General Manager

at  Hobbycraft

SALARY AND BENEFITS ON REQUEST

To lead Hobbycraft’s Distribution Centre (DC) ensuring all elements of the balanced scorecard are delivered across both Retail and Ecommerce operations. The General Manager ensures that the DC operation remains capable of delivering the company’s stock ambitions, ensuring a smooth and consistent flow to stores, whilst maintaining high service levels to all customers in a commercially driven environment.
We are seeking a proactive, energetic and enthusiastic General Manager who will lead the team in a safe and engaging way, in line with the existing culture. The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal skills being able to influence at all levels, demonstrate a flexible approach to harness potential and support personal growth and development across the site.
Founded in 1995, we are the largest arts and crafts retailer in the UK with 124 stores nationwide. With over 25,000 products for 250 inspirational activities and hundreds of exciting ideas, you’ll discover everything you need to get crafty.

The site is the sole distribution centre for Hobbycraft servicing all 124 stores and the Ecommerce operation which accounts for 20% of the total volume leaving the site. The business continues to grow both across retail and Ecommerce and this is a very exciting time to be joining us!

• Own the Health and Safety agenda for the site, continually driving a culture of safety first.
• Constantly look for ways to improve the culture and lead the site engagement agenda.
• Accountable for the delivery of site KPIs and budget requirements.
• Lead and manage the activity of the operations teams to deliver the site business plan.
• Lead the planning function within the DC to ensure all promotional, seasonal and range launches are delivered on time and to company expectations.
• Be the key contact for supply chain, co-coordinating and actioning all plans.
• Own the inbound operation, working with our freight forwarder to manage the smooth flow of inbound stock.
• Set objectives for direct reports and hold regular reviews while ensuring that they set and carry similar objective reviews with their team.
• Drive stock integrity through solid inventory management and quality assurance management.
• Own the performance reporting cycle for the site from individual performance management to weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting.
• Agree and improve all site supplier contracts from MHE providers to vending and cleaning.
• Proactively identify future development opportunities within the warehouse management system and lead an ongoing cycle of continuous improvement to drive and maintain a high performance culture.e and present operational reports to senior management, highlighting performance metrics and areas for improvement.
• Lost Time Accidents, Accidents and near miss reporting
• Management of a £20m budget – including indirect hours, freight budget, transport budget, Ecom carrier/packaging costs
• Processing rates across DC and Ecommerce
• Stock accuracy
• Availability targets
• Inbound SLA’s
• Agency performance
• Occupancy
• Absence management
• Colleague engagement

The ideal candidate will have significant operational experience and will demand the highest standards of leadership. They will have extensive experience of Ecommerce and Retail distribution operations, including transport and freight. Combined with experience of working with the wider supply chain team and senior stakeholders across the business.
Change management and leading change will be a key part of the role, therefore being able to articulate the vision and drive teams to execute change is critical.
Key to delivering a world class operation will be the individual’s ability to interface and negotiate with internal departments and external suppliers at all levels, in order to foster collaborative practices which allow the business to thrive.
Hobbycraft is one of the top 5 companies to work for (as awarded by Best Companies) recognising the company’s focus on colleague engagement and the value of people centred leadership. As the leader of the site, the successful candidate will be able to demonstrate how they delivered successful engagement programmes across a diverse workforce.

Please refer the Job description for details