Commercial strategy & value creation
Channel Economics & Business Case: Build and own the commercial case for social commerce investment – channel P&L modelling, unit economics (COGS, commission, fulfilment, returns, promotional depth), contribution margin and payback – so recommendations are grounded in what actually makes money for the client.
Trading & Forecasting: Set and pressure-test the numbers behind the plan: GMV, AOV, conversion, basket and attach rate, CAC, ROAS/MER and repeat rate. Build forecasts and scenario models across always-on trading, LIVE, affiliate and peak moments, and diagnose performance against them.
Investment & Mix Strategy: Advise clients on where budget works hardest across paid, organic, affiliate/creator and platform tooling (GMV Max, Spark Ads, retail media), making the trade-offs explicit – including what to stop doing.
Margin & Pricing Discipline: Protect client margin as volume scales – promotional architecture, discount dependency, bundling and pack strategy, and repeat-purchase mechanics.
Channel & Category Strategy: Develop social commerce strategies aligned to client business objectives and category dynamics – defining role of channel, audience and demand strategy, portfolio and SKU selection, and the route from discovery to conversion.
Operating Model & Market Expansion: Design the operating model that makes the strategy deliverable – crawl/walk/run sequencing, roles and responsibilities across client, agency and platform partners, governance, and blueprints that export into new markets rather than being rebuilt each time.
Launch & Commerce Readiness: Own the go-to-market gate: fulfilment and 3PL models, dispatch SLAs, customer service, returns and Shop Health – ensuring commercial ambition is matched by operational readiness.
Paid & Organic Integration: Build strategies that unify paid, organic, creator and affiliate activity into a single commercial system rather than parallel channels with separate objectives.
Content & Creator Strategy: Work with client editorial, creative and marketing teams to define content-to-cart strategies, creator and affiliate programmes (including commission architecture and creator economics), and LIVE formats that convert.
Platform & Ecosystem Expertise: Maintain authoritative depth across TikTok Shop, Meta, YouTube and emerging social and AI-led commerce surfaces – including partner ecosystems, betas and platform roadmaps – and translate it into first-mover advantage for clients.
Client & business leadership
Senior Client Counsel: Act as trusted strategic advisor to senior client stakeholders up to Marketing Director, Commercial Director and GM level – as credible in a commercial conversation as a creative one, and able to disagree well when the data says so.
Scoping & Commercial Shaping of Work: Interrogate and shape briefs, define scope and approach, input into resourcing, estimates and statements of work, and ensure what we sell is what we can brilliantly deliver.
Growth & New Business: Identify and shape opportunities to extend the work – new markets, brands and workstreams – and bring senior strategic firepower to pitches, RFPs and capability sessions.
Presentation & Persuasion: Build and deliver arguments that land in the room – clear narrative, sharp commercial framing, and the confidence to present to senior executives and defend the recommendation.
Thought Leadership: Develop points of view, frameworks and IP that position VML as the leading end-to-end social commerce partner, and represent the agency externally with clients, platforms and at industry events.
Team & delivery leadership
People Leadership: Line-manage and develop a small team of strategists – setting objectives, coaching, reviewing work, and raising the commercial literacy and craft standard across the team.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead multi-discipline pods across creative, media, data, technology and delivery, ensuring social commerce strategy is integrated with the wider marketing and commerce agenda.
Delivery Accountability: Lead projects end to end – on time, on budget and to the standard we want to be judged by – managing dependencies, risk and scope in a fast-moving environment.
Client Location Work: Willingness to work at client locations and travel to key markets as the work requires.