Hospitals - Store Operations Manager

WHSmith; Metchley; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discounts

Pension scheme

Holiday allowance

Job summary

WHSmith Travel is seeking a Store Operations Manager to drive operational excellence across our airport stores, leading teams and delivering a world-class customer experience. You will own daily operations, coaching store managers, embedding a high-performance culture, and ensuring consistency across formats.

You will shape people strategy, manage budgets, monitor performance, and partner with commercial teams to maximise sales while maintaining safety and compliance.

Qualifications

• Experience leading large teams in retail or hospitality.
• Proven ability to drive sales and improve KPIs.
• Strong communication and coaching skills.

Responsibilities

• Shaping and influencing the People Strategy to drive performance.
• Inspiring and leading Store Managers through coaching and empowerment.
• Owning and delivering a robust talent strategy with cross-functional collaboration.
• Driving a culture of commercial excellence and maximising sales.
• Collaborating with commercial teams to shape future sales strategies.
• Owning customer selling strategy and improving the customer journey.
• Ensuring safe and compliant operations with support functions.
• Monitoring performance against targets and SLAs with partners.
• Managing costs and shaping annual budgets to maximise profit.
• Regularly updating leaders on operational performance and risks.
• Analysing data to inform actions and reporting practices.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Customer experience

Commercial acumen

Job description

Store Operations Manager – WHSmith

As Store Operations Manager, you will hold a pivotal role in driving operational excellence, leading your teams performance and creating an exceptional customer experience. You are responsible for the day today running of the store to support the Multi-Site Store Manager to deliver the business trading plan.

What being a Store Operations Manager is all about:

People:

• Shaping and influencing the People Strategy to drive exceptional performance and embed a people-first culture across WHSmith Travel.
• Setting the cultural and behavioural standards for the Large Air Division, role-modelling company values.
• Inspiring and leading Store Managers through coaching, challenging and empowering them. Creating an environment that encourages continuous development and show cases the best talent.
• Owning and delivering a robust talent strategy, collaborating with cross-functional teams to nurture future leaders and ensure succession plans are in place across all stores. Working closely with the People Team to ensure the right tools are in place.
• Utilising one-to-one meetings and personal development plans to ensure every team member understands their role in the division.
• Engaging colleagues by creating a psychologically safe environment that fosters openness and idea-sharing. Communication is a priority and your divisional engagement plan is designed to inspire and make a difference in colleagues’ lives.
• You embrace diversity and promote inclusivity, valuing the wellbeing of your team.
• Tackling people challenges with agility and resilience, coaching your team to collaborate with support functions and solve problems proactively.
• Mentoring peers with aspirations, dedicating time to nurturing others. You are recognised as a role model and an inspirational leader across the business.

Plan:

• Driving a culture of commercial excellence, leveraging every opportunity to maximise sales, grow spend per passenger and adapt to seasonal and customer trends with energy and agility.
• You’ll collaborate with commercial teams to shape future sales strategies.
• Harnessing the full potential of the InMotion format, driving a passion for selling, product knowledge and the customer experience. You’ll own and shape the customer selling strategy for future growth.
• Being accountable for safe and legal compliance, ensuring it’s understood and delivered by your team, coaching and empowering them to engage with support functions to achieve every day compliance.
• Monitoring operational targets and service level agreements with partners, positioning WHSmith as a trusted and valuable partner. You will build connections with competitors to identify future risks and opportunities.
• Managing costs efficiently ,ensuring expenditures stay within budget, and work with teams to shape annual budgets that maximise profit and productivity.
• Regularly updating leaders on operational performance, identifying risks with a solution-oriented mindset.
• Driving consistent performance across all stores, reducing variability and focusing on closing performance gaps through action and results-oriented leadership.
• Analysing data quickly and accurately to identify actions and communicate plans clearly. You’ll mentor other leaders to develop this skill and contribute to shaping future reporting practices.
• You’ll have the agility to switch between formats and complexity easily and with confidence.

Customer:

• You are credible and impactful when influencing others to drive a decision or change for the benefit of the customer and profitability.
• You'll empower your team to adopt this mindset promoting a culture of data-driven decision-making.
• You'll be obsessed with the customer experience, role modelling the importance of a world‑class customer journey. Everyone in your Division knows how to sell, manage queues and delight customers through friendly and helpful interactions.
• Supporting innovation by being a voice into the support centre, sharing ideas, feedback and collaborating on projects.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships with landlords, demonstrating confidence and charisma that foster a sense of pride and trust. Landlords see you as a go to tenant with excellent communication and rapport.
• Leading your large airport stores in hosting investor visits, show casing the best of WHSmith Travel and strengthening the company’s reputation as a partner of choice.
• Cultivating relationships with the communities where your stores operate, supporting local charities and schools to enhance brand awareness and reputation.
• Gaining a deep understanding of the market where your stores operate, and tailoring your approach to meet the unique needs of each customer. Shaping the commercial team's strategy and actions to expand the product and service range to attract future customers and drive higher conversion rates.

How we reward our teams:

We know you’ll work hard to make WH Smith a success and our customers happy, so as well as your salary, pension scheme, holidays (Management - 33 days including bank holidays) (Hourly paid 6.6 weeks including bank holidays) and employee discounts (up to 50%), we’ll reward you with a range of deals from retail partners that will help you save money and make memories, whether a delicious meal, an adventurous day out, or tickets to see the latest blockbuster.

Whatever the future brings, our Employee Assistance Programme will support you with help and guidance for your wellbeing whether physical, mental or financial.

About us:

WHSmith has a remarkable heritage and we are growing particularly in our airports, hospitals, rail stations and motorway services. Our aim is simple, to offer our products to everyone on any of life’s journeys. Our InMotion brand, a leading digital accessories business, continues to grow and develop, offering an amazing customer experience with all the latest tech. We have created great partnerships with the likes of M&S and Costa Coffee, ‘broaden our offering’ to our customers throughout the UK. That’s why, as we continue our journey, our aim is simple: to make every one of life’s journeys better!

WHSmith are proud to be an inclusive employer, we want our colleagues to feel welcome, and free to be themselves with us.