Store Manager

Location: Guildford (The Friary)

Contract: Full-Time Temp until December

Salary: £39,000-£43,000 Pro Rata

About Yankee Candle: At Yankee Candle®, we stand out as a distinguished name in the world of home fragrances, offering an impressive selection of over 600 products to elevate any environment. Since our humble beginnings in 1969, we have grown into one of the most beloved brands globally, renowned for our innovative approach to home fragrance and our exquisite candle designs. Our commitment to quality ensures that each scent enhances your home and creates a memorable ambience.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a globally recognised household name at a point of growth, bringing Yankee Candle® to life through brilliant people, memorable customer experiences and a fast-paced, energetic store environment.

The Store Manager Role:

• Build a confident team that is passionate about the product, embedding strong product knowledge and using storytelling to bring fragrances to life, inspire customers and drive commercial results.
• Bring the Yankee Candle® brand to life in store, setting the standard for how the brand is represented by every member of the team.
• Create and uphold a service culture that goes beyond the transactional, helping the team create genuine connections, memorable moments and lasting impressions.
• Lead, coach and develop the store team, creating a positive, inclusive and high-performing culture where people feel supported, accountable and proud to contribute.
• Lead with energy and focus in a fast-paced retail environment, keeping standards high and the team motivated when trade is at its busiest.
• Own the commercial performance of the store, using sales, customer and people insights to identify opportunities and drive results.
• Ensure exceptional standards across merchandising, presentation, stock, compliance and the overall customer environment.
• Act quickly on opportunities and challenges, taking ownership and creating solutions rather than waiting for them.
• Build a store people want to visit, a team people want to join and an environment that reflects the quality and heritage of Yankee Candle®.

What's in it for the Store Manager?

• The opportunity to lead a store for one of the world's most recognisable home fragrance brands.
• A brand with genuine heritage, quality and an established place in customers' homes.
• A fast-paced, energetic environment where you can make a visible impact.
• Real ownership of your store, your people, the customer experience and commercial performance.
• The opportunity to build, coach and develop a brilliant team.
• A growing retail environment with genuine opportunity to develop as the business grows.

The role would suit someone who is:

• Genuinely excited by the opportunity to represent a recognised brand with quality, heritage, growth and opportunity.
• An experienced retail people leader who knows how to set standards and bring others with them.
• Passionate about exceptional service and able to coach a team to create memorable customer experiences.
• Naturally curious about products and confident turning knowledge into engaging stories that customers remember.
• A culture builder who creates positive, collaborative and accountable teams.
• Energised by fast-paced retail and comfortable leading when the store is busy.
• Commercially aware, with the confidence to use performance information to make good decisions.
• Hands-on, visible and happy to lead from the shop floor.
• Ambitious, positive and excited by the opportunity to grow with the brand.

Part brand ambassador. Part people leader. Part retail operator.