Area Manager - Essex

Retail Limited; Colchester; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company in Colchester is seeking an Area Manager to oversee 20-25 stores and approximately 500 colleagues in the Essex region. This role entails driving operational performance, financial growth, and exceptional customer service while fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. Ideal candidates will have significant multi-site retail experience, strong leadership qualities, and a passion for innovation.

Benefits

Open and inclusive culture

Great work-life balance

Life and health insurance

Medical care package

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in multi-site retail management.
• Exceptional leadership and coaching skills.
• Full clean driving license.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a team of store managers for exceptional performance.
• Drive profitability and ensure customer service standards.
• Champion a strong people agenda including talent development.

Skills

Leadership

Operational excellence

Financial acumen

Customer service

Analytical Thinking

Conflict Management

Decision Making

Job description

Are you a dynamic retail leader ready to drive real impact across a multi-site operation? Do you thrive on leading high-performing teams and delivering excellence in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment? This is your chance to join bp's convenience retail business at a pivotal point of transformation and growth.,

• Lead and inspire a team of store managers to deliver exceptional store performance, fostering a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement
• Drive profitability while ensuring best-in-class safety and customer service standards
• Champion a strong people agenda - from talent development to DE&I and succession planning
• Deliver flawless execution of business strategies, promotions, and transformation initiatives
• Conduct regular business reviews, performance assessments, and action planning
• Experience leading multi-site retail teams in a fast-paced, customer-driven business
• Strong commercial and financial acumen - with the ability to turn insights into action
• Exceptional leadership, coaching, and interpersonal skills
• The confidence to manage performance and lead change with courage and clarity
• A self-starter attitude with a passion for retail excellence and innovation
• Field and in-store leadership experience in convenience, grocery or FMCG sectors
• Full, clean driving license, Ready to Make an Impact?, Agility core practices, Agreements and negotiations, Analytical Thinking, Business process improvement, Commercial Acumen, Communication, Conflict Management, Continued Learning, Continuous Improvement, Creativity and Innovation, Customer centric thinking, Customer data knowledge, Data Analysis, Data visualization and interpretation, Decision Making, Digital Collaboration, Digital Fluency, Industry knowledge and advocacy, Integrated pricing, Leading transformation, Negotiation planning and preparation, Offer and product knowledge, Offer execution and growth, Operational Excellence {+ 10 more}
  We're looking for an Area Manager covering the Essex region to lead portfolios of 20-25 company-owned stores across each patch and overseeing a team of ~500 dedicated colleagues. You'll play a critical role in our UK retail operations, owning the delivery of people, customer, financial, and operational performance within your region - all while being a champion for change, growth, and exceptional customer service.
• This is more than a job - it's an opportunity to shape strategy, coach talent, and drive transformation from the ground up.
• If you're excited about the opportunity to shape the future of retail operations and lead from the front, we'd love to hear from you. At bp, we provide an excellent working environment and employee benefits such as an open and inclusive culture, a great work-life balance, tremendous learning and development opportunities to craft your career path, life and health insurance, medical care package and many others. We support our people to learn and grow in a diverse and exciting environment. We believe that our team is strengthened by diversity. We are committed to crafting an inclusive environment in which everyone is respected and treated fairly.
• Travel Requirement Up to 75% travel should be expected with this role