About the role
Have a passion for high-impact customer experiences, compelling storytelling, and strategic collaboration? Are you seeking an exciting new challenge?
We have a fabulous opportunity for an energetic, creative, and customer-focused professional to join us as Customer Engagement Manager within our UK&I Packaging division. This is a high-exposure role where you will lead the business in growing and strengthening strategic partnerships by showcasing our expertise, packaging innovations, and sustainable solutions. You would be responsible for developing and delivering the UK&I Customer Engagement strategy and roadmap, aligning activity to strategic customers, growth opportunities, account plans and business objectives.
Acting as both a strategic facilitator and the vital "Voice of the Customer" back into DS Smith, you will develop and deliver our customer engagement roadmap. You will create inspiring physical, virtual, and hybrid workshop experiences across our Customer Innovation Hubs and customer locations. Partnering closely with Sales, Marketing, Sustainability and Design & Innovation teams, you will translate market intelligence, category dynamics, and supply chain insights into targeted Account-Based Marketing (ABM) programmes that drive commercial growth and solve real-world customer challenges. You would also be responsible for coaching and mentoring a team member to support you as you manage the day-to-day activity at the Customer Impact Centre.
A successful candidate must be a natural storyteller and relationship builder who thrives in front of an audience, co-creating solutions with key decision-makers and elevating our customer value proposition.
Key responsibilities include:
· Workshop & Event Leadership - Design, facilitate, and deliver tailored 1:1 and 1:many customer workshops, webinars, and inspiration sessions across physical, hybrid, and virtual environments
· Innovation Hub & Asset Management - Maintain and continually refresh the Customer Innovation Hub experiences, ensuring brand excellence and impactful showcase of new solutions
· Sales Enablement & Storytelling - Build compelling presentation assets, co-create pitch materials, and align content with customer account plans, tenders, and ABM priorities
· Voice of the Customer - Develop a deep understanding of customer challenges, category dynamics and market trends, translating insights into compelling customer engagement opportunities and feeding these back into the business to shape future priorities, innovation and growth opportunities
· Cross-Functional Partnering - Collaborate with regional Sales, Design & Innovation squads, and sustainability leads to coordinating multi-disciplinary customer sessions
· Performance & Impact Tracking - Measure and report on customer engagement metrics, tracking CRM-linked opportunities, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and event ROI
So, if you are an engaging communicator with a passion for creative collaboration and customer-centric growth, then we might be looking for you!
About you
· Proven experience in a customer-facing B2B marketing, sales enablement, or customer engagement role within FMCG, manufacturing, retail, or agency environments
· Degree or professional qualification in Business, Marketing, Sales, or a related discipline – desirable
· A passion for packaging, innovation and sustainability, along with the ability to bring customer, consumer and market insights to life through compelling storytelling and engagement experiences
· Outstanding presentation, public speaking, and workshop facilitation skills, with a track record of engaging senior decision-makers and large audiences
· Strong commercial mindset with the ability to translate consumer trends, sustainability priorities, and category insights into tangible business opportunities
· Proficient in PowerPoint, virtual collaboration tools (360° virtual environments/webinars), and…