Assistant Shop Manager

Blue Cross For Pets; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 8,400 - 10,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

38 days holiday (FT equivalent)

Wellbeing support programmes

GP access through MetLife

Health cash plan

Employee assistance programme

Pension scheme with employer contrib.

Continued Professional Development

Life assurance

Staff discounts

Annual volunteer days

Job summary

Blue Cross For Pets in Yardley is seeking an Assistant Shop Manager to join our charity retail team. This part-time role supports the Shop Manager, drives sales and helps turn donations into meaningful impact for thousands of animals.

You’ll lead volunteers, recruit and train staff, and ensure a friendly customer experience while coordinating merchandising and daily store routines. The Swan Centre location operates Monday to Saturday; flexibility for weekends and holidays is essential.

Qualifications

• Experience in retail management or leadership roles.
• Cash handling and reconciliation experience.
• Ability to lead a team and motivate volunteers.
• Delivering great customer experience.
• Strong computer and administration skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive sales and source quality fashion, accessories and homeware from donations to regenerate and find a new home.
• Build a solid customer base and network of generous donors to support the shop and charity.
• Guide and train volunteers; recruit and develop staff to create a friendly and welcoming shopping experience.
• Support merchandising and day-to-day store operations, including opening/closing routines and stock management.

Skills

Retail management

Cash handling

Team leadership

Customer experience

Computer & admin skills

Job description

Assistant Shop Manager

Application Deadline: 10 November 2026

Department: Fundraising, Comms & Engagement

Employment Type: Permanent - Part Time

Location: Yardley

Reporting To: Shop Manager

Compensation: £9,325 / year

Description

• Contract: Permanent, part time (14 hours over 2 days)
• Salary: £9,325 (£23,311 FTE)
• Location: Swan Centre, Yardley, B25 8UJ
• Closing date: Tuesday 10th November 2026

Join our friendly charity retail team in Yardley as an Assistant Manager. This is more than just a retail job, it’s an opportunity to support a great cause, connect with your local community and help turn donations into meaningful impact every single day!

More about the role

Using your experience in retail management/leadership, you will work with our Shop Manager and local community to drive forward sales and source quality fashion, accessories and homeware from donations to regenerate and find a new home!

This store really needs someone who understands the local community and can work to build a solid customer base and network of generous donors. Every item sold helps fund our vital work: supporting sick, injured, and homeless pets and caring for over 40,000 animals each year through our rehoming, veterinary, and education programmes.

We're looking for a positive role model to join our leadership team, guiding our team of volunteers in creating a friendly and welcoming shopping experience. We'd like you to have experience of managing others and have creative ways to lead and motivate a team to achieve maximum success. In this role, you will be supporting the recruitment and training of new volunteers, sharing your knowledge of merchandising and provide a quality customer service to those both purchasing and donating.

You could be a current team leader or supervisor, looking to take on more management responsibility or you could be an experienced manager (or deputy) looking for a new challenge. We want to hear from you to see if we are the employer for you!

Our shop is open Monday to Saturday from 09:30 to 17:00, and your normal working pattern may change each week, subject to the needs of the business and the levels of staff and volunteers available to work. This working pattern includes weekends and bank holidays so having the ability to be flexible is essential, and you may also be required to support with additional holiday and sickness cover.

About you

You will have:

• Previous experience of working in a retail environment
• Cash handling and reconciliation experience
• Experience of leading a team
• Experience of providing great customer experience
• Computer and administration skills

It would also be great if you had:

• Managing volunteers

Using AI in your application

We’re happy for you to use AI tools to help you prepare your application, for example to organise your thoughts, improve clarity or check spelling and grammar. However, your application must be an honest reflection of your own skills, experience and achievements, and AI should not be used to write your application for you or create examples that aren’t your own.

Please read our guidance on using AI when applying to Blue Cross before submitting your application.

Blue Cross benefits

Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.

In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.

Our generous benefits package includes:

• Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
• Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
• Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
• Health cash plan
• Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
• Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
• Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
• Life assurance
• 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Recognition scheme
• Annual volunteer days
• Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers

To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' page on our website.