Senior Marketing Planning Manager

Senior Marketing Planning Manager

Contract type: Permanent

Location: Hatfield (Hybrid working - 3 days in the office)

Working hours per week: 40 hours

Level: Senior Manager

Reports to: Brand Marketing Lead

Application Closing Date: Wednesday 5th August 2026

About us

Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service, and reassuringly good value. We’re also on a mission to empower our business with smart technology; we've recently launched our AI Academy, providing a tailored AI learning journey for every colleague.

We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S, and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket, ocado.com. Not only is Ocado the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind Zoom by Ocado, our same-day grocery delivery service.

About the team and the role

It’s an exciting time to be joining the Brand & Campaigns team. We have ambitious plans to grow the Ocado brand & fuel customer growth. This newly created role will be instrumental in helping Ocado become a loved brand for big & busy households.

This isn't a "behind-the-scenes" planning role. You’ll be the strategic architect of Ocado’s customer plans, sitting at the intersection of our Customer and Commercial teams. If you want a role with high visibility, influence, and the power to shape how millions of customers experience Ocado, this is it.

You will report into the Brand Marketing Lead. Whilst this role doesn’t currently have any direct reports, there is potential scope in the future.

What you’ll do

• The Strategic Architect: Synthesise customer, competitor and commercial insights to lead the creation of our long-term, high-impact strategic plans.
• “One Plan” Commander: Full ownership of Ocado’s customer calendar. You won't just manage a timeline - you will rally cross-functional squads to ensure every customer moment lands with maximum impact.
• Integrated Marketing Orchestrator: Rally and align the Creative, Brand, Campaign, and Channel squads. You ensure every brief is razor-sharp and every campaign lands flawlessly, on budget, and on time.
• Value creator: Turn supplier budgets into customer wins. You’ll integrate supplier-funded opportunities into the One Plan, ensuring we deliver income targets without diluting the Ocado customer experience.
• Operational champion: Own the Ocado cycle planning process. You will run our critical path, hold cross-functional teams to account, and ruthlessly protect our deadlines. You'll lead the charge on automation, using AI to eliminate manual admin and build a slick, future-proof workflow.
• Governance & Steerco Lead: You will be the face of the customer plan, managing stakeholder alignment at the highest level to ensure cross-business buy-in.
• Commercial Translator: You will partner with our Commercial leads, translating sales targets into high-impact, brand-aligned campaigns that get customers want to click "add to basket."
• Change Agent: Continuously optimise how we work. You’ll design and embed AI-led, agile workflows that eliminate friction, keep squads aligned, and make the execution of our customer plan look effortless.

Who you are

• An Expert Integrated Marketer: Proven track record in a fast-paced retail or e-commerce environment, with deep experience across the full marketing mix.
• A Master Orchestrator: Highly organised and operationally rigorous; you love a slick process and can manage complex, moving parts across multiple departments without dropping the ball.
• Flexible and highly adaptable: Comfortable navigating evolving priorities and taking proactive ownership to guide teams smoothly through periods of change.
• A Natural Collaborative Leader: You excel at breaking down silos, developing cross-functional talent, and driving cultural change across teams. You have experience line managing teams.
• High-Level Stakeholder Influencer: Exceptional communicator who can seamlessly adapt your style to challenge and influence senior stakeholders up to C-suite, including our joint-venture partners at M&S.
• Commercially & Culturally Savvy: Not only are you confident with commercials, you’re curious about culture and consumers, effectively translating these insights into clear propositions and briefs.
• Data & Insight Driven: Comfortable using customer data, trading metrics, and post-campaign analysis to optimise future marketing moments and prove ROI.
• AI savvy: You’re on your AI journey, excited and ready to do more.

What’s in it for you

By joining Ocado Retail, you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day, and grow your skills and career in online retail. You'll also be part of our AI Academy, a dedicated learning journey designed to empower every colleague with the smart technology skills of the future.

If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:

Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market-leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance, and more.

Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast every day in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme, and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.

Never miss the moments that matter: Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere, and lifestyle break opportunities.

Our Hiring Process

Lucky for us, we receive a high volume of applications and genuinely appreciate the time and effort invested by every candidate. To ensure a fair and thorough process, every application is reviewed by a member of our team. If your skills and experience are a strong match, a Talent Partner will contact you to discuss the role and guide you through the next steps of our hiring process.

Your Application and AI

In the spirit of innovation, we welcome you to use AI tools in your application, just as we use them in our own business at Ocado Retail. However, as you leverage this technology, please don't lose sight of the most important element: your unique self. Your experiences, passions, and personality are what truly set you apart. Ensure that your application still authentically conveys who you are and why you're a great fit for us.

Everyone’s welcome

We’re an equal opportunities employer, which means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. We want to ensure everyone has a fair chance to apply; if you need this job description in an alternative format (e.g., larger print, different document type, etc.), please reach out to us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to assist you, and if you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.