Project Manager

Co-op; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 36,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Holiday entitlement

Pension

Private healthcare

Onsite gym

Career coaching

Wagestream access

Job summary

Co-op in Manchester City Centre is seeking a Project Manager to lead and deliver change initiatives within our Food business. You\'ll bring people together to navigate complex change in a fast-paced retail environment.

You\'ll manage projects from planning through implementation, coordinating with Trade Planning, Promotions, Pricing and Trade teams, and ensuring governance and effective delivery. This role offers hybrid working with office presence and home-based days.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering complex change and managing the full lifecycle of projects from planning through to implementation.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and challenge constructively at all levels.
• Experience working within food retail, with knowledge of pricing, promotions, trade planning or related commercial processes.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to interpret data and present clear recommendations.
• Excellent organisation, communication and attention to detail, with experience managing governance, risks and dependencies.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Trade Planning, Promotions, Pricing and Seasonal Planning teams to understand business requirements, identify opportunities and deliver meaningful change.
• Lead projects through the full change lifecycle, creating clear plans, milestones and delivery timelines.
• Assess the impact of change across teams, systems and processes, identifying dependencies and risks along the way.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across Commercial, Finance, Operations, Stores, Technology and Customer teams to drive alignment and delivery.
• Manage governance and decision-making forums, providing clear updates on progress, actions and outcomes.
• Help shape practical, compliant and cost-effective solutions that support both customer and commercial goals.
• Ensure change is successfully embedded into business-as-usual ways of working, with clear accountability and ownership in place.
• Gather feedback from stores and stakeholders to continuously improve how we deliver change and support colleagues.

Skills

Change management

Stakeholder management

Retail / FMCG knowledge

Analytical skills

Organisation & communication

Job description

Project Manager

Up to £60,000 plus excellent benefits (Work Level 5)
Manchester City Centre, in this role you'll split your time between home and coming into the office at least twice a week (find out more at jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy)
12 month fixed-term contract

We're looking for a Project Manager to join our Customer function, to lead and deliver change initiatives within our Food business. You'll bring people together to navigate complex change in a fast-paced retail environment, using your experience of retail or FMCG to drive meaningful improvements and turn ideas into actions. You'll lead a range of projects while identifying opportunities to improve the way we work, helping us deliver better outcomes for our customers, colleagues and communities.

Why this role matters

This role plays a key part in delivering change that improves customer experience, supports commercial performance and helps reduce inefficiency across our pricing, promotions, trade planning and events activity. You'll ensure change is successfully embedded into day-to-day operations, with the right controls, ownership and governance in place to create lasting impact.

What you'll do

• Partner with Trade Planning, Promotions, Pricing and Seasonal Planning teams to understand business requirements, identify opportunities and deliver meaningful change
• Lead projects through the full change lifecycle, creating clear plans, milestones and delivery timelines
• Assess the impact of change across teams, systems and processes, identifying dependencies and risks along the way
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across Commercial, Finance, Operations, Stores, Technology and Customer teams to drive alignment and delivery
• Manage governance and decision-making forums, providing clear updates on progress, actions and outcomes
• Help shape practical, compliant and cost-effective solutions that support both customer and commercial goals
• Ensure change is successfully embedded into business-as-usual ways of working, with clear accountability and ownership in place
• Gather feedback from stores and stakeholders to continuously improve how we deliver change and support colleagues

What you'll bring

• Experience delivering complex change and managing the full lifecycle of projects from planning through to implementation
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and challenge constructively at all levels
• Experience working within food retail, with knowledge of pricing, promotions, trade planning or related commercial processes
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to interpret data and present clear recommendations
• Excellent organisation, communication and attention to detail, with experience managing governance, risks and dependencies

Why Co-op?

At Co-op, we're owned by our members. And because we're owned by you, we can do right by you. So when you join us, you're not just taking a job, you're joining a movement. We're an organisation that puts people and communities first, and we're powered by purpose. We want this to be a place where you can thrive, so you'll also receive:

• An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
• 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
• Private healthcare
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
• Coaching and training to support your career development
• Wagestream app - giving you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn

A place you'll belong

We're actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.
We'll ask whether you'd like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.
If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we'll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.
You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process
You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme at Disability Confident Scheme - Co-op Colleagues and more about our commitments to diversity and inclusion at Diversity and Inclusion