General Manager

Established in 1981 with a single store in the Northwest of England, the JD Group is a leading omni-channel retailer of Sports Fashion, Outdoors and Gyms with over 60,000 colleagues and over 3,400 stores across several retail fascias in over 30 markets around the world.

JD Sports Fashion Plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and has been a FTSE100 publicly quoted company since 2019 and continues to grow in the UK and internationally.

We want to be the leading global omnichannel retailer in the sports and outdoor industry. To be a part of this successful company and help us to achieve this you will have the desire to ingrain our strategic goals of being a people-led, innovative and customer-focused organisation which provides operational excellence whilst identifying new areas of growth as part of our day to day objectives.

Role Overview

To lead, drive and implement robust logistics business principles at our sq ft Kingsway Omni-Channel Distribution Centre, leading the site, being responsible and accountable for the site performance as a key part of the Senior Leadership Team in the future growth of the logistics business.  The General Manager ensures that all operations and functional support teams (Safety. Engineering, IT, Finance, People Team etc) operates smoothly on a daily basis within agreed budget parameters and commercial retail business growth plan.  The General Manager reports directly into the JD UK Supply Chain Director and acts as the key point of contact and lead.  The General Manager will collaborate with other members of the Senior Leadership Team to drive effective change within the logistics environment.

Strategic and Commercial

• Ensure performance information on costs and resource utilisation is fully assessed against budgets/forecasts but maintaining and improving service, correctly interpreted and effective action taken to reduce costs, enhance value and meet business objectives
• To deliver demanding financial, quality and employee targets through Profit and loss budgeting.
• Support and Drive the strategy on business investment needs to be made to support profitable business growth and ensure that the necessary resources are in place to enable the delivery of logistics targets and future growth.
• To work with the JD UK Supply Chain Director, creating a robust strategy for continuous improvements across all areas of the business.
• Identify and articulate the vision of the logistics environment and be a key part of group transformational business change in the area of logistics, assisting the team in understanding the impact of all business change to logistics
• Ensure Operational SLA,s fall in line with targets for both costs and service improvements.

Operations

• Implement best operational practices, using your team to provide full training, support and guidance to logistics employees
• Work alongside the group HR function to ensure robust and effective employee relations are in place which faciliates postive and successful operational change
• Ensure logistics service levels are achieved, whilst listening to key business stakeholders to meet and exceed logistics expectations and KPI’s
• Anticipate and react to group business changes such as new acquisitions, changes to customer demands or new service options in conjunction with the JD Uk Supply Chain
• Director to ensure competitive advantage and high customer service is maintained.
• Developing and implementing initiatives to improve operational processes, aligned to our growth strategy
• To implement and maintain policies, procedures and organisational structure for all operations at site level.
• Comply with all company Health and safety policies and procedures, ensuring that all colleagues work in line with required Company Standards and all Health and Safety measures, creating and maintaining a safety first culture
• Leading a safety-first culture across site, challenge unsafe working in a value led manner and actively seek to improve H&S procedures in across site.
• To take overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the site to ensure the highest levels of safety, always ensuring continuity of staff and customer operations to ensure profitability and a long-term future growth for the business.
• Complying with and ensuring the implementation of all health & safety, quality & technical, hygiene, waste management and environmental, data protection and company policies and procedures, within the UK legal framework and the requirements of industry and company regulators, ensuring the safety of the workforce and others on the site.
• Driving the continued improvement of processes and methods of operational practices within the site by a structured process of accountability and training.
• Developing, proposing, and managing to completion suitable projects to ensure the sustainability and growth of the business at the site.

People and Talent Management

• Build, develop and coach a high performing senior logistics team, dedicated to quality, innovation, operational excellence, and best practice across logistics business.
• Create a one team approach with core vision and values
• Develop and lead a team with appropriate capabilities to execute against plan and ability to scale those capabilities with the business as it grows.
• Hire top talent and develop succession strategy to ensure leadership continuity
• Create and lead the engagement elements on site, creating an engaged workforce
• Ensure succession planning in all areas, to enhance JD as an employer of choice
• Drive accountability with the Senior Logistics Team (including support functions) on logistics goals and budget management to achieve plan with regular reviews of the P&L and appropriately managing costs.
• You will be managing a team of 4-5 thousand people in Peak Periods.

Skills and Experience Needed:

• Proven experience in a senior leadership role within a complex fast paced retail or FMCG logistics environment.
• High level of interpersonal skills and the ability to influence and gain support for complex and challenging logistics projects.
• Self-motivated with high levels of organisational skills to ensure business objectives are achieved in a varying and fast-paced environment 
• Proven experience of creating logistics strategies that drive improvement, outlining the vision and driving actions at all levels
• Confident and enthusiastic with the stamina and drive to create change and cope with sustained and evolving job demands, handling multiple issues whilst maintaining the ability to deliver.
• Experience of process implementation, improvement, and process training
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail
• Financial and Commercial awareness - linking operational actions to financial impacts
• Excellent communication skills and an ability to interact with people across all levels
• Confident and articulate, leading by example through knowledge experience and personal style, you will have a passion for service and strong customer focus.
• Thriving under pressure you will be capable of managing multiple priorities and working to critical deadlines and objectives.
• Automation experience needed, and to be a strong operator
• High level of Health and Safety knowledge within large scale sites
• Strong Change Management ability.

We know our employees work tirelessly to make JD Sports the success it is today and in turn, we offer them some amazing benefits:

• Free parking
• Incremental Holiday Allowance
• Staff Discount On JD Group and other brands within the organisation
• Pension Scheme
• Personal development opportunities to learn and develop at work.

Due to the high volumes of applications our opportunities attract, it takes time to review them all. If you don't hear back within two weeks of you applying, please consider your application to have been unsuccessful on this occasion

Applications that meet the skills criteria will be contacted for a 1st stage meeting with the talent team. Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to interview with the hiring manager.

Thank you again for your time.

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