WSET Strategic Planning Manager

Fulltime £28.5-31.5K + Benefits

The Wine & Spirit Education Trust is the world’s largest provider of education in wine and spirits. Headquartered in London our qualifications are offered in over 60 countries to both professionals and enthusiasts. We have an exciting, newly created, role available for someone with at least 3 years’ experience of financial analysis, business management or management consultancy.

As the WSET Strategic Planning Manager you will support the Director of Strategic Planning and play a key role to help the WSET prioritise and achieve its strategic objectives. This influential role needs someone who can carry out qualitative and quantitative research, present their findings clearly and honestly, using numerical data where relevant, and who enjoys and exploring and evaluating the many ‘what if’s of business opportunities.

Role overview and Job Responsibilities:

Subject to the instructions of the Director of Strategic Planning, to conduct research, and assist in the ongoing review and update of the WSET’s strategic plans, together with (in assigned areas of business activity) assisting in the production of tactical plans for achieving the agreed objectives, and metrics for measuring progress towards these objectives.

Key Result Areas

  1. Research: WSET Qualifications
  2. Manage and implement market research with industry stakeholders, educators and candidates to help identify ways for improving WSET qualifications, in current and new formats.
  3. Research the legal, cost and business implications of new formats for WSET education and assessment.
  4. Analyse and provide summary reports of the findings.
  1. Research: Current and New Markets
  2. Manage market research with industry stakeholders and WSET Business Development Managers (BDMs) to help evaluate the potential for WSET qualifications in national markets and industry sectors
  3. For priority markets, assist in the production of tactical plans to achieve growth in these markets.
  1. Project Management
  2. For new business opportunities, assist the Director of Strategic Planning in running pilots to explore viability and develop products to the point where they are ready to launch
  1. Other Activities
  2. Contribute to the successful overall operation of the Trust overall by undertaking such other tasks as may from time to time be requested.

Person Specification

Business and Marketing Research Manager

Skills and Competencies

  • Business management –experience of evaluating and presenting business cases.
  • Experience of primary research –creating the means to find an answer to questions where previously there was insufficient information.
  • Experience of project management.
  • Experience of commissioning and evaluating work produced by third parties.
  • General IT skills - Microsoft Office is used at WSET – email, PowerPoint and word processing in particular.
  • Experience of conducting market research is highly desirable.
  • Some knowledge of the wine and spirits industries is desirable.
  • Knowledge of vocational education and training is desirable

Personal attributes

  • Ability to find creative solutions to challenging problems.
  • Ability to handle large amounts of data, and identify patterns, key trends and key features within the detail.
  • Ability and willingness to make recommendations in situations where data is incomplete, and indicate clearly where and how the decisions are dependent on assumptions that exceed the information available.
  • Independent thinker, able to reach and defend their own conclusions after listening to the views of multiple and potentially conflicting stakeholders.
  • Maturity and authority to maintain WSET criteria and standards when working with external stakeholders.
  • Well organised and meticulous in attention to detail.
  • Highly numerate –comfortable critically analysing numerical data.
  • Good communication skills including professional presentations.
  • Sound planner who looks ahead well, prioritises and can work to deadlines.
  • Honest with the ability to declare and correct errors.
  • High level of integrity to work with confidential information.

Would suit

Someone with a strong background in management consultancy or marketing, and an interest in wines and spirits.