Founder’s Office (Corporate Strategy & Planning)

Founder’s Office (Corporate Strategy & Planning)

Location: Nine Elms, London - Full-time

About Zapp

Zapp is London's leading premium on-demand retail platform. Founded in 2020, our vision is to disrupt the multi-trillion dollar on-demand retail market, currently dominated by major players, by developing best-in-class customer-centric technology and fulfilment solutions. Zapp partners with some of the world's leading brands to deliver an exclusive range of hand-picked products 24/7, delivered in minutes.

Overview

This role sits in the Founder’s Office, at the centre of how Zapp sets strategy, plans and allocates capital. You will work closely with the Founder & CEO, with direct exposure to the decisions that shape the business and a seat in the room where they are made. You will build the models and analysis behind Zapp’s biggest decisions: where we open next, how we price, and where we invest. You will partner with teams across the business to turn their plans into numbers, and the numbers into decisions.

Zapp is growing fast, and this role grows with it. You will see how the business is run from the top, work on whatever matters most at the time, and have room to take on more as we scale.

What You Will Do

Working with the Founder & CEO

• Prepare the analysis and materials behind the Founder & CEO’s strategic priorities.

• Take on Founder’s Office projects across the business as priorities change, from new initiatives to cost savings.

The operating model

• Build and maintain Zapp’s operating model: the integrated P&L, balance sheet and cash flow model behind major decisions.

• Develop it on customer drivers: acquisition and acquisition cost, cohort retention, order frequency, basket size, channel mix and Zapp+ conversion.

• Develop it on operational drivers: fulfilment centre count and maturity, and cost per order across riders, staff and the distribution centre (DC).

Corporate development

• Model the financial case for strategic opportunities, including new channels, partnerships and investments.

• Support material supplier and partner negotiations, including marketplace partners, modelling the value of terms before they are agreed.

• Support fundraising and corporate activity with financial analysis, investor materials and due diligence.

New store rollouts

• Build the financial case for new fulfilment centres: catchment demand, ramp-up curve, fit-out capex and payback.

• Model rollout scenarios across the network.

• Track each site against its case after launch.

Scenario modelling across the business

• Act as a modelling partner for commercial, operations, marketing and product.

• Model the impact of proposed changes before decisions are made, for example pricing moves, new channels, or delivery and staffing changes.

Planning and capital allocation

• Support the annual budget, quarterly reforecasts and long-range plan, working with the Finance team.

• Build the analysis that compares competing calls on capital: new sites, marketing, technology and working capital.

• Track returns against approved cases.

Commercial and unit economics (1P and 3P)

• Support the pricing, category management and marketplace teams across 1P (the Zapp app) and 3P (marketplace partners), sizing opportunities and the margin impact of their decisions.

• Assess the profitability of advertising, promotions and offer mechanics such as bundles and multibuys, before launch and after they run.

• Quantify the margin impact of pricing, promotional and Zapp+ decisions.

Data and reporting

• Work with the Data team so the model, management accounts and KPI reporting all run off the same numbers.

Requirements

• 4+ years in investment banking or finance-led strategy consulting, or a qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) with 2+ years post-qualification in a commercial role, such as FP&A, corporate development, transaction services, corporate finance or strategy.

• Has built driver-based financial models from the ground up, covering both customer economics (acquisition, retention, cohorts, lifetime value) and operational costs.

• Has built business cases for capital investment. Retail, multi-site or rollout experience is a strong plus.

• Exposure to fundraising, M&A or corporate transactions is a plus.

• Comfortable working directly with the Founder & CEO and senior leadership, and turning a loose question into a clear recommendation.

• Entrepreneurial mindset - comfortable in a fast-moving environment, able to take responsibility from day one and work independently by following processes and own directions.

• Comfortable working with large customer and order datasets.

• Advanced Excel.

• Discretion, sound judgement and integrity are non-negotiable.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.

• 25 days of holiday per year, plus all bank holidays.

• Private health insurance.

• Zapp Credit for testing the Zapp service and experience.

• Lunch provided 4 days a week at HQ.

• Extended sick pay and maternity/paternity leave pay.

• Cycle to work scheme.

• Flexible/hybrid working arrangement.