District Sales & Operations Manager

Join to apply for the District Sales & Operations Manager role at WHSmith. Our goal is to make every one of life’s journeys better, and at the heart of this are our people, customers, and partners. As District Sales and Operations Manager, you will lead a team of Multi Site Store Managers across various formats, including InMotion, driving success through your leadership and ensuring continued growth. Your role is crucial to delivering operational excellence and fostering a high-performing culture that places people, customers, and profitability at the core of everything we do.

SCOPE

As District Sales and Operations Manager, your influence will shape the growth of WHSmith Travel. By leading with purpose, you’ll ensure our Travel stores deliver outstanding performance, foster a high-impact culture, and continually raise the bar for operational and customer excellence.

• Deliver exceptional people performance metrics.
• Lead and inspire through coaching, challenging, and empowering your Multi Site Store Managers.
• Create conditions for your team to be their very best, with continuous development that elevates their strengths and potential.
• Develop and execute a robust talent strategy that supports cross-functional roles, nurturing future leaders.
• Ensure every store has a clear succession plan, identifying key roles and developing the right people to fill them.
• Provide clear, candid feedback to your managers, helping them understand their performance and guiding improvement.
• Utilise one-to-one meetings and personal development plans to ensure everyone in your division understands their role and has a clear path forward.
• Embrace diversity, fostering inclusive environments where wellbeing is prioritised.
• Be responsible for ensuring stores operate within legal and safety standards.

Plan

• Lead a culture of commercial excellence through effective coaching, management and monitoring.
• Grow spend per passenger in rail, ATV, SPP and transactions in other formats.
• Tackle performance variability across stores with a result-driven approach.
• Accountable for ensuring safe and legal compliance is understood and delivered by your team.
• Oversee operational targets and service level agreements with partners.
• Be accountable for forecasts, ensuring that expenditure is within budget, targets are met, and savings are achieved.

Customer

• Be obsessed with the customer experience, role modelling the importance of a world-class customer journey.
• Champion a sales-focused culture on your division.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement.
• Use data and tools effectively to influence decisions that benefit both the customer and profitability.
• Support future business growth by maintaining excellent relationships with landlords.
• Gain a deep understanding of the market where your stores operate.

Who we’re looking for:

When it comes to senior retail management within multi-site retail, you really know your stuff. You may already be working within WHSmith or have a proven record of leading and inspiring your team to achieve excellent results. You bring a flair for innovation and sharp commercial acumen, which will help you plan ahead as you take full responsibility for your region. You’ll also need to be impeccably organised, capable of delivering through your team. Strong communication skills are essential to connect with diverse staff and handle various challenges.