Travel Field Operations - District Sales And Operations Manager

ROLE PURPOSE
Our goal is to make every one of life’s journeys better, focusing on our people, customers, and partners. As District Sales and Operations Manager, you will lead a team of Multi Site Store Managers across various formats, including InMotion, driving success through your leadership and ensuring continued growth. Your role is crucial for operational excellence and fostering a high-performing culture centered on people, customers, and profitability.

SCOPE
As District Sales and Operations Manager, your influence will shape the growth of WHSmith Travel. By leading with purpose, you’ll ensure our Travel stores deliver outstanding performance, foster a high-impact culture, and continually improve operational and customer service standards.

• People
  Deliver exceptional performance metrics, underpinning your district’s success and putting people at the core of your strategy. Lead, inspire, coach, challenge, and empower your Multi Site Store Managers, creating conditions for their best performance and ongoing development. Develop and implement a talent strategy supporting cross-functional roles and nurturing future leaders, including succession planning for each store. Provide clear, honest feedback to managers, guiding performance improvements, addressing challenges, and celebrating successes. Utilize one-to-one meetings and personal development plans to clarify roles and career paths for team members. Maintain a commitment to self-leadership and development, articulating career aspirations. Foster inclusive environments that prioritize wellbeing, demonstrating authenticity, empathy, and integrity. Be agile and resilient in managing people challenges, empowering teams to engage support functions and own solutions. Ensure stores operate within legal and safety standards, including compliance with relevant regulations.
• Plan
  Promote a culture of commercial excellence through coaching, management, and monitoring. Drive sales, adapt to seasonality, and respond to customer needs with energy. Address performance variability with a result-oriented leadership approach, narrowing gaps through decisive actions. Ensure team understanding and delivery of safe, legal compliance, coaching and empowering them accordingly. Oversee operational targets and service level agreements with partners, ensuring they are met and positioning the business for growth. Manage forecasts, budgets, and expenditure to meet targets and safeguard profit margins. Keep your line manager informed about operational performance through regular reports and updates.
• Customer
  Obsessed with delivering a world-class customer experience, modeling the importance of excellent service to your team. Foster a sales-focused culture emphasizing assisted sales, product knowledge, and add-on sales, especially in InMotion stores. Encourage continuous improvement, embedding principles like Brilliant Behaviours, High 5 Principles, and operational standards into daily routines. Ensure store activities and brand standards are executed to the highest standards through clear communication. Use data and tools effectively to influence decisions that benefit both the customer and profitability, promoting a data-driven culture. Maintain excellent relationships with landlords, ensuring open communication and mutual respect for future growth opportunities. Understand the local market deeply and tailor approaches to meet each customer’s needs, attracting and retaining future customers.

Who we’re looking for
We seek an experienced senior retail manager with multi-site leadership experience, ideally within WHSmith or similar retail environments. You should have a proven track record of inspiring teams and achieving results. You bring innovation, sharp commercial acumen, and strong organizational skills, capable of delivering results through your team. Excellent communication skills and people management experience are essential to handle various challenges and motivate diverse staff. You are engaging, persuasive, and capable of inspiring your team to meet and exceed targets.