Change Manager in Hemel Hempstead

This is a genuinely exciting time to join us. We’re the logistics partner behind M&S Food, keeping products moving smoothly across the UK. As Marks & Spencer continues to grow, we’re transforming our warehouse operations to support those ambitions. This includes modernising ways of working, embedding new technologies and creating a more consistent, resilient and efficient warehouse network.

As a Change Manager you will be responsible for the successful coordination and delivery of change and key business priorities across the Hemel Foods site from central & depot led initiatives. As an analytical and proactive individual, you'll possess a strong drive to implement better, more efficient processes, lead and support project delivery and drive the accuracy agenda. You’ll be a highly organised individual who can communicate across all levels of the business to ensure business critical messages are delivered accurately. If you’re motivated by operational improvement, people impact and making change stick, this role offers both purpose and influence.

What’s in it for you? Gist is an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and evolving business built on our core values. Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for Gist just that little bit more special:

• 20% M&S discount on most things from furniture, fashion and food
• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (rising with length of service)
• Private Medical Healthcare
• Discounted rates on healthcare cash plan
• Attractive annual bonus scheme, based on M&S performance and personal objectives
• Auto Enrolment Pension or competitive Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and life assurance (up to 4 times salary)
• Amazing perks and discounts via our App to major restaurants and retailers
• Access to a wide range of wellbeing support – including our Employee Assistance Programme
• A first-class welcome with a tailored induction and a wide range of training schemes to help with your learning and development
• Cycle to work scheme

Salary: Up to £50,000 per annum
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Working Pattern: Monday to Friday
Location: Hemel Foods, Three Cherry Trees Lane, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7PZ

What you’ll do:

• Health, Safety and Wellbeing: Champion the safety agenda daily, promote safe operating and warehouse standards, conduct hazard walks and observations against standards, maintaining a safe and friendly working environment for all employees, agency and subcontractors.
• People: Ensuring effective communication throughout the management team and site colleagues, engaging with key stakeholders on site, across the network and in the central teams, leading improvement through regular, cross-functional engagement sessions, engaging with the workforce to generate and deliver improvement initiatives.
• Operational Excellence: Collaborates with the wider warehouse function and engages with the Warehouse optimisation team to deliver compelling and business-led change effectively, identifies areas of improvement and engages the appropriate stakeholders to achieve measurable results, planning and organising projects with people and safety at the heart of decision making, ensuring work done is as work imagined, sharing best practice with other sites to improve overall business standard, implementing standardised processes, driving the accuracy agenda through operational teams.
• Customer and Growth: Responsible for operational processes, maintain and improve methods & performance levels to maximise efficiency of operation in line with account KPI's, ensure all requirements relating to safety, health, environment and quality are being fully implemented in the warehouse or escalated.

Who you are:

• Continuous improvement experience (lean / six-sigma) and project management qualifications.
• Thorough knowledge and hands‑on experience of a warehouse function, ideally within the FMCG Distribution Industry.
• An ability to drive a program of continuous improvement.
• A background operating at a management level is a must.
• A passion for encouraging teamwork, focusing on creating an innovative culture where all employees can voice their suggestions and ideas.
• Excellent team project management skills.
• An analytical mind‑set.
• Experience in creating process improvement methods.
• You’ll come in to contact with Trade Unions (previous experience with this would be beneficial).
• Some flexibility.

Why Gist? At Gist we are united by our core values; with safety and people at the heart of everything we do, we are progressive, accountable, collaborative, and ethical. Our objective is to establish a performance-focused environment that is fair and inclusive, where everyone can develop, and connect meaningfully to their manager, the Gist vision, and M&S. We are fiercely protective of everyone’s health, safety, and well‑being, and align firmly to M&S’s sustainability commitments in Plan A. Gist will play an integral part in the M&S journey as it pushes boundaries to lead the retail industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring era. As part of the M&S group, there’s never been a better time to be part of our team. Join us and make an immediate impact. Gist aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers, and suppliers. If you require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, we invite you to share those requirements with us when completing your application. We will make every effort to ensure your needs are met to provide a fair and transparent process of assessment.