Cluster Manager

Life Services Group; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days’ annual leave

£4,500 car allowance

Annual bonus up to 10%

Private medical cover

Pension with contributions matched up

Life assurance twice your salary

My Staff Shop discounts

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

Clear progression routes across LifeS​

Free on-site parking

Job summary

Dignity Funeral Directors, part of Life Services Group, seeks a Cluster Manager to lead nine funeral homes and a care centre across Ipswich, Felixstowe, and the Suffolk/Essex coast. You will oversee Funeral Directors and Senior Funeral Directors, driving service standards and local growth.

The role requires proven multi-site leadership, a full UK driving licence, and flexibility for evenings and weekends, with a competitive salary plus car allowance and annual bonus potential.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing multiple sites or branches in a customer-facing, service-led environment.
• Experience leading other managers, not just front-line teams.
• Track record of hitting revenue, cost and sales targets, and confidence reading a P&L.
• Full UK driving licence and flexibility to work some evenings, weekends and on-call.
• Experience in funeral services or a regulated, care-led sector would be a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop your teams through recruitment, coaching, 1:1s and appraisals.
• Drive operational excellence, owning care, compliance and presentation standards and keeping branches audit-ready.
• Grow market share and local reputation with a local marketing plan and community presence.
• Deliver commercial success by owning revenue, cost and funeral plan targets.
• Set the standard for professionalism, empathy and integrity.

Skills

Multi-site leadership experience

People management

P&L understanding

Strong commercial acumen

Regulatory compliance knowledge

Job description

Position: Cluster Manager
Location: Suffolk and North Essex. You’ll cover nine funeral homes and a care centre across Ipswich & Felixstowe, Suffolk and the Essex coast, with regular travel between sites.
Job Type: Full-Time, 38.33 Hours per week
Salary: Competitive Salary + Car Allowance

Be there when families need you most, and lead the teams who make it happen

As Cluster Manager, you’ll lead our South Anglia funeral homes: nine branches in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Bury St Edmunds, Sudbury, Ixworth, Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Witham, plus our care centre in Bury St Edmunds, carrying out around 1,300 funerals a year. You’ll lead the Funeral Directors and Senior Funeral Directors across the cluster, and through them every colleague in your branches.

9 branches 1 care centre 3 local business groups around 1,300 funerals a year

Your patch brings together trusted local names that have served their communities for generations, including Michael Smy, Gordon Rodwell, L Fulcher, Brown Fenn & Parker, A E Thurlow & Son, Titford and Richards.

When someone dies, families need to know they can rely on us completely. Your job is to make sure every team delivers that, every day, while building strong, successful local businesses.

What you’ll do

• Lead and develop your teams, through recruitment, coaching, 1:1s and appraisals
• Drive operational excellence, owning care, compliance and presentation standards, and keeping every branch audit-ready
• Grow market share and local reputation, with your own local marketing plan and a strong community presence
• Deliver commercial success, owning revenue, cost and funeral plan targets
• Set the standard for professionalism, empathy and integrity

What you’ll bring

• Proven experience managing multiple sites or branches in a customer-facing, service-led environment
• Experience leading other managers, not just front-line teams
• A track record of hitting revenue, cost and sales targets, and confidence reading a P&L
• A good understanding of operational and regulatory standards
• A full UK driving licence, and flexibility to work some evenings, weekends and on-call

Experience in funeral services or another regulated, care-led sector, funeral plan sales, or an ILM or CMI qualification would be a bonus. You’ll find full details in the job description.

What you’ll get

• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
• £4,500 car allowance for travel between your sites
• Annual bonus of up to 10%
• Private medical cover for you
• Pension with contributions matched up to 4%
• Life assurance of twice your salary
• My Staff Shop discounts at high street and online retailers
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, occupational health and confidential counselling
• Clear progression routes across Life Services Group
• Free on-site parking at most locations

Why Dignity Funeral Directors, part of Life Services Group

Death is part of life, and being there for families when it matters is what we do. Do work that means something, in a business changing an industry for the better.

Dignity Funeral Directors is part of Life Services Group, alongside The Crematorium and Memorial Group (CMG), Simplicity Cremations, Dignity Legal Services and Farewill. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading end-of-life company, helping one in three people across the UK to plan for and deal with death, and we’re proud to be named in the FT 500 Best UK Employers 2026, and a top 50 employer.

Meaningful purpose.

We’re there for families at or planning for the hardest moments of their lives. We set high standards for ourselves and aim to lead the industry.

Grow with us.

Be part of a group with learning, apprenticeships and leadership routes across our brands, creating more opportunities for a fulfilling career.

Shape the future.

We’re changing so we can be the UK’s number one end-of-life provider. You’ll have a say in that change. And you’ll see what it delivers, for families and for the bottom line.

FCA statement

Dignity Funeral Directors is part of Life Services Group, which includes FCA-regulated activities. Some roles may be subject to relevant training, screening, conduct and regulatory requirements. We’ll confirm this during the recruitment process.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Our vision is to connect with our clients, colleagues, company and communities based on our principles, while celebrating our differences. We aim to empower leaders and colleagues to seek out and understand new voices and perspectives, to be vocal about inequity and exclusion, and to take decisive, informed and bold action to promote inclusion and belonging.

Any unsolicited submissions from agencies will be treated as a direct application from the candidate, and no fees will be payable.

Depending on the number of applications, we may close or extend the closing date for this role, so we recommend applying early.