Retail Account Director

Let’s be unstoppable together!

Circana is a leading provider of technology, AI, and data solutions for consumer packaged goods companies, manufacturers, and retailers. Our predictive analytics and Liquid Data® platform help clients measure market share, uncover consumer behavior, and drive growth—powered by six decades of expertise and an expansive, high-quality data set.

At Circana, we are fueled by our passion for continuous learning and growth, we seek and share feedback freely, and we celebrate victories both big and small in an environment that is flexible and accommodating to our work and personal lives.  We’re a global company dedicated to fostering inclusivity and belonging. We value and celebrate the unique experiences, cultures, and viewpoints that each individual brings. By embracing a wide range of backgrounds, skills, expertise, and beyond, we create a stronger, more innovative environment for our employees, clients, and communities. With us, you can always bring your full self to work.  Join our inclusive, committed team to be a challenger, own outcomes, and stay curious together. Circana is proud to be Certified™ by Great Place To Work®. This prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Circana.

Learn more at www.circana.com.

Our Critical Sales Skills

At the heart of our commercial success is a team of professionals who combine strategic insight, customer-centricity, and executional excellence. These skills represent the core capabilities required to drive value for our clients and sustainable growth for our business.

• Effectively Presents Solutions: Delivers tailored, compelling solutions that align with customer needs and drive action.
• Knows the Buying Influences: Identifies key decision-makers and understands their motivations and influence.
• Manages Buyer Indifference: Recognizes and explores customer hesitation to uncover new needs or opportunities.
• Understands Customer Needs: Operates as a recognized expert to articulate customer needs in the customer's business language and business context.
• Being Resilient: Bounces back from setbacks with composure and positivity; helps others stay productive during tough times.
• Manages Ambiguity: Stays focused and calm in uncertain situations; guides others through change.

What will you be doing?

The Retail Account Director will lead the client, commercial and operational management of Circana’s retailer ecosystem in South Africa. The role will manage the team and own the strategic relationships, delivery and value realisation of participating retailers.

