Retail Cluster Manager in Huddersfield

Salary: £29,500

Hours: 37.5 hours

Responsible to: Head of Retail

Location: One role covering Almondbury, Slaithwaite, Golcar and Holmfirth, and one role covering Lindley, Huddersfield town centre, Huddersfield Manchester Road, Online and Lindley.

Benefits: Entry into Peoples Pension, death in service benefit (3 x salary), out of pocket expenses, free on‑site parking, free access to confidential and extensive wellbeing support, generous holiday entitlement (26 days plus bank holidays rising to 31 days after 5 years for a full time employee, pro rata for part time), day off for your birthday!, free tea / coffee, sight tests and flu jabs and excellent learning and development opportunities.

OVERVIEW OF ROLE

With 15 shops (and counting!) across West Yorkshire and Royton, we rely on our retail estate to generate vital income that helps us support local children with life‑shortening conditions and their families. As a cluster manager, you’ll look after up to five of our shops, spending at least one day a week in each. You’ll be a hands‑on presence for shop managers and their teams, making sure they have the training, development, wellbeing support and practical guidance they need to keep their shops running smoothly. You’ll help them maximise sales, deliver great customer service and create welcoming and inclusive spaces – that are great not just for shoppers but also for the staff and volunteers who work there and the generous community who donate their preloved items to us. Charity retail experience is a bonus, but not essential. What matters most is that you’re an experienced retail manager who’s great with people – commercially aware, confident, adaptable and positive. There’s plenty of room to grow in this role, whether that’s developing your people‑leadership skills or playing a part in our ongoing retail expansion. So, if you’re a supportive leader who loves developing others and creating positive retail spaces that make a real difference in the local community, this could be the perfect next step. Apply today.

To find out more about working for Forget Me Not Children's Hospice please see our recruitment pack.

For an informal chat about the role, please contact Andrea Titherington‑Kay on 07741 076837.

Interviews are expected to take place Monday 30th March.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Role summary

Our vision is to deliver pioneering care through pregnancy, childhood and loss, wherever families need us, whatever the future holds. This role supports our vision by leading and inspiring those who work and volunteer in our shops to maximise profit and deliver exceptional customer service and high retail standards.

Main duties and key responsibilities:

• Lead and support a group of shops to meet and exceed sales, profit and performance targets, both in-store and online.
• Keep an eye on how each shop is doing and step in early if something needs attention.
• Make sure all shops follow our values, policies and legal responsibilities.
• Support organisation‑wide events, campaigns and fundraising, and play an active role in delivering the retail strategy.
• Line‑manage shop managers, giving them clear guidance, coaching and regular support.
• Build a positive, welcoming and inclusive environment for both staff and volunteers.
• Oversee recruitment, induction and training for shop teams, and help plan for future staffing needs.
• Support shop teams with recruiting and training volunteers, making good use of the volunteer management system, and working closely with the volunteer lead to keep improving the volunteer experience.
• Oversee rotas, holiday planning and staff cover across your cluster.
• Deliver monthly management training and act as the main departmental contact for your cluster.
• Support shop managers in keeping their Facebook pages active and engaging.
• Use sales data to spot opportunities and take action to improve performance in each shop.
• Lead monthly and quarterly reviews of KPIs and profit & loss performance.
• Ensure gift aid processes are robust and maintain business plans for each shop.
• Provide hands‑on support to any shops that are underperforming and share insights with the head of retail.
• Keep stock moving smoothly, ensure shops are well‑presented and that operational standards are consistent.
• Work with other cluster managers to move stock where it’s needed and share best practice.
• Encourage creative ways to generate income and build strong links with local communities and partners.
• Keep up to date with local retail trends.
• Maintain good relationships with landlords.
• Identify compliance, maintenance and repair needs, liaising with estates & facilities.
• Maintain up‑to‑date risk assessments and ensure full health & safety compliance; investigate incidents promptly.
• Ensure admin is up to date, oversee training compliance and conduct quarterly audits.
• Promote excellent customer service and handle escalated customer issues.

We expect all staff to undertake any other duties within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job, the title of the post and its grading, as requested by your line manager or their higher level of authority on behalf of the charity.

Skills and experience

Essential:

• Experience of working in a multi‑site, large or complex retail management role.
• Experience of managing a diverse team.
• Experience of working with KPI's and driving performance.
• Strong team player - willingness to get stuck in with day to day operational tasks.
• Able to demonstrate strong communication and organisational skills.
• Strong commercial acumen.
• Ability to prioritise workload, dealing with multiple work streams and able to quickly adapt to change.
• IT Literate, excellent skills using Microsoft packages.
• Excellent standards of record keeping, both written and computerised.
• Confident in delivering presentations.

Desirable:

• Charity retail experience would be highly desirable.
• Experience of leading a dispersed team.

Education / qualifications

Desirable:

• Management qualifications.
• Customer service qualification.
• Retail qualification.

As this role involves working across a number of shops, you will need to have a full, clean driving licence and access to a car for work purposes. This role will involve weekend work so flexibility is essential.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Equality and Diversity

Please note that we are committed to equality and diversity and make the following pledge in relation to our recruitment practices; We will actively encourage and support under‑represented groups to join us as employees. We will always interview you if you are an applicant with disability who meets the essential requirements of the job and will provide adjustments to the recruitment process if required. We are committed to supporting part time and flexible working; we will consider part time working requests for all our roles.