Merchant Business Development Manager - North

Job description

The Merchant Business Development role for the North is responsible for acquiring new merchants and expanding TradeKart’s footprint across the North of the UK. The primary focus is to drive market penetration, pipeline velocity, and sales growth by identifying, negotiating, and onboarding strategic merchant partners within the Marketplace and Delivered by TradeKart ecosystem.

Objectives and Goals include:

Objective 1: Expand and Diversify Northern Merchant Footprint
Goal 1.1: Source, negotiate, and onboard new merchants across core verticals in Tier 2 (regional) and Tier 3 (independent) segments across the Northern territory, for both Marketplace and Delivered by TradeKart, predominantly focused on main cities: Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow
Goal 1.2: Deeply understand prospective merchants’ businesses to ensure rapid qualification, brand alignment, and maximized commercial value-add to the TradeKart marketplace.

Objective 2: Drive Initial Store Network Activation and Launch Performance
Goal 2.1: Establish strong commercial relationships with new merchants across their Northern store networks to unlock immediate regional expansion and new store openings.
Goal 2.2: Monitor early-stage merchant operational metrics (acceptance, rejections, stock availability, pick accuracy) during the critical launch phase to ensure a seamless entry onto the platform.
Goal 2.3: Drive the initial growth of new Delivered by TradeKart accounts, using performance data and engagement plans to scale delivery volumes.

Objective 3: Execute High-Impact Commercial and Acquisition Activity
Goal 3.1: Create and execute targeted outreach and onboarding campaigns—including localized territory visits, structured calling, and launch incentives—to aggressively accelerate new merchant acquisition.
Goal 3.2: Collaborate with internal TradeKart stakeholders (sales, operations, marketing) to streamline the pipeline from lead generation to full merchant launch

Objective 4: Strengthen Merchant Relationships and Performance
Goal 4.1: Build strong, long-term relationships with existing merchants across their store networks with focus on key areas, regions and stores
Goal 4.2: Track and improve merchant operational performance metrics on Marketplace against agreed SLAs, (acceptance, rejections, stock availability, pick accuracy), holding them accountable for customer experience

Requirements

• Proven track record in business development, B2B sales, or merchant acquisition (regional territory management experience in the North highly advantageous).
• Strong interpersonal and commercial communication skills to navigate negotiations and align stakeholders across head offices and branch networks. Strong people skills and relationship building capability key.
• Highly driven self-starter with an aggressive appetite for territory growth and sales success.
• Ability to leverage data analytics, dashboards, and no-code tools to identify commercial opportunities and clearly present performance insights.
• Punctual project management skills to ensure quick, successful store activation and rapid operational deployment.
• Ability to manage stakeholders across levels in merchants such as head office teams, branch staff and regional leads as well as internally across departments in TradeKart.
• High frequency of travel across the Northern region, proactively executing fieldwork and visiting merchants in-store to secure and launch partnerships.
• Ability to operate efficiently within a primarily remote working framework, supplemented by scheduled visits to HQ.
• A strong background in the merchanting industry, with a deep understanding of regional/independent merchant operations, is highly desirable
• Driving license for field based travel