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Commercial Director
St Helena Hospice
Colchester
Salary £Competitive + benefits, including PRP and hybrid working
Do you want to lead a growth focused commercial business that funds an end-of-life charity impacting the lives of people of Essex?
St Helena Hospice
For over 40 years, St Helena Hospice has provided expert inpatient and community palliative and end of life to the people of North East Essex facing incurable illness and bereavement, supporting them, their families, friends, and carers. They support c4,500 people every year with their services.
St Helena is one of the largest hospices in the country and known for their innovative approach to both their clinical and commercial work. Their vision is to be a Leader in Caring. They believe their local community deserves world class care and they aspire to be the best, and to drive innovation and excellence across everything they do.
The charity supports members of its community, helping them make their own choices and live with dignity. By focusing on their physical, emotional and spiritual needs, they aim to bring comfort and relief to all those who need it, offering the people of North East Essex individual care and total support, regardless of their diagnosis or personal circumstances.
The role
This is very much a commercially focused strategic leadership role, offering the opportunity to grow established and relatively new businesses as well as set up or acquire new ones.
The Commercial Director is responsible for overall delivery of commercial strategies and performance across the Retail, Lottery and Commercial Cleaning businesses, in addition to the Marketing function, with a potential to also take on responsibility for fundraising operations.
St Helena is a c£24 million income organisation and generates circa 50% of this from its commercial trading activities. Kate Heslegrave, Co-CEO, is ambitious to continue the growth and further development of St Helena’s commercial trading activities and this role is crucial to the achievement of this.
Key duties and responsibilities will include:
- Lead the development and delivery of commercial operations and business development for the group ensuring sustainable income growth that delivers the organisation’s charitable and strategic objectives.
- Provide advice to the Chief Executive, Senior Leadership Team, Trading Board and Board of Trustees on all strategic commercial, business development, and business innovation matters.
- Lead the non-care trading activities and businesses within the group – currently Retail, Lottery & Commercial Cleaning businesses.
- Develop and deliver new business opportunities and ventures, including investment cases, and commercial analysis.
- Lead the brand and marketing strategy for the charity and group and ensure its effective implementation.
- Lead the development of the commercial growth plan and ensure commercial teams develop budgets and business plans that deliver agreed objectives and income targets.
- Provide inspirational leadership to the Retail, Commercial Cleaning, Lottery and Marketing functions.
You
The new Commercial Director will be joining St Helena Hospice during an important time of transition, reporting to the new Co-Chief Executive. You will have a robust commercial background, strong experience in delivering growth, driving efficiencies, forecasting and strategic planning and exposure to marketing.
Your commercial acumen, strategic and risk-based approach and inclusive leadership style will be a hugely important part of St Helena’s success.
Additional information
If you are interested in learning more about the post of Commercial Director at St Helena Hospice or to request a copy of the Candidate Brief, please contact Laurence Wolahan (M ) or Wendi Wang (), of Hays Executive.
To apply, upload your CV and covering letter, which should address your motivation in applying as well as highlighting aspects of your skills and experience that make you a strong candidate for the post of Commercial Director at St Helenas Hospice.
Dates for this campaign:
- Closing date: 28th September 2025
- Preliminary interviews: W/C 6th October 2025
- Interview: W/C 13th October 2025
The above dates are subject to change.
