Arsenal are advertising for a new Head of Business Strategy as they look to improve their commercial department.

According to the job listing, “The Head of Business Strategy will support the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Team in developing business strategies by providing and utilising market intelligence/research and strategic analyses; challenging current thinking/methodologies; and devising solutions to existing and new business problems.”

Arsenal’s commercial department has long come underfire for underperforming. For example, in the last couple of seasons, Arsenal had agreements with Europcar, Cooper Tire Europe and, Citroen. The deals with Europcar and Citroen expired, to be replaced by nothing. They also have significantly fewer commercial deals than their rivals, especially Manchester United who are happy to have an official everything, including an official noodle partner.

James Murray was appointed Head of Business Strategy at the club in June 2017 and still lists that as his job on LinkedIn. It’s not clear if he has moved within the company or if this ad is to find his replacement at the club.

They list key responsibilities as:

• Provide research, insight, benchmarking, due diligence and analysis, as requested by the Executive Team, on strategic business development projects across the Club
• Undertake strategic reviews of existing business operations and help make recommendations for brand and revenue optimisation as well as cost and budget discipline
• Develop sound business cases for new and existing business ventures. Provide financial, market and strategic analysis to support each business case or recommendation
• Interact effectively with external experts such as consultants, accountants, league and research agencies to learn about best-in-class thinking and help further accelerate up the development of the Club
• Support the Partnership Development team in identifying and analysing target markets and industries, and continually optimising the go-to-market approach more generally
• Provide direction and coaching to the research and insights team in their quantitative analysis
• Lead and manage the Business Strategy team (5 excluding the Head of Business Strategy), maximising the performance of the team and acting as a positive role model within the Club
• Represent the department at key internal decision-making forums (including the Commercial Executive Team) and the Club at selected conferences / external forums

The closing date for applications is 11.59pm GMT on Tuesday 20 November, 2018. You can find more information about the job here.