National Operations Manager

Join a business with a heritage you can be proud of. 250 years of rich heritage – giving them generations of experience in the merchanting sector.

178 branches across the UK & Ireland – Become part of a nationwide network serving professional tradespeople and DIY customers.

1,100+ colleagues – Join a growing team of people working across their branches, manufacturing sites and offices.

Royal Warrant holder – proudly holding a Royal Warrant since 1949, reflecting their long-standing reputation and expertise.

Part of a Global Group – part of a global organisation operating in more than 80 countries.

An exciting and rare opportunity to join an incredible trade merchanting business as National Operations Manager. The role reports directly to the Commercial Director focusing on the commercial performance and strategic direction of the branch network. The role has 8 Regional Managers as direct reports, providing leadership across the UK branch estate (excluding Ireland). The successful candidate will have autonomy to shape the future of the branch network, influencing strategy, commercial performance, customer proposition and operational excellence across the business.

Key attractions include:

• Influence business direction.
• Leadership of one of the most visible customer-facing functions.
• Opportunity to shape the long-term branch strategy.
• Direct influence over commercial performance, profitability and customer experience.
• Well-known, respected heritage brand with ambitious future plans.
• High-profile role working closely with senior leadership.

Looking ahead, the business has exciting growth opportunities including:

• Opening new branch locations.
• Branch relocations to strengthen the network.
• Developing the long-term network strategy.
• Ensuring branches are located in the right locations to maximise profitability and customer reach.

The National Operations Manager is responsible for leading the UK Branch network, ensuring the business delivers sustainable commercial growth while creating a high-performing operation. The role combines strategic leadership with strong commercial ownership, balancing sales growth, profitability, customer experience and operational excellence. Success comes from developing Regional Managers, aligning teams behind a clear vision and ensuring every store contributes to the wider commercial objectives of the business and the Group.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities:

• Drive sales growth across the branch network.
• Improve profitability and margin performance.
• Develop commercial initiatives that differentiate in the market.
• Balance revenue growth alongside cost control.
• Influence decisions around CAPEX and OPEX investment.
• Identify opportunities to improve the customer offer and overall trading performance.

Strategic Planning:

• Develop the long-term strategy for the branch estate.
• Shape the future network through new branch openings, relocations and optimisation.
• Take a "helicopter view" of the business, ensuring decisions support both the UK business and wider Group objectives.
• Learn from best practice across the wider group and translate ideas into the UK business.

Leadership:

• Lead, coach and develop eight Regional Managers.
• Create consistency across multiple regions.
• Build an engaged, empowered leadership team.
• Drive capability, succession planning and workforce development.
• Lead leaders rather than individual branches.

Operational Excellence:

• Use KPIs and business data to drive decision making.
• Improve consistency across the estate.
• Embed processes that improve performance.
• Ensure stores deliver outstanding customer experiences whilst operating efficiently.

The successful candidate is likely to have operated in a large multi-site trade merchanting environment with responsibility for significant commercial performance. They will combine strategic thinking with strong operational leadership and be comfortable influencing at Executive level while remaining connected to frontline teams.

Essential Experience:

• Significant multi-site trade or retail leadership experience.
• Experience trading within customer-facing stores.
• Exposure to both B2C and B2B trading environments.
• Trade merchanting experience is desirable and not essential.

Strategic Leadership:

• Think strategically rather than operationally.
• Balance short-term trading with long-term business goals.
• Influence business direction.
• Align strategies with wider organisational objectives.
• Bring fresh thinking from previous organisations.

Leading Large Teams:

• Leading through multiple management layers.
• Managing geographically dispersed teams.
• Leading leaders rather than individuals.
• Workforce planning.
• Organisational capability building.
• Remote leadership across national operations.

Commercial Acumen:

• Delivering profitable growth.
• Improving margins.
• Managing budgets.
• Making decisions around investment (CAPEX/OPEX).
• Identifying efficiencies and cost savings.
• Developing clear customer propositions and competitive advantage.

People Leadership:

• Developing high-performing leadership teams.
• Coaching senior managers.
• Improving engagement.
• Driving accountability.
• Empowering teams to make commercial decisions.
• Creating alignment across multiple regions.

Key Personal Attributes:

• Strategic thinker with strong commercial awareness.
• Collaborative stakeholder manager.
• Excellent communicator.
• Confident influencing senior stakeholders.
• Able to balance competing priorities.
• Strong relationship builder.
• Pragmatic problem solver.
• Comfortable making difficult commercial decisions.
• Resilient and adaptable.
• Passionate about developing people and creating high-performing teams.