Operational Excellence Lead

At Pets at Home we have an ambitious plan, to become “The Best Pet Care Business in the world” and a key part of delivering this in a sustainable way will be our most cherished assets: our People and our Culture. We are a business built on strong values and behaviours which guide everything we do. These are our foundations which will help us to deliver our better world pledge to create a better world for pets and the people who love them.

We have an excellent position of trust with the nation’s pet owners and provide an unrivalled range of products and services including nutrition, health, play, essentials, and grooming.

**About the Role**

We are looking for an Operational Excellence Lead to work out of our Support Office in Handforth (Cheshire), and we can offer hybrid working from this location. Some additional travel will be necessary.

As Operational Excellence Lead, you’ll be responsible for a team whose purpose is to work collaboratively with our Business Change team (and other key stakeholders) to identify, prioritise, plan, facilitate, execute and deliver on continuous improvements for all key areas of the business (Retail Operations, Distribution, Contact Centres & the Vets).

You will engage, inspire and drive associates to embrace continuous improvement tools and long-lasting change within their areas. You’ll define and lead the delivery of the operational excellence roadmap whilst embedding continuous improvement principles, driving value in the eye of the customer.

Key responsibilities will include;
- Working with our Business Change team to scope, shape and resource a Continuous Improvement (CI) programme of work, utilising Lean Six Sigma principles to manage projects that underpin the strategic direction of the business
- Engaging and coordinating with the business (and each business unit) to identify, evaluate, align, and prioritise opportunities, working on complex projects of large scope
- Supporting the delivery of better value and greater efficiency through the identification and elimination of unnecessary complexity within business processes, and identification of better ways of working
- Providing regular detailed updates on the CI Roadmap to senior stakeholders, translating complex statistical analysis into plain language
- Developing a consultative ‘model’ approach to unlock opportunities and build a future pipeline of activity
- The preparation, execution, and aftercare of Operational Excellence improvement projects
- Actively monitoring project risks to foresee/identify potential problems and proactively identify solutions to address in advance
- Ensuring the business impact and project objectives/dependencies are identified, reported on and managed at all times
- Developing strength in the continuous improvement culture throughout the business through training, coaching and delivery of CI initiatives
- Working with key business stakeholders, and 'LEAN champions', to build a continuous improvement environment to support an ongoing programme of change
- Ensuring the Operational Excellence Team are accessible to facilitate and support improvement work through coaching and consulting
- Leading and managing the Operational Excellence team to work towards delivering the business performance commitment

**About you**
- You’ll be a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (or able to demonstrate equivalent experience/qualification)
- Relevant experience leading Operational Excellence Teams
- Strategic in mind set - unlocking value to the business
- An inspiring and motivating leader (inspiring through engaging leadership)
- Able to collaborate and influencing others beyond your team
- Experience of hands-on implementation of continuous improvement programs and Lean solutions to support productivity and efficiency gains
- Knowledge and demonstrable experience of business improvement tools & methodologies, project management and change management is essential
- Ability to identify key stakeholders; engaging with a diverse group of internal and external stakeholders to influence direction of projects as well as developing a wide scope of influence

Our diversity and inclusion vision is that everyone is welcome and feels part of our group. If you think you’re a good match to what we are looking for, and you share our belief that together ‘we’re better with pets’, we’d like to hear from you, whatever your background or circumstances.

**About our purpose**

Far more than a retailer, Pets at Home Group is the UK’s leading pet care specialist, fulfilling every possible pet and owner need, from food and accessories to grooming and vet services. Since 1991, we’ve been building a business around pets and their owners and we’ve set our sights on becoming the best pet care business in the world. Join us now and you can be part of that journey, developing your future as we develop ours. This is a place where you can take pride and passion in your work within an inspiring, professi