Retail Excellence Program Manager in West Malling

Since Watchfinder & Co. was first founded in 2002, it has grown to become the premier resource from which to buy and sell premium pre‑owned watches. With thousands of watches available from more than 50 brands, including Rolex, Omega, IWC and more, plus boutiques across the UK and a manufacturer certified service centre, Watchfinder has established itself as the top pre‑owned watch specialist.

The Retail Excellence Program Manager is responsible for designing, leading, and embedding Watchfinder’s Retail Excellence framework across the business. Acting as a strategic program lead, this role will drive the development and execution of key retail initiatives that enhance operational excellence, elevate the customer experience, and support the company’s commercial objectives.

Responsibilities

• Design a structure and governance for a Retail Program management, applying adequate program management components and best practices such as governance, meeting cadences, stakeholder map and project pipeline.
• Develop a comprehensive Retail Excellence initiatives pipeline aligned with Watchfinder’s commercial objectives and driven by the identification of key areas for improvement in retail operations, customer experience, and project management.
• Manage the Retail Program, its project pipeline, prioritisation, escalations and risk & progress reporting in appropriate forums – e.g. steering committee.
• Lead and manage projects related to Retail, such as new store openings, store renovations, new process or technology implementations.
• Oversee the successful delivery of projects, ensuring alignment with business priorities and expected outcomes.
• Partner cross‑functionally with HR to define and design the boutique organization and compensation.
• Partner cross‑functionally with the commercial performance manager, the merchandiser and the data team to deliver retail and merchandising performance dashboard.
• Support to Director of commercial operations and CCO for any other project requests.
• Champion a customer‑centric approach, focusing on creating and elevating an end‑to‑end customer journey that integrates all Watchfinder customer transaction journeys (part‑exchange, instant purchasing, omnichannel etc.).
• Explore the implementation of methodologies to measure and improve overall customer satisfaction – specifically in retail.
• Partner with L&D and retail to develop training programs and their delivery approach for retail staff on operational procedures, product knowledge, sales techniques, and customer service excellence.
• Partner with other functions and markets to ensure adequate implementation of new guidelines and framework (Sales operations, visual merchandising, marketing).

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of experience in project management or operations consulting.
• Experience in retail industry is a plus.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills in a matrix environment.
• Knowledge of Project Management methodology.
• Ability to plan and prioritise multiple activities and juggle priorities effectively.
• Exceptional time management and organisation skills.
• Proactive mindset.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills with the ability to interact at all levels of seniority.
• Problem solver: can provide solutions when problems arise and seek to understand the root cause of the problem to implement long term solutions.
• Strong PowerPoint and Excel skills.