Managing Director

Location: Northwest UK

Salary: Attractive six-figure salary commensurate with role

The Opportunity

This is a rare opportunity to lead a successful, privately owned, design-led consumer business with a strong heritage, loyal customer base, and clear ambition for its next phase of growth.

The business has been carefully built over several decades and remains close to its roots: values-led, relationship-driven, and proud of its reputation with both customers and suppliers. It combines in-house design capability with international sourcing and a highly responsive supply chain.

Following a longstanding and successful Managing Director tenure, the business is now looking for a successor who can work closely with the Board to build on strong foundations; enhancing structure, pace, and commercial edge, while preserving what makes the business special. You will work side-by-side with an engaged and growth minded owner, playing a key role in shaping the next phase of the business.

The Role

Reporting directly to the CEO (owner) and Board, this is a broad, hands-on leadership role with full accountability for business performance.

You will take ownership of the day-to-day running of the business while helping shape its future direction and acting as a trusted partner to the owner. Balancing commercial opportunity with operational reality in a fast-moving environment.

You will:

• Own the full P&L, with a sharp focus on margin, cash, and stock discipline
• Maintain and develop key customer relationships, acting as a credible and trusted partner
• Align commercial ambition with operational capability across sourcing, supply chain, and distribution
• Bring clarity, structure, and pace to execution across the business
• Translate strategic direction into practical, actionable plans
• Lead, develop, and align a capable and evolving senior leadership team
• Build a high-trust, transparent working relationship with the owner, providing support, insight, and constructive challenge where needed

This is not a “corporate” MD role, success will come from being visible, pragmatic, and close to the detail, while still leading with a strategic lens.

The Person

You are likely operating as a Managing Director or equivalent senior business leader within a privately owned environment and are comfortable operating without the infrastructure of a large corporate.

You will bring:

• Proven P&L leadership within a mid-sized, commercially driven business
• Experience in wholesale, retail, or consumer goods, ideally with import-led supply chains
• Strong exposure to major UK retail customers
• A track record of improving performance through better structure, discipline, and alignment
• The ability to operate both strategically and “in the engine room” when needed
• Experience of working closely with a business owner or founder, understanding the pace, expectations, and dynamics this brings

Leadership Style

You are a grounded, credible leader who builds trust quickly. Particularly in environments where relationships, reputation, and delivery matter.

• You lead with ownership and accountability
• You bring clarity without over-complication
• You are commercially sharp but operationally aware
• You are comfortable in a business where pace, pragmatism, and judgement matter more than process
• You are comfortable operating as both a leader of the business and a close, trusted partner to the owner

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to step into a well-respected, values-led business at a meaningful transition point. You will have real influence and the ability to shape both performance and culture. It offers a rare level of proximity to ownership, with the opportunity to directly influence key decisions and the future direction of the business.

For the right individual, this is a chance to leave a lasting mark on a business that cares deeply about what it does and how it does it.