Shop Development Project Manager

We are looking for a Shop Development Project Manager to join our friendly and dynamic team here at Waterstones. This is a varied and exciting role where you will be responsible for the planning, management and implementation of shop development and capital investment projects across our store estate. We have 320 shops in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland, so you will need to be prepared to travel across the country to our locations when needed. Our shops are as varied as the books we sell, some of them are in buildings which are of historic or architectural interest so someone with an experience of a diverse property portfolio would be advantageous.

What you will be doing:

• Manage projects through the full lifecycle from initial budgeting to close out and handover into business as usual.
• Budget management, tracking and reporting. Working closely with finance teams.
• Produce project and programme timelines and supporting documentation.
• Administer orders and payments ensuring compliance to the company policies and Coda finance system.
• Tender and manage procurement of related services and goods such as contractors, joinery supply, lighting supply, flooring supply, building control consultants etc.
• External and internal communications, produce updates to enable stakeholders to manage their workload and timelines.
• Supply chain management to ensure direct supply items are ordered and available on time.
• Feedback into the overall process to aid on-going development of best practice, cost management and procurement.
• Ensure all work carried out is compliant; CDM, H&S, Planning, Building Control etc.

What we need from you:

• Proven management of external suppliers and contractors and demonstrate influencing and interpersonal skills.
• Experience of procuring related goods and services and managing the consequential supply chain.
• Experience of tendering, negotiating and management through schedule of rates.
• Client-side experience, preferably with a national retailer.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering multiple projects simultaneously.
• Understanding and experience of related building compliance; CDM, H&S, building control, asbestos awareness etc.
• Ability to interpret AutoCAD plans.
• Building surveying and AutoCAD drawing experience advantageous.

Person Profile:

• Ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels in the organisation, building cross functional working relationships.
• Self-starter and self-motivated, capable of working in a fast-paced entrepreneurial can-do culture.
• Take ownership of own technical development to keep up with current compliance and technical innovations.
• Excellent detailed project management skills.
• Ability to plan and prioritise own activity and follow up on agreed and objective working approach to problem solving.
• Ability to work as part of a team and aid the output from other departments.

Why work for Waterstones:

At Waterstones, everything we do is about our customers, and we work hard to provide them with the best possible shopping experience, one that will make them want to visit time and time again. We strive to consistently deliver fantastic customer service, whether recommending a book or a gift, keeping our shops beautifully stocked, helping out in our lovely Café W’s, or keeping the wheels turning efficiently behind the scenes. Working with us, you will get to use your expertise and enthusiasm to bring to our customers the irreplaceable pleasures of a good bookshop (including a virtual one). In return, you will be working in a role that can make a real difference to Waterstones, work in a friendly and dynamic team and get to benefit from our excellent discount in shops and waterstones.com.

If you have the relevant essential experience and you are interested, we would love to hear from you.