Head of Production

**About the team**: General Marketplace encompasses five primary areas of significant importance to the business: Gold, Jewellery, Silver, Timepieces and Cameras, and many additional categories of strategic significance to VCC. Many current employees have industry-leading knowledge and autonomy in their roles. **About the role**: As the Head of Production, your role will involve guiding the product selection and curation process. You'll be responsible for ensuring that the best practices are followed and revenue is optimised. You'll work closely with Auction and Marketplace Managers, as well as Team Leaders, to provide expert knowledge and guidance on product selection, valuation, and mix that is tailored to specific sales channels. Your responsibilities will include training and developing marketplace teams, maintaining category guidelines, and continually reviewing and optimising revenue performance by interpreting and analysing collected data in detail. **Key Competencies**: - Multi-faceted knowledge base with experience in multiple fields and good relevant specialist knowledge. - Excellent leadership and communication skills, with previous examples of collaborative teamwork. The capacity to work with diverse individual contributors, leadership talent, and department heads. - Commercial awareness in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment. - You should be motivational, bringing innovation and new initiatives into the day-to-day processes of marketplace production. **Top 3 Core Deliverables**: - Maintain and increase revenue across multiple/all categories with the teams, our auction partners and eBay. - Introduce an “Education Template” for current and future employees to ensure uniformity within our processes and drive a constant thirst for knowledge. This will enable us to maintain and improve the quality of our “Listings”. - Innovate using data programme Thoughtspot to establish more productive work practices with all departments/categories, speeding up listing processes, thereby increasing revenue potential and maintaining an efficient stock flow through the business. **Day to Day Roles & Responsibilities**: - ** Best Practice**: Serve as the owner of "best practices," collaborating with Auction and Marketplace Managers and the eCommerce Manager to develop and implement guidelines for the wider marketplace team. - ** Product Selection Management**: Manage Marketplace Managers on product selections and mix tailored to specific sales channels, ensuring a balanced approach to productivity and quality. - ** Valuation and Product Knowledge**: Impart excellent valuation and product knowledge to assist marketplace team members in selecting multiple vintage categories, serving as the central reference point for queries and questions. - **Team Training and Development**:Conduct training sessions for marketplace teams, developing their knowledge and selection skill sets to improve revenues from product sorting and lots generated. L&D should involve external partners, learning opportunities, and in-house training. - ** Performance Alignment**:As the business grows, ensure close alignment to productivity and revenue targets by regularly reviewing revenue performance by category and challenging selections and destinations to maximise revenue. - ** Category Guide Maintenance**:Contribute to and help maintain the product categories as required, further developing knowledge and selection processes. - ** L&D Resources, Videos and PDFs**:Departmental sharing, particularly with the CEC and Marketing, to engender collaborative working relationships. It is essential to oversee certain resources to enable other business aspects to impact the Marketplace positively. **Essential skills and experience**: - Minimum of 5 years experience, preferably in a managerial role within the auction industry or a related field. - A proven track record in the antiques industry, ideally with previous experience working in auction houses, galleries, museums, appraisal firms, or as a general dealer. Experience handling vintage and antique items and transactions is valuable, as it demonstrates the ability to accurately assess a diverse range of items. - Proficient IT skills with strong analytical and research competency to accurately assess the value of items. This includes the ability to conduct thorough research on the provenance, authenticity, and market demands for various pieces. - Strong leadership skills with a proven ability to motivate, develop and nurture a team. - Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, building rapport and establishing trust with teams and colleagues. - Demonstrated proficiency in financial management, strategic planning, and decision-making. - Exceptional organisational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities. - Ethical conduct and integrity, with a commitment to upholding industry standards and ethical principles. - _______