Retail Area Manager - London Stores

Derek Rose; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Derek Rose is seeking a Retail Area Manager to lead our Marylebone, Knightsbridge and Notting Hill stores from our Baker Street head office, with regular travel to the shops.

You will drive standards, team development, clienteling and commercial performance, ensuring compliance and a premium customer experience across all sites.

This challenging role requires 5+ years in multi-store luxury retail and a hands-on leader who can balance operations with brand presentation.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience as an Area Manager, Operations Manager, or multi-store manager in luxury or premium retail
• Strong working knowledge of retail health and safety
• Hands-on experience of loss prevention, stock control and store compliance
• Confident writing and rolling out policies and procedures that store teams follow
• Happy to be hands-on in store and to work alongside the team, not just oversee them
• Experience coaching and developing managers, and supporting employee relations matters with HR
• Commercially aware and comfortable with data, including retail analytics and POS reporting
• Project management experience, ideally including store refits or systems rollouts
• Experience managing contractors and suppliers against a brief and budget
• Understanding of omnichannel retail and clienteling
• Highