Salary: £55,000 + Company Car | Permanent
About the role
As Area Manager, you’ll take ownership of the performance of the stores within your area, driving sales, profit, operational standards and customer experience. You’ll provide visible, hands-on leadership, coaching and developing Store Managers to deliver results, strengthen their teams and consistently execute our operating model.
You’ll bring a strong trading mentality, using financial performance, data, local knowledge and competitor insight to identify opportunities, respond to challenges and keep our stores competitive.
From improving availability and controlling costs to embedding new initiatives and developing future talent, you’ll make a tangible difference to the performance of our Food Division.
Key responsibilities
Commercial Performance & Trading:
- Take ownership of sales, profit and operational performance across your area, delivering against budgets and business targets.
- Embed a strong trading mentality, ensuring teams actively manage sales, availability, waste and margin opportunities.
- Monitor performance against budget, identify risks and opportunities, and take prompt corrective action.
- Drive effective execution of ranging, pricing, promotions and merchandising to maximise commercial returns.
- Use data, customer behaviour, local knowledge and competitor insight to identify opportunities and improve results.
- Respond quickly to seasonal events, competitor activity and changing market conditions.
Operational Excellence & Standards:
- Establish clear expectations for store standards, execution and accountability across all locations.
- Ensure consistent delivery of daily, weekly and period routines, including store walks, replenishment, availability, promotions and compliance checks.
- Build a right-first-time culture, improving efficiency, reducing rework and simplifying ways of working.
- Maintain a strong, visible presence in stores through structured visits, real-time coaching and effective follow-up.
- Take accountability for Health & Safety and Food Safety compliance, ensuring audits, checks and corrective actions are completed promptly.
- Drive continuous improvement, productivity and the effective implementation of new systems, initiatives and ways of working.
- Drive strong financial discipline across payroll, waste, stock loss and operational overheads.
- Ensure Store Managers understand their financial performance and take ownership of their budgets.
- Align labour deployment with trading patterns, improving productivity and resource utilisation.
- Identify and deliver opportunities to reduce costs while maintaining strong standards and customer service.
- Support Store Managers to manage resources effectively and deliver sustainable commercial results.
Leadership & People Development:
- Lead, coach and develop Store Managers to achieve high performance and consistent operational execution.
- Build capability across store teams, strengthening standards, customer service and commercial delivery.
- Create a high-performance culture built on clear accountability, pace, ownership and continuous improvement.
- Work closely with HR to support colleague engagement, performance and retention.
- Ensure robust succession planning across your area, developing talent and strengthening internal progression.
- Support the Head of Store Operations and Transformation in implementing and embedding the Society’s Food strategy.
- Translate central initiatives into effective action at store level, ensuring new ways of working are adopted and sustained.
- Support new store openings, refits and local projects, ensuring stores are equipped with the right standards, routines and team capability.
- Identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve productivity and share best practice across your area.
- Feed market insight and operational feedback back to central teams to support continuous improvement and business planning.
At Heart of England Co-operative Society, you’ll have the opportunity to make a real impact across our Food Division while working for an organisation that puts its members, colleagues and communities at the heart of every decision.
What we offer:
- Company car
- 10% colleague discount in our Food stores, plus double discount on our four-weekly pay weekend
- Pension scheme with a 3.3% employer contribution
- 30 days’ holiday, including bank holidays, increasing with length of service
- Enhanced maternity pay and enhanced redundancy pay
- Discounts and savings through My Staff Shop
Ready to make a difference?
If you’re an experienced retail leader with the commercial drive, operational discipline and people leadership skills to take our stores to the next level, we’d love to hear from you.
Join Heart of England Co-operative Society and help us deliver brilliant standards, exceptional service and sustainable commercial success across our Food Division.
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Area Manager in Nuneaton employer: Heart of England Society
Heart of England Co-operative Society is an exceptional employer that prioritises the growth and development of its employees, offering a clear pathway from Team Leader to Store Manager. Located in the vibrant community of Meriden, our work culture fosters collaboration and engagement, ensuring that every team member feels valued and supported. With competitive pay, generous benefits, and a commitment to employee wellbeing, we empower our staff to make a meaningful impact in their roles while enjoying a fulfilling work-life balance.
