Head of Commercial

Head of Commercial - Automotive

We are currently recruiting a Head of Commercial for a long-standing client to support their Bus divisions.

Role Purpose

The Bus Division Head of Commercial is responsible for coordinating and leading all commercial activities across the Bus entities, ensuring that quotes, tenders, costings and commercial terms are robust, competitive and aligned with the Group profitability objectives.

The role acts as the central commercial authority across the Bus Division managing tender pipelines, leading complex bid activity, standardising commercial processes, and working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Engineering, Procurement and Finance to convert opportunities into profitable orders.

Management of a team of two commercial support leads in the bus division.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Commercial Coordination & Governance

• Coordinate the bus division commercial activities, including quotations, tenders, cost models and commercial terms and conditions for quotes and contracts, working side by side with the Head of Sales and the Group Marketing Manager.
• A key part of the role is influencing product and sales strategic roadmaps with insights on our commercial performance.

Tender & Quotation Management

• Manage the pipeline of quotes and tenders, including backlog visibility and prioritisation, guiding the team to deliver customer proposals on time and in quality.
• Coordinate weekly commercial planning sessions with key stakeholders (e.g. Sales leadership and commercial team) to align resources and priorities.
• Coordinate the preparation of cost and quote proposals for the Bus division through the bus division commercial team.
• Lead the creation of winning tenders through full bid lifecycle from Bid/No-Bid business case through to customer negotiation and contract award, in coordination with the bus division sales team.
• Lead ad-hoc and complex tender submissions (e.g. large tenders, new product launches, framework submissions and similar public sector opportunities), coordinating cross-functional teams as required.

Costing, Pricing & Financial Modelling

• Develop and maintain standardised quotation templates, incorporating inputs from Operations, Procurement, Engineering and Finance for all products.
• Build and maintain EBITDA-based commercial models to support pricing decisions and profitability assessment.
• Challenge internal cost assumptions and support cost-down initiatives to improve competitiveness and margin performance.

Reporting & Performance Monitoring

• Produce regular commercial reporting for Business Reviews, Sales meetings and SLT meetings, including:
• Opportunity and tender pipeline
• Order intake and conversion rates
• Commercial risks and opportunities
• Ensure commercial data is accurate, timely and decision-useful.

Process Improvement & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Streamline and improve commercial processes in coordination with Sales and Operations, from initial quote through order placement and hand-over of orders to Operations.
• Influence and align internal stakeholders to deliver high-quality, competitive and timely commercial submissions.