FMCG

FMCG & Consumer Recruitment

Specialist recruitment for FMCG and consumer goods businesses, from category and commercial specialists to supply chain, marketing and the boardroom, across the UK and internationally.

In FMCG, a great product only gets you so far. Commercial teams get it into the right channels. Supply chain makes sure it is available when customers want it. Marketing creates demand, and product teams keep the range relevant. Zachary Daniels recruits the people behind that performance, across FMCG and consumer businesses in the UK and internationally.

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FMCG Recruitment across every function

A strong product matters, but it takes the right people across the business to turn it into sustainable commercial growth. Commercial teams build customer and channel relationships. Supply chain keeps products available without tying up unnecessary working capital. Marketing and insight create demand. Product and technical teams bring new ideas to market at the right cost, quality and speed. Finance protects margin, while People teams build the capability to deliver all of it at scale.

Get any one of those things wrong and the impact shows up somewhere specific: a customer opportunity missed, a promotion that runs out of stock, a launch that misses its window or a margin that quietly erodes. Zachary Daniels recruits across the whole of an FMCG or consumer business, not only Sales or Supply Chain. Some clients come to us for a single confidential appointment, while others use us across several functions as they grow. Either way, we start in the same place: understanding the business, the category and what success looks like, then finding the right people properly.

What makes recruiting for FMCG different?

FMCG recruitment isn’t one commercial environment with different job titles. Here’s what specifically changes how we search, assess and present candidates.

Product, category and customer understanding

A National Account Manager who has only sold branded lines into grocery multiples won’t automatically thrive selling private-label ranges to a discounter, and a marketer who has built a household name over a decade needs a different toolkit to one launching a brand from zero awareness. We look at the category and the customer a person has actually operated in, not just the job title on their CV.

Route to market and commercial relationships

Grocery, wholesale, convenience, discount, ecommerce and DTC are genuinely different sales motions, with different buyers, different planning cycles and different margins. A National Account Manager who has spent their career managing one major grocer’s relationship has a different skill set to one who has built a business across a fragmented independent and wholesale channel. Both are valuable, but they’re not interchangeable, and we assess for the specific route to market a role actually needs.

Pace, scale and operational complexity

Many food and drink businesses operate around shelf-life, promotional forecasting and complex supply chains, while a premium beauty or wellness brand may work with smaller batches, longer development cycles and different regulatory requirements.

Brand growth, innovation and consumer insight

Growing an already-established household brand and building awareness for a new one from a standing start call for different instincts: one is about defending share and evolving carefully, the other is about earning attention fast on a smaller budget. We look at which of those a candidate has actually done, not just which sector they’ve worked in.

Business stage, leadership and transferable experience

An established multinational, a private-equity-backed business under growth pressure, and a founder-led challenger brand building its first proper commercial team are three different jobs, even when the title on the door is the same. Someone who thrives building structure from scratch in a scaling challenger brand may find a highly matrixed multinational frustrating, and vice versa. We ask what stage a business is at before assuming what “the right person” looks like.

None of this means every FMCG role needs every one of these qualities. A Junior Account Executive hire and a Commercial Director search for a PE-backed business have almost nothing in common except the word FMCG. What matters is that we ask the right questions for the specific role, category, customer and business stage, rather than applying one template to all of them.

Functions we recruit across in FMCG

FMCG recruitment covers a whole business. Our specialist teams work together to support appointments across commercial, supply chain, marketing, product, finance, people and leadership.

Executive Search

Board-level and senior leadership appointments where commercial track record and cultural fit both matter.

Typical roles: Managing Director, Commercial Director, Operations Director, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Supply Chain Officer, CEO

Explore ZD Search

Sales & Commercial

The teams who win and defend listings, manage retailer relationships and drive revenue growth.

Typical Roles: National Account Manager, Grocery Account Controller, Commercial Manager, Sales Director, Business Development Director, Revenue Growth Manager

Explore Product, Design, Technical & Wholesale

Marketing, Brand, Digital & Ecommerce

Brand building, consumer insight and the ecommerce teams behind how a product is discovered and bought.

Typical roles: Brand Manager, Marketing Manager, Category Manager, Consumer Insights Manager, Ecommerce Manager, Marketing Director

Explore Marketing & Brand

Explore Digital & Ecommerce

Supply Chain, Logistics & Fulfilment

Keeps product moving from supplier to shelf, on time and in the right volumes, without excess cost tied up in stock.

Typical roles: Demand Planner, Supply Planner, Logistics Manager, Procurement Manager, Head of Supply Chain, Operations Director

Explore Supply Chain & Logistics

Product, Design & Technical

Gets new products to market at the right cost, quality and speed, and protects standards once they’re there.

Typical roles: Product Developer, NPD Manager, Technical Manager, Quality Manager, Innovation Director

Explore Product, Design, Technical & Wholesale

Finance

Every listing negotiation, promotional plan and new product launch runs through commercial finance.

Typical roles: Commercial Finance Manager, Finance Business Partner, Financial Controller, Finance Director, CFO

Explore Finance & Accounting

HR & Talent

Builds the capability and culture an FMCG business needs to grow, alongside the usual HR remit.

