Deputy Centre Director - Westgate Oxford

We are Landsec. We identify and shape places that create opportunity, enhance quality of life, and bring joy to the people connected to them. This is how we’ve created the UK’s leading portfolio of urban places and one of the largest real estate companies in Europe. Our £10 billion portfolio is built around premium workplaces, the country’s pre-eminent retail platform, and a residential pipeline that will redefine urban life.

The role will be based at Westgate Oxford. There will be the need for occasional travel to other retail sites around the country and London Victoria as and when required.

The world of retail is continually evolving and changing. Whilst the way people shop is changing, our guests still expect great service and an exceptional experience when they visit our centres. The brand partners we work with expect us to provide a brilliant platform for them to deliver excellence and generate revenue.

At Landsec, we have ambitions for ourselves too. We don’t want to merely meet those expectations — we want to exceed them. We aim to be the preferred partner for the businesses we work with. We want to be a leader in the field of retail and mixed-use schemes.

The Deputy Centre Director plays a pivotal role in helping us achieve that success. We want people who put our guests and brand partners at the heart of all they do and who don’t settle for second best. To do that, you’ll be able to draw on your experience, knowledge and commercial acumen to provide insight and support, whilst creating value by driving sales and income.

The Deputy Centre Director role reports to the Centre Director. You will deputize in their absence and support all aspects of the Centre Director’s role. Focussing on commercial management of the Centre, you will lead the site team to meet organizational requirements, control resources and manage relationships with our ELEVATE Service Partners and Brand Partners. Maximising income and managing costs, you will maintain the highest achievable standard of site presentation and guest service.

Your ability to build and nurture exceptional working relationships across a variety of settings goes without saying. You’ll be comfortable operating within a matrix management structure, working closely with Landsec Asset, Brand and Consumer teams to implement and add value to the annual business plan, whilst also working effectively with local stakeholders.

You’ll thrive in situations where you need to adapt and evolve, taking others on that journey with you. Most importantly, we want someone who is a true advocate for our company values and who consistently demonstrates them in every interaction.

Part of a team of seven Landsec employees at Westgate, you will directly line manage a Retail Manager and a Guest Experience & Community Manager.

Principle Accountabilities

• Deputise for the Centre Director, leading and managing the Centre Team (consisting of Landsec employees, Service Partner employees and Contractors) providing them with day-to-day operational direction.
• Working as a proactive member of the internal organisation within Landsec, leveraging the strength and expertise of specialist teams to ensure the Centre delivers operational and strategic excellence on a day-to-day basis.
• Ensuring the execution of brilliant basics by the Centre Team, creating a safe and secure environment for guests and Brand Partners.
• Driving a high-performance team culture across the Centre, creating an environment where everyone is engaged and wants to deliver an exceptional experience for our guests and brand partners, optimising guest experience and income opportunities.
• Establishing and maintaining strong, collaborative relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, leveraging and influencing them for the benefit of the Centre and Landsec.
• Advocating for the Centre, continually driving for success, identifying improvements and implementing solutions that drive growth and mean we are seen as the preferred partner for the businesses we work with.
• Implementing the centre strategy from an operational perspective, working with the Operations manager to develop and maintain operational excellence, compliance and guest experience.
• Working closely with the Asset team, providing monthly and quarterly reporting, feeding into the asset leasing strategy, planning process and business plan.

Brand Partners

• Build relationships with Brand Partner teams to understand their business and optimise sales, meeting quarterly as a group and individually as required.
• Maintaining a detailed understanding of Brand Partner metrics, utilising Retail Advantage and analysing information to provide insight and strategic support as appropriate.
• Proactively seeking regular feedback from Brand Partners, involving Brand Partners in engagement programmes.
• Demonstrating partnership and collaboration with local brand partners, testing and trialling commercial initiatives.
• Demonstrating leadership/collaboration with Brand Partners to achieve high retail standards.

Guest Experience

• Managing the overall guest experience at the Centre, identifying dependencies and areas for improvement, ensuring effective feedback mechanisms are in place and resolving issues.
• Achieving exceptional Guest experience metrics.
• Communicating the successful elements of the Centre’s guest experience.
• Constantly evolving the Guest experience roadmap for the Centre, showing specific areas of focus and delivery.
• Ensuring the Centre is accessible to all our guests and that it not only achieves, but maintains Disability Confidence status.

Commercial Drive and Performance Measurement

• Leading input into setting sales and footfall targets and income reporting.
• Effective management and setting of the Centre budget and KPIs including; target versus actual, service charge and controllable costs in the budget.
• Orchestrating teams involved in supporting commercial growth and sales of the Centre commercial spaces.
• Conducting lessons learned, listening to constructive feedback and applying solutions, processes and practices to make sure the Centre delivers an exceptional experience for guests and Brand Partners.
• Effectively communicating knowledge and understanding of Centre’s business strategy and financial performance to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, adapting the message to suit the audience.
• Maintaining effective working and commercial relationships with Service Partners with KPI measures reviewed monthly.

Community

• Building and maintaining strong and effective external stakeholder relationships.
• Acting as an advocate for the Centre and proactively getting involved with the local community the Centre serves, maintaining and supporting community initiatives.
• Achieving ESG/Sustainability targets and/or demonstrating how Centre has supported different community events.

Other

• Given the requirement to provide a 24 hour operation to retail and leisure partners, flexibility is required and it may be necessary for you to work additional hours outside of normal office hours to meet the needs of your role. You will be part of the Duty Manager 7 day a week rota, including weekend on site Duty Management.

Essential Criteria

• Breadth of relevant experience to be able to manage in a broad and high profile role.
• A working knowledge and demonstration of success in matrix organisation.
• Proven experience of translating strategy into excellent outcomes.