Head of Retail Operations

**Salary**:£40,000 FTE

**Contract type**:9 month temporary contract to cover adoption leave (may be extended to 12 months)**Location**: Russell House, Huddersfield

**Responsible to**: Chief Executive

**Responsible for**: Area Managers (x2), Retail Volunteer SupportOfficer (x1), Estates & Facilities Coordinator

**Benefits**: Entry into Peoples Pension, death in service benefit (3 x salary), out of pocket expenses, free on-site parking, free access to confidential and extensive wellbeing support, generous holiday entitlement (26 days plus bank holidays rising to 31 days after 5 years for a full time employee, pro rata for part time), an extra days holiday for your birthday, free tea / coffee, sight tests and flu jabs and excellent learning and development opportunities.

**OVERVIEW OF ROLE**

Forget Me Not Childrens Hospice has been delivering pioneering care and support to families facing or living with the loss of their child across West Yorkshire for over 10 years.

Our retail trading company, comprising 15 charity shops, an online shop and eBay store, with turnover of around £2 million and profit of over £460,000, plays an important role in generating income for our charity, helping to fund our vital work. And we have ambitious plans for growth doubling the number of shops over the next 10 years.

As Head of Retail Operations, covering adoption leave, youll ensure the smooth running and continued success of our shops and online retail activities. You will lead a team of dedicated staff and volunteers, driving performance and enhancing the customer experience. Responsible for ensuring all commercial opportunities are maximised, youll also work to maintain the momentum of our growth plans.

Youll have experience of managing a multi-site retail operation as well as managing a large and diverse team. Youll also have strong commercial acumen and organisational skills, the ability to analyse performance and trends, and experience of managing income and expenditure budgets.

With flexible working arrangements to suit you, if youre excited by the scope, significance and variety of this role and you can bring the expertise and experience we need, then we want to hear from you

For an informal chat about the role, please contact Gareth Pierce on 07391 011359

To find out more about working for Forget Me Not Children's Hospice please see our recruitment pack

**MAIN DUTIES AND KEY RESPONSIBILITIES**

**Strategic delivery**
- Ensure effective communication of strategic direction within the retail team to achieve maximum buy in and support.
- Ensure that there is a clear communication strategy in place to cascade organisational news and updates across the retail estate, keeping retail colleagues engaged in the overall organisational cause and shared vision.
- Support wider organisational initiatives by using our shops as a way for local supporters to access information about our charity.
- Provide regular performance updates and assurance to the senior leadership team and the trading board including quality board reports and presentations.
- Networking with sector colleagues, sharing and bringing back best practice to improve performance, efficiency and productivity.
- As part of the wider senior management team, influence, support and develop our strategic direction.
- Work with the marketing and communications team to effectively promote retail in line with brand guidelines to drive footfall and increase sales.
- Set a clear focus across the shop estate to promote excellent customer service and retail standards to customers and donors.
- Collaborate with other departments to create and implement strategies to improve supporter engagement and maximise touch points for customers and supporters between the trading company and the charity.
- Be aware of external and local retail influences and trends and be prepared to adapt plans and actions in reaction to changes in environments.
- Work closely with the commercial project manager and external property consultants to deliver the estates strategy for Forget Me Not Trading Ltd.
- Engage with relevant internal stakeholders to support the creation and delivery of the strategic plan for retail.

**Leadership and people**
- Recruit and retain a high performing team by developing a people strategy and plan which will include retention, succession, engagement and development plans and a high level learning needs analysis.
- Liaise with the HR team to ensure that retail training needs are identified and work with relevant providers to ensure these needs are met.
- Empower, coach and develop Area Managers to maximise performance in their individual areas.
- Provide clear direction and support to the Retail Volunteer Support Officer and Estates and Facilities Co-ordinator.
- Ensure clear performance objectives are set for all Managers and that performance and productivity is challenged as appropriate.
- Attend Senior Management Team (SMT) meetings to present Retail updat