Typical roles: HR Business Partner, Talent Acquisition Manager, Head of HR, People Director

Explore HR & People

Technology, Data & Business Intelligence

Increasingly central to forecasting, ecommerce trading and category decision-making.

Typical roles: Data Analyst, Business Intelligence Manager, Systems Manager, Technology Director

Explore Technology, Data & IT Recruitment

Not sure which team covers your vacancy? Get in touch and we’ll point you in the right direction.

Hiring talent for an FMCG or consumer business

Every FMCG hire starts with a conversation, not a job description. We want to understand the category and the customer, the route to market, the commercial objective behind the role, what stage the business is at, and what success looks like in six to twelve months.

• Critical individual appointments: a single hire where getting it right matters more than filling it fast.
• Building a new function or team: growing a capability such as commercial or supply chain from one hire to a full team.
• Scaling a challenger brand: bringing in the commercial and operational structure a fast-growing business needs next.
• Strengthening commercial capability: sharpening a team’s ability to win and defend listings or grow category share.
• Leadership succession: planning ahead for when a senior leader moves on, often confidentially.
• Confidential executive search: a discreet, retained search for a senior or board-level appointment.
• International expansion: recruiting a team, or a market lead, ahead of entering a new territory.
• Multi-role recruitment projects: several roles across one or more functions, run as one coordinated project.

The strongest FMCG candidates are often not actively job hunting, so proactive, direct approaches matter as much as our own network. We’d rather bring you a focused shortlist of people who are a genuine fit than a long list of people who technically meet the brief. We’ll recommend the approach that best suits the role, timescale and level of confidentiality, whether that’s permanent recruitment, retained search, executive search or proactive talent finding.

Tell us about a role you need to fill

FMCG and consumer markets we understand

FMCG isn’t one market. We recruit across food and drink, beauty and personal care, health and wellness, household products, toys and licensed consumer goods, and other branded consumer categories.

Each comes with its own customers, channels and commercial pressures. The experience needed by an established multinational can also look very different from what is required by a private-equity-backed business or a founder-led brand building its commercial and operational capability.

Moving between categories can create valuable opportunities, but it isn’t always straightforward. Customer behaviour, routes to market, product cycles and regulatory requirements can differ significantly. Strong functional experience in areas such as account management, demand planning, finance or brand building will often transfer, while some roles require deeper category knowledge.

That is why we look beyond the broad FMCG label. We consider the product, customer, channel and business stage to understand which experience is genuinely relevant. If a brief sits outside our expertise, we’ll always be honest about it.

Looking for your next role in FMCG?

If you’re weighing up a move within FMCG, or into it from an adjacent consumer or retail background, we’re happy to have a confidential conversation before there’s even a specific role on the table. A good move isn’t only about the next job title: it’s about whether the category, the business and the culture are genuinely right for you.

• Product, category and customer: do you understand and enjoy the category, and the customer behind it, from a grocery shopper to a specialist retailer?
• Route to market and commercial exposure: grocery, wholesale, convenience, ecommerce or DTC all build different experience, and it’s worth knowing which you’re strongest in and which you want next.
• Culture, leadership and business stage: an established multinational, a PE-backed business and a founder-led challenger all operate differently, and who you’d report to matters as much as the brand name.
• Reward, flexibility and progression: understand the whole package, not just the headline salary, and be clear whether this role is a genuine step up.
• Long-term career value: what this move does for the next one, not just this one.

We’ll talk this through honestly, including telling you if we don’t think a role is right for you. That includes being straight about category moves: someone moving from beauty into food and drink, or from an established multinational into a founder-led challenger brand, will find some experience transfers cleanly and some doesn’t. We’d rather have that conversation now than see you move for the wrong reasons. The same honesty applies to moves from retail or consumer brand backgrounds into FMCG, where relevant commercial or category experience can be a genuine route in.

Register your interest confidentially

Frequently Asked Questions

What roles does Zachary Daniels recruit within FMCG?

Across the whole of an FMCG or consumer business: Executive Search, Sales & Commercial, Marketing, Brand, Digital & Ecommerce, Supply Chain, Logistics & Operations, Product, Design & Technical, Finance, Human Resources & Talent, and Technology and Data. See Functions we recruit across above for role examples in each.

Which FMCG and consumer markets do you cover?

We recruit across food and drink, beauty and personal care, health and wellness, household products, toys and licensed consumer goods, and other branded consumer categories. Because every market has different customers, channels and commercial pressures, we consider the specific category and business model behind every brief.

Do you recruit for FMCG head office and leadership roles?

Yes. FMCG recruitment is often assumed to mean sales or operational roles only, but a significant part of our work is head office and leadership recruitment, including commercial, marketing, finance, supply chain and HR.

Do you provide FMCG executive search?

Yes, for senior and board-level appointments, including leadership succession and appointments where discretion is essential.

Can you help build a new team or function?

Yes. We support businesses building a function from a single hire through to a full team, including for challenger brands scaling quickly.

Ready to talk?

Hiring?

If you’re hiring for an FMCG or consumer business, whether that’s one important appointment or a wider project, tell us about the role and we’ll come back with how we can help.

Talk to us about hiring

Thinking about your next move?

If you’re thinking about your next move in FMCG, get in touch. We’re happy to have that conversation confidentially, with no pressure and no obligation.

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