Revenue Growth Management Isn’t a Function Anymore. It’s THE Function.

Three years ago, Revenue Growth Management sat somewhere between “innovation project” and “Finance’s side hustle” in most CPG organograms. Today it’s the single biggest hiring priority for commercial leaders under margin pressure - and the single biggest career opportunity for commercially-minded operators who can think beyond the spreadsheet.

The shift has been dramatic. And most businesses - and candidates - haven’t caught up yet.

What’s Driving the RGM Talent Squeeze

The CPG marketplace in 2026 looks nothing like it did in 2022. Retailers are more sophisticated, promotional ROI is under the microscope and the days of passing cost increases through without a fight are gone. The businesses that are winning aren’t winning because they have better products... They’re winning because they have better commercial decision-making - and RGM is where those decisions get made.

That’s created an intense demand for people who can do three things simultaneously: understand the data, translate it into a commercial story and influence cross-functional stakeholders to actually act on it.

That combination is rare.

Far rarer than most hiring managers realise when they write a job spec.

The Hiring Mistake Most CPG Businesses Are Making

Here’s the pattern we see repeatedly at POET. A business recognises it needs RGM capability. It writes a job description that’s essentially a Finance role with “Revenue Growth” in the title. It gets applications from people who are technically strong but commercially passive. Six months later, the hire is doing great analysis that nobody’s acting on, and the business is back to square one.

The problem isn’t the candidate. It’s the brief.

The best RGM hires aren’t pure analysts. They’re commercial conductors - people who can sit between Sales, Finance, Marketing and Category and make the pricing, promotion and mix decisions that actually stick and flourish.

At POET, when we work on RGM mandates, we assess candidates against real business scenarios: how would you handle a retailer pushing back on a price increase? How would you challenge a Sales Director who wants to run a promo that destroys margin? Beyond theory and into real life.

What This Means If You’re an RGM Professional

If you’re working in RGM, NRM, pricing or trade spend optimisation right now, you’re sitting on one of the most valuable skill sets in the CPG marketplace. But that only matters if you can articulate it properly.

Too many RGM professionals undersell themselves. They talk about “supporting pricing decisions” when they should be talking about the margin they protected.

They describe “promotional analysis” when the real boon is the £2M in trade spend they redirected from low-ROI activity. Their commercial impact is their career currency - not the process.

The candidates who are moving fastest right now are the ones who frame their experience in outcome terms: revenue protected, margin improved, complexity reduced, decisions accelerated...

If your CV reads like a methodology document rather than a commercial impact statement, then you’re leaving opportunities on the table.

Where POET Fits

POET exists specifically for these hires - the ones where the wrong person is expensive and the right one changes outcomes.

We’ve spent two decades recruiting across commercial growth and transformation roles in CPG and we’ve watched RGM evolve from a niche discipline to the commercial heartbeat of the industry.

Whether you’re a CPG leader looking to build RGM capability properly or a commercial professional exploring what’s next, we’d welcome the conversation.

Book a Call with POET

POET is a specialist CPG recruitment partner focused on commercial growth and transformation roles. We help consumer goods businesses hire exceptional talent across Revenue Growth Management, Commercial Strategy, Sales Operations, Commercial Finance, MS&P and Commercial Excellence.