Senior Area Manager - London

The Role

The White Company is seeking a dynamic and focused Retail leader to fulfil the newly created role of Senior Area Manager.

As Senior Area Manager, you will lead Store Managers and teams through the day-to-day Retail focuses in addition to playing a proactive part in the Retail leadership team, contributing to the development and success of the overall department.

Comfortable with bold decision making and driving continuous improvements you should thrive in a pacey trading environment and enjoy navigating and leading a team through change.

Our Team

As part of the central Retail team, you will be 1 of 2 Senior Area Managers, within a team of 4 Area Managers in total. Alongside our Retail Operations team you will report into our Head of Retail, who reports directly into our Chief People and Retail Officer.

The Area Management team has recently undergone organisational changes which have resulted in the creation of the NEW Senior Area Manager role, which in addition to the running of a successful geographical Retail area should be able to support the Head of Retail with the day to day running of the department.

Our Head of Retail is a retailer through and through and has spent their entire career (from shop floor beginnings until now) obsessed with creating memorable customer and team experiences with maximum commercial impact. They appreciate open and honest communication, a genuine passion for all things Retail and a team player mentality.

LONDON

Our London area is comprised of c. 18 stores with a NET turnover of £45m, which includes a mix of stand alone stores and concessions. Our Symons St flagship store c.£9.7m also sits within the Region which is lead by an experienced GM. Up until recently there has been stable Area leadership within London for the last 10 years, and change management should be high on the agenda for any successful applicant. We have plans to open more stores in London over the coming years, ranging from a full expression flagship to a curated London Village store.

The skills & experience that you’ll need

• Understanding of the White Company customer & brand.
• Ability to flex personal leadership style to lead peers effectively when required but is still very much a team player.
• Strong commercial acumen and awareness, supported by a proactive approach that drives positive business outcomes.
• Strong remote leadership skills to inspire and motivate large teams. Coaching and mentoring is your natural style, and you also know how to challenge and hold people to account for their performance.
• Can plan and prioritise own workload, managing multiple workstreams concurrently and working well under pressure.
• Solid analytical skills which support complex decision making, considering the bigger picture.
• Operate with agility and creativity to find a way forward in difficult or unpredictable environments.
• Unafraid to challenge the status quo and bring forward new ideas, initiatives or ways of working.
• Takes ownership of results and decisions made, holding themselves to account.
• Aspirations to continue building a successful career in Retail.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships across departments and the Retail industry.
• Excellent communication skills across all mediums and proficient with Microsoft Office Suite.

What you’ll be doing

Driving Performance:

• Set a strong commercial focus to increase profitability within the Area supported by an effective Rhythm and routine, developed commercial skills and implementing the correct tools and resources.
• Maximise Area performance by identifying and taking clear actions to both immediate and long term risks and opportunities.
• Deliver impactful store visits that engage teams, review implementation success and also gain feedback and insights that can be utilised to drive performance across total Retail.
• Work in partnership with the Area Visual Manager to deliver visual excellence across the Area considering commerciality and brand guidelines, seeking out visually driven performance drivers to implement across total Retail.
• Develop and maintain productive business partner relationships to support the delivery of positive business outcomes aligned with the Retail and Company strategy.
• Network to broaden market knowledge and understanding of the competitor landscape, to drive innovation and commercial decision making across the Area.
• A clear focus on Peak and the extra planning required to ensure success at this critical time of year.
• Contribute to and influence Retail budgeting and reforecasting for both Sales and costs.
• Engage with Branch/Merchandising and effectively communicate stock feedback & grading opportunities.

Customer Focus:

• Deliver an exceptional and consistent customer experience, ensuring that all customer KPI’s are achieved across the Area, and that customer service feedback and data is actively used to drive improvements.
• Seek out and analyse relevant Customer insight to support the wider understanding of the customers behaviour across Retail, to influence the business to ensure the customer journey is at the forefront of all new initiatives.
• Keep up to date with customer developments across the industry and local markets, to support your input in driving improvements in the customer journey.

Leading Teams:

• Be an inspirational and motivational line manager to your Store Managers, supporting with continuous development to support positive business outcomes.
• Set a People Plan for the area, to develop a high performing team with clear priorities and areas of focus where teams can achieve their full potential and feel valued for their contribution.
• Coach and develop your Store/General managers to perform at a high level and to manage their teams to achieve high levels of employee engagement and satisfaction.
• Create a culture of regular, open two-way communication and feedback to drive performance, listening to and action on feedback.
• Actively manage performance concerns to achieve better outcomes for the business and the individual.
• Deliver a considered and effective succession plan for the Area, ensuring development plans and strategies are in place to retain and grow top talent.

Operational Excellence

• Have a clear understanding of TWC operational & people policies and procedures, and ensure they are implemented across your Area.
• Identify operational best practices, and opportunities to continuously improve ways of working to drive efficiency across your Area, finding alternative solutions and ways of working.
• Lead on new Retail initiatives, driving successful implementation within stores.
• Take a pro-active approach to H&S management to ensure a safe environment in stores.

What we offer you

At The White Company, we value our employees for always going the extra mile for every one of our customers; we reward this with great benefits and competitive salaries.

• Discount – Up to 50% discount
• Holiday – 25 days rising to 28 with length of service
• Holiday Buy – an opportunity to buy up to an additional 5 days holiday
• Bonus – In addition to our competitive salaries, all our employees are entitled to join a discretionary bonus scheme (based on policy eligibility)
• Car allowance
• Perkplace Benefits Platform – offering a variety of discounts across well-being and lifestyle
• Wagestream Money Management app – access to Wagestream gives you power over your pay and supports financial wellbeing
• Salary Sacrifice scheme for Electric vehicles (dependent on grade and meeting policy eligibility)
• Continued Development – Inclusion on our Leadership Development Programme
• Continued Development – We offer structured support from our own in-house Learning and Development Hub
• Private Healthcare with additional Babylon Digital Healthcare
• Pension Scheme
• Life Assurance

Our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion statement of commitment

At The White Company we are committed to creating an inclusive culture that welcomes and celebrates a diversity of backgrounds and identities.

We are working together to ensure our environment is one where people can bring their authentic selves to work, where their contribution is valued, ability enhanced, and perspective appreciated. Where difference is respected, encouraged, and celebrated. Where you can feel you belong.

We are committed to an active Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process.

We\’d love you to join us on our journey.

Our Sustainability statement of commitment

We are committed to building a sustainable legacy that will enable a brighter future for people and our planet. We believe this should be reflected in everything we do.

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