Area Manager

Are you passionate about great leadership and providing excellent customer service? Are you tenacious in your pursuit of excellence? Do you want to develop with a company that has ambitious growth plans and that has recently entered an exciting new partnership? If so, we would love to hear from you.

You are seen by stores and your Regional Manager as the expert in the operational routines and practices of all stores, as well as leading and maintaining safe and legal processes. You will do this by coaching Store Managers to deliver expected levels in operations, compliance and people processes.

You will analyse and track data, responding appropriately, focusing on where there is a need to improve processes, using your skills to ensure that the P&L is met.   

Be agile and focused on every store visit and audit, adding value with every interaction making a positive difference.

Deputising for the Regional Manager as and when necessary



Your main responsibilities:

Coach and develop store teams to view stores through the eyes of customers
Build relationships where possible with the local community to develop a positive brand
Support and coach Store teams to present their store in-line with the company brand standards guidelines and ensuring the store team take pride in their appearance
Promptly resolve or report all issues affecting the customer experience
Communicate positively with all colleagues, offering advice and assistance when needed
Develop understanding of support departments and use knowledge to optimise the customer experience
Mitigate risk by ensuring compliance with health and safety and food safety legislation
Lead by example in promoting a strong safety culture throughout the store teams and region
Ensure that stores adhere to company owed, company operated (COCO) routines and processes and use my analysis and coaching skills to drive improvement
Complete Store visit documentation on each store visit, ensuring that all follow up is actioned through to completion
Agree and deliver action plans to develop and improve on each store performance, including providing effective solutions and guidance to stores to improve their sales and profitability and supporting stores in controlling costs, with a particular focus on wage costs
Prioritise underperforming stores and put solutions in place to improve these to the standard expected within COCO and Bestway
Ensure that my understanding is up to date on all processes and routines, I keep up to date with key business information and cascade where appropriate and that I am clearly seen as the ‘go to’ person for stores where required
Communicate company information effectively to all team members; cascade relevant information and encourage feedback
Actively work to resolve any colleague issues and engage the Regional Manager where needed
Actively support and promote team member induction and training, ensuring training and development needs are met, ensuring all training is completed as required
Provide support with instore people management including recruitment and ensuring that conduct, attendance, return to work interviews and performance issues within store
Celebrate success with the stores and continually learn from missed opportunities


About You:

Previous experience within a similar retail role is preferred
Commercially aware and both P&L and business measures focused
Basic knowledge of growing sales and controlling costs
Sound business awareness, with the ability to comprehend and respond to business reports
Understanding of inventory management
Knowledge and awareness of licencing and health & safety context
I understand employment and safety legislation within retail to an acceptable level
Ability to interact and understand others, developing new relationships, building on existing relationships to ensure trust and mutual respect.
Develop and deliver work plans and improvement of success measures whilst managing budgets
Demonstratable leadership skills to get the best from my team or a situation which includes coaching to stretch the performance of others
Outstanding communication, presentation, and people skills
Ability to analyse data and make correct decisions to improve the business
Able to make proactive and reactive decisions to mitigate risk and protect a business
Ability to work under pressure and deal with challenging situations professionally, delegating tasks and activities appropriately as needed
Excellent customer service skills and am able to train and develop this skill in others.
Ability to manage a diverse range of activities – to prioritise and multitask.
Excellent Microsoft Office tools including PowerPoint, Excel and Word with confidence in presenting to Peers and above


What next?

If you are looking to launch, or grow, an exciting career in a company that values progression and development! Choose “Apply now” to fill out our short application and submit your CV!