SALARY: FROM £60,000LOCATION: HOLBORN STORE SUPPORT CENTRE, LONDON, EC1N 2HTCONTRACT TYPE: PERMANENTBUSINESS AREA: RETAILCLOSING DATE: 14 MAY 2025REQUISITION ID: 303171

Lead and inspire the area team to deliver a great shopping experience for our customers by ensuring great service, operational processes and standards. Coach the area team to develop commercial business plans, delivering profitable stores. Consistently lead by example, managing risk and creating a safe and legal environment, whilst delivering a great place to work for the area team. Reports into the Regional Stores Director and is accountable for all aspects of the area operation.

What I need to do

• Lead an area team of up to 25 store managers in a positive way, providing direction and applying sound judgements to decision making for the area, our customers and colleagues, role modelling our values and leading the team towards our vision
• Engage the area team, building a culture of trust, ensuring all colleagues have a voice and that individual differences are valued and respected, making the area a great place to work
• Communicate in an inspiring and motivational way, actively listening to the area team, demonstrating ‘you said, we did’ via two way communication, cheering on progress and celebrating success
• Lead an area of local stores with typical annual turnover of £48.5million, identifying and prioritising area resources, driving a sales culture, promoting service and controlling costs to deliver profit
• Deliver robust commercially focused area business plans which support regional plans. Actively share experience and knowledge to develop commercial acumen in the area team, to ensure everyone understands the part they play in delivering sales and store results. Manage typical costs totalling £575,500 and annual gross profit of £17.5 million
• Take time to plan for the future, including new store openings, typically 12-18 months in advance, keeping an active interest in local competitors and the wider economy to support sound decision making during investment reviews
• Role model a culture of compliance to safe, secure and legal requirements through continuous coaching in order to manage complexity and risk through robust store routines and processes, completed to timescale and within budget
• Prioritise legal and compliance training and tasks, coaching store management to deliver operational excellence through their teams
• Complete operationally focused store visits, providing feedback and coaching to support teams to trade the store, complete great operational routines and manage daily processes, delivering a great store where our customers love to shop Lead by example, inspiring store teams to deliver great service, know our customers and be there for them
• Own the right people right place process, coaching store management to plan and organise resources to maximise service, availability, quality, safety and standards in store
• Flex style and personal behaviours to anticipate and accommodate the different needs of our customers and colleagues, actively listening to their feedback and driving the area’s involvement in the community
• Take time to understand all change programmes that impact the area, embracing and supporting the area team, demonstrating a positive attitude and resilience to change
• Work flexibly, taking time to listen to, understand and act on the views of all colleagues and customers
• Implement, sustain and embed change, holding the store management team to account for delivery
• Work in partnership with the zonal talent teams and store management to develop robust talent plans which will attract, recruit, train and retain great colleagues in support of area/regional performance and new store openings
• Regularly review the performance of store managers, setting clear and SMART targets, holding honest and challenging conversations to support colleagues to be the best they can be
• Hold meaningful career discussions with the management team to identify and develop talent for the area/region, role modelling continued self development and actively sharing own knowledge, skills and experience

What I need to know

• Understand the personal contribution you make in leading the team to deliver the area and company plans in line with the colleague and company values
• Expert on store processes and routines, providing guidance on area business continuity plans, escalation routes and service level agreements
• Fully understand corporate policies and procedures, competently applying those relevant to the job role and coaching others
• Hold the IOSH qualification, understanding the legal implications relating to the role and being competent in Safe & Legal procedures
• Have the technical knowledge and ability to operate PC applications
• Commercially astute, being able to access and analyse performance reports, competently translating results into area business plans, sharing store performance and up skilling store managers appropriately
• Know the learning and development offer available for self and the area management team, appreciating different learning styles and awareness of the routes for career progression
• engaging negotiation, influence and motivation techniques to gain the hearts and minds of colleagues through change
• Understand the local community and the diversity of the area’s customers and colleagues

What I need to show

• knowledge of policies and procedures, exercising sound judgement and decision-making, holding challenging conversations when required
• Deliver targeted results, creating a culture of adherence to safe and legal operational routines and processes
• Drive and manage performance, productivity and management development through effective coaching and training, within the required timescales
• commercial, trading and local knowledge to shape strategic area business plans, delivering a balanced area scorecard and contributing to regional performance
• Drive sales and availability whilst controlling costs, actively seeking customer feedback and acting upon it
• Understand and analyse data, paying attention to detail and translating it in to strategic plans, updating the management team on corporate and store performance
• Able to influence and challenge peers and senior managers appropriately, building a strong network regionally and centrally, supporting projects and initiatives when required
• Confident communicating to and interacting with the regional team, other area teams and visitors, actively giving and receiving feedback at all levels
• Role model our values, inspiring and motivating, painting compelling visions and engaging colleagues to embrace change, whilst driving the area Great Place To Work agenda, role modelling our values
• Support growth programmes by developing robust succession plans, typically 24 months in advance
• Role model a culture of continued personal development, owning robust performance management paperwork

Please refer the Job description for details