Assistant Store Manager - Paddington Station

Hotel Chocolat PLC; Greater London; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading premium chocolate brand as an Assistant Store Manager at Paddington Station! This role offers a unique opportunity to lead a passionate team in a vibrant retail environment. You'll inspire and coach your team to achieve sales targets while delivering exceptional customer service. With a strong focus on leadership and team development, you will play a key role in maximizing store performance and creating a delightful experience for every customer. If you have a passion for chocolate and a knack for retail management, this is the perfect chance to make an impact in a growing company that values originality, authenticity, and ethics.

Benefits

Performance-based incentives

50% staff discount

70% discount on hotel stays

Flexible working options

Innovative work environment

Qualifications

• Experience in a busy retail environment, ideally within a luxury brand.
• Natural leadership qualities to inspire and develop team members.

Responsibilities

• Support the Store Manager in leading and developing the retail team.
• Drive sales and maximize performance through effective communication.

Skills

Leadership

Sales Management

Customer Service

Team Development

Communication

Job description

Assistant Store Manager - Paddington Station

Location: Paddington

Contract Type: Full-Time Permanent

Closing Date: 10/02/2025

Hotel Chocolat has built a strong position as the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brand. We offer a range extending from luxury giftable chocolates to alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system; the Velvetiser. Our mission is make people and nature happy through chocolate. Customers, colleagues, cacao farmers, and suppliers can all benefit from the success we make together.

We’re looking for an Assistant Store Manager to support and lead the retail team alongside the Store Manager. Please note, our stores are open seven days a week including weekends and evenings, so you will need to be fully flexible to meet the needs of our store opening times.

You’ll be a people-focused and confident leader with spirit and passion in line with our products, people, and values, to drive the team both operationally and commercially to achieve sales and deliver 100% happiness through chocolate to every customer.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Store Manager in providing excellent leadership to inspire, coach, and develop your team members to meet their performance goals through effective communication of the Hotel Chocolat vision and values.
• Drive store sales and profit plan and take action to maximise performance.
• Aim to exceed store sales targets and KPIs through clear and effective communication to your team.
• Maximise all commercial opportunities in-store through timely implementation of promotions, offers, and marketing initiatives.

Who You Are & What You Have:

• Experience in a seasonally busy and bespoke selling environment, ideally within a luxury brand or retailer.
• Demonstrable experience in high service guest interaction.
• Natural leadership qualities to get the best of your high-performing team both individually and as a whole.
• A passion for chocolate, our brand, and for giving the best service to our guests.

What We Offer:

• Incentives based on performance
• 50% unlimited staff discount to treat yourself and your friends and family
• 70% discount off a stay in our Hotel in St Lucia
• We recognise that our employees may wish to balance their work and family/home life and therefore we are open to discussions around flexible working
• A chance to work in an exciting, innovative, and expanding company

If you want to be part of the team spreading happiness through chocolate, click Apply and we’ll be in touch!

About Us:

We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol, and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser. A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.

Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to over 140 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers, and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.

At Hotel Chocolat, we treat each other with respect, equality, and grace. Our mantra? Be brave. Be kind.

This People Pledge is underpinned by our values of Originality, Authenticity, and Ethics. We encourage new ideas and fresh thinking and for each of you to bring your ORIGINALITY to work. We want you to be your AUTHENTIC self – and feel comfortable to share your differences, and what makes you unique. Our commitment to being an ETHICAL business means we have a deep sense of fairness when it comes to the way we treat one another.

This applies during our recruitment process too. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer who positively celebrates a diverse and inclusive culture. We welcome people from all walks of life to join us, bringing their individuality to help us reach our ambitious growth plans. We believe this is critically important to help us create a place to work where everyone feels like they belong, can be themselves, and where all of our differences are celebrated.