Head of Strategy

About us

We’re the team behind digital retailer Very.

Our purpose, helping families get more out of life, powers everything we do.

And we want our people to get more out of life too! If you’re high-performing, ambitious and make the most of every opportunity, we want to hear from you. In return, you’ll enjoy heaps of flexibility, great perks and benefits, and the freedom to be yourself, keep learning and take your career wherever you want it to go.

If you love making a difference, you’ll love making it sparkle for millions of Very customers. ✨

About the role

As The Very Group enters its next phase of growth, the Head of Strategy will play a key role in helping deliver the Group's growth ambitions.

Working closely with the CEO, Executive Committee and senior leaders, the role is responsible for ensuring the business remains focused on the strategic priorities that will create the greatest long-term value. Acting as a trusted partner to senior leaders across the Group, the Head of Strategy helps shape strategic choices, identify opportunities to accelerate growth and ensure the organisation maintains focus on the initiatives that matter most.

Leading a talented team of Strategy Managers, the role sits at the centre of the business, bringing together strategic insight, customer understanding and commercial judgement to help the organisation make better decisions, focus resources on the opportunities that matter most and deliver sustainable growth and shareholder value.

What you'll be doing:

Shape strategic choices and accelerate growth

• Partner with the CEO, Executive Committee and senior leaders to evaluate strategic opportunities, investment choices and business trade-offs.
• Lead the development and evolution of the Group strategy and five-year plan, ensuring priorities remain aligned to customer, market and shareholder needs.
• Bring together customer, market, commercial and operational perspectives to provide insight and challenge on the choices that will shape the future success of the business.

Turn strategy into action

• Ensure strategic priorities are translated into clear plans, measurable outcomes and aligned business actions.
• Drive understanding and engagement with the Group strategy, ensuring priorities are embedded across the organisation and reflected in decision-making.
• Maintain focus on the Group's most important strategic priorities, identifying barriers to delivery and helping leaders navigate trade-offs and competing demands.

Drive strategic performance

• Assess progress against the Group's strategic objectives and value creation ambitions, helping leaders identify where to accelerate, adapt or intervene.
• Use customer, commercial and operational insight to strengthen decision-making, prioritisation and resource allocation.
• Champion a customer-first, evidence-based and test-and-learn approach to growth and value creation.

Lead a talented Strategy Team

• Lead, develop and inspire a talented team of Strategy Managers.
• Create a high-performance culture characterised by curiosity, challenge, collaboration and accountability.
• Ensure the team operates as a trusted partner to the Executive Team and wider organisation

About you

We're looking for an experienced strategy leader who combines commercial acumen, intellectual curiosity and the ability to influence at the most senior levels of the organisation.

You'll be comfortable operating in a highly visible role, partnering with Executive leaders to solve complex business challenges, shape strategic choices and drive long-term value creation. You'll bring a balance of strategic thinking and practical execution, helping turn ambition into action and ensuring focus remains on the opportunities that matter most.

You'll likely bring:

• Significant experience in strategy, management consulting, corporate development or a related commercial leadership role.
• A proven track record of shaping business strategy and influencing major investment, growth and transformation decisions.
• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to assess opportunities, trade-offs and value creation drivers across a complex business.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and problem-solving capability, with experience structuring and solving ambiguous, high-impact business challenges.
• Excellent analytical skills, with the ability to distil complex information into clear insights, recommendations and actions.
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills, with experience partnering with Executive teams and senior leaders.
• Experience leading, developing and inspiring high-performing teams.
• The ability to influence and drive alignment across multiple functions and competing priorities.
• A strong customer focus and belief in evidence-based, data-driven decision making.
• Experience working in fast-paced, dynamic environments where adaptability and prioritisation are critical.

Most importantly, you'll be a strategic leader who can bring clarity to complexity, challenge constructively and build the alignment, focus and momentum needed to help The Very Group deliver its growth ambitions.

Some of our benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment, check out our Glassdoor reviews
• £10,000 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs
• 30 days holiday + bank holidays
• LinkedIn learning access
• Bonus potential (performance and business-related)
• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk
• Matched pension up to 6%
• More benefits can be found on our career site

How to apply

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. Should your application progress we require you to let the team know if there is anything you need to disclose in relation to any of these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions.

What happens next?

Our talent acquisition team will be in touch if you’re successful so keep an eye on your emails! We’ll arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. If it feels like we’re a good match, we’ll share your CV with the hiring manager to review. Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.

You can expect a two stage interview process for this position:

1st stage - A 1 hour video call with the hiring team to discuss your skills and relevant experience. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the role and to ask any questions you may have.

2nd stage - A one-hour formal face-to-face interview where you can expect a task and both competency/technical skills based questions.

As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here.

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities

We’re building a culture of everyday inclusion, and welcome applications from anyone who believes they can do the job. We don’t discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply, interview, or perform a role, let us know via talentacquisition@theverygroup.com. We’ll be happy to support you.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer and have nine brilliant colleague networks - including DAWN (Disability Awareness at Very) and Think (Neurodiversity at Very) - that are helping us make Very an even more inclusive place to work.