile national rugby teams; England, the Springboks and Scotland, as well as leading clubs such as Leinster and Leicester Tigers.

Canterbury's commitment to developing innovative and high performance sportswear is recognised across the globe, with athletes from all sporting disciplines opting to wear Canterbury BaseLayer and Compression products. Canterbury Compression is proven to enhance blood flow, wick sweat away from the body and aid recovery, ultimately increasing levels of sporting performance. We are proud to align ourselves with the likes of Bryan Habana, who openly endorses both our technical products and lifestyle garments.

The brand has its roots firmly in the southern hemisphere with its spiritual home in New Zealand. The Kiwi heritage strongly influences both the design of Canterbury product and the ethos of the company.

“Building a family of brands for the world to love, generation after generation”

Canterbury is part of the Pentland Brands Family. We are a privately owned third-generation family business, and the name behind some of the world’s best sports, outdoor and fashion brands. We own Berghaus, Canterbury, Speedo, Brasher, Boxfresh, Ellesse, KangaROOS, Mitre, Prostar and Red or Dead and is also the global licensee for Lacoste Chaussures and Ted Baker footwear and Kickers in the UK.

In 2014, the Great Place to Work® Institute recognised Pentland Brands the 8^th Best Workplace in the UK and the 16^th Best Workplace in Europe. Our global headquarters is in the UK and we employ 2000 people across 20 countries around the world.

Our culture is people centred, and our work environment reflects and supports this. We believe that doing business the right way, with respect for people and the environment, is essential for ensuring our long-term sustainability - generation after generation. The Pentland values are at the heart of what we do and how we interact with the world around us.

www.pentland.com. www.canterbury.com

Responsibilities:

As Commercial Director for UK & EMEA you will:

Define the strategic direction for Canterbury’s route to market and distribution channels in the UK and EMEA region. Ensure alignment with desired brand positioning, whilst developing a high-performing commercial team. With all this in mind your aim will be to increase market penetration in priority markets, through effective communication of consumer-informed brand propositions.

• Reporting to the CEO, you will be a member of the CCC Executive, actively participating in overall leadership of the brand on our journey to becoming the number one rugby brand in the world.
• Overall responsibility for sales and operating profit targets for the region
• Accountable for 3-year commercial business plan
• Lead, coach, inspire, challenge & empower the UK and Ireland Commercial team towards the achievement of the business plan and targets and creation a high performing team culture
• Creating an environment within the Commercial team that promotes pro-active collaboration across the brand working cohesively with Marketing, Product, Customer Services, Finance and Operations

Qualifications:

What you need to have

• Experience in setting and executing a consumer-informed and robust commercial strategy
• Proven experience of leading and developing a high-performing UK and EMEA based Commercial team within a branded consumer goods environment
• Proven record of significant commercial success based on targeted activity in the UK and Ireland
• Experience in managing European distributor partners and the ability to analyse partner business plans and constructively critique
• Strong strategic business planning skills
• Excellent financial awareness ability to forecast and deliver budgets
• Degree level education

What we need to see in you

• An excellent leader of people, balancing vision with authenticity
• A strong strategic planner
• Credible and confident
• Passionate and inspirational
• Tenacious, persuasive and driven
• Interested in Sport and Fashion
• An excellent communicator / influencer
• Highly motivated and autonomous