Job Responsibilities

• Lead the retailer portfolio
  • Own Circana’s senior day-to-day relationships with all participating retailers and act as the senior escalation point for client matters.
  • Develop and maintain a strategic account plan for each retailer covering priorities, agreed value, service commitments, risks, adoption and growth opportunities.
  • Build trusted relationships across Trading, Merchandising, Category Management, Commercial, Insights, Data, Technology and Supply Chain functions.
  • Represent Circana as a credible, neutral and trusted partner across retailers with different and sometimes competing business interests.
• Lead and develop the team
  • Provide overall leadership to the account team, translating the strategy into clear priorities, deliverables and accountable ownership.
  • Allocate account leadership and delivery capacity according to retailer needs, implementation phases and portfolio priorities.
  • Coach and develop team members and build capability, succession and resource plans as the retailer portfolio expands.
  • Create a connected portfolio team that shares learning and standardises good practice rather than operating as isolated retailer account teams.
• Own retailer onboarding and transition into business as usual
  • Lead the retailer-facing elements of onboarding from agreement through data discovery, integration, validation, launch and ongoing service.
  • Work with Operations, Product and Technology to establish integrated onboarding plans, milestones, dependencies and governance.
  • Ensure retailer requirements, expected value and success measures are clearly documented and understood by all delivery teams.
  • Apply learning from each onboarding to improve the speed, consistency and scalability of subsequent retailer implementations.
• Deliver the value exchange
  • Ensure every retailer has a clear understanding of the value it contributes to and receives from the solution.
  • Translate the proposition into retailer-specific use cases, outcomes and success measures.
  • Monitor the balance between retailer contribution, contracted service, value delivered and adoption.
  • Identify and close gaps between agreed and delivered value, demonstrating impact through practical examples of improved retailer decisions.
• Drive adoption and insight activation
  • Drive adoption of Circana data, platforms, solutions and insights across participating retailer organisations.
  • Establish stakeholder engagement, training and adoption plans for each retailer and monitor recurring usage.
  • Lead regular value reviews covering delivery, adoption, insight application and agreed next steps.
  • Ensure outputs move beyond reporting by clearly explaining what the information means and what action the retailer should take.
• Establish governance and cross-functional delivery
  • Define and maintain a consistent governance rhythm across the retailer portfolio, including account reviews, portfolio reviews and escalation forums.
  • Maintain visibility of commitments, dependencies, risks, resource requirements and decisions across the portfolio.
  • Translate retailer needs into clear, prioritised briefs for Operations, Data, Product, Technology, Commercial, Finance, Legal and Client Success.
  • Protect delivery quality by managing scope, prioritisation and change control, and by aligning retailer commitments with delivery capacity.
• Partner with Business Development to expand coverage
  • Work with the Business Development Director to expand participation
  • Support the retailer expansion roadmap by vertical, channel and implementation phase.
  • Assess prospective retailers based on strategic importance, incremental market coverage, data availability and quality, technical complexity, value contribution, resource requirements and readiness to participate.
  • Participate in senior retailer discussions where the operating model, implementation approach, client experience or value proposition needs to be demonstrated.
  • Translate learning from initial implementation into a scalable proposition, servicing model and onboarding approach for later phases.
  • Ensure commitments made during the recruitment and contracting process are practical, costed and deliverable.
  • Define account structures, team capacity and servicing requirements for incoming retailers and ensure a structured handover from business development into implementation and business as usual.
  • Identify opportunities for vertical and channel expansion without compromising delivery to existing retailers.
• Support commercial sustainability
  • Own retailer retention, renewal readiness and sustainable growth within participating accounts.
  • Track portfolio financial performance, delivery cost and resource requirements, escalating material risks early with a recommended course of action.
  • Identify expansion opportunities within existing relationships and develop credible business cases for additional services or capabilities.
  • Balance commercial opportunity with standardisation, capacity and the long-term sustainability of solution.
• Protect retailer data and trust
  • Maintain strict confidentiality and separation between participating retailers.
  • Ensure retailer data is used in line with contractual, legal, privacy and governance requirements.
  • Work with Legal, Data Governance, Privacy and Technology stakeholders to resolve questions relating to permitted use, aggregation and disclosure.
  • Build retailer confidence that Circana can operate as an independent and trusted custodian across competing retailers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Business, Commerce, Marketing, Economics, Data Analytics or a related field.
• 8+ years’ experience in FMCG, grocery retail, retail analytics, technology-enabled client services or a related environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic retailer or FMCG client relationships and managing a client-facing team.
• Strong understanding of the South African retail and FMCG market across relevant verticals and channels.
• Experience with point-of-sale, market measurement, loyalty, transaction, category, supply-chain or related retail data.
• Proven ability to translate complex data and technology concepts into clear commercial outcomes and client actions.
• Experience coordinating complex implementations or cross-functional programmes involving Data, Operations, Product and Technology.
• Strong commercial acumen, including contracts, scope, budgets, cost management, renewals and revenue responsibility.
• Strong executive communication, presentation, facilitation, negotiation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to operate effectively across local, EMEA and global teams and to influence without direct authority.
• Sound understanding of retailer data confidentiality, governance and trust requirements.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word; familiarity with Microsoft Dynamics, Monday.com, Jira or Power BI is advantageous.

Circana Behaviors

As well as the technical skills, experience and attributes that are required for the role, our shared behaviors sit at the core of our organization. Therefore, we always look for people who can continuously champion these behaviors throughout the business within their day-to-day role:

• Stay Curious: Being hungry to learn and grow, always asking the big questions.
• Seek Clarity: Embracing complexity to create clarity and inspire action.
• Own the Outcome: Being accountable for decisions and taking ownership of our choices.
• Center on the Client: Relentlessly adding value for our customers.
• Be a Challenger: Never complacent, always striving for continuous improvement.
• Champion Inclusivity: Fostering trust in relationships engaging with empathy, respect, and integrity.
• Commit to each other: Contributing to making Circana a great place to work for everyone.

Location

This position can be located in the following area(s): Cape Town

Prospective candidates may be asked to consent to background checks (in accordance with local legislation and our candidate privacy notice ) Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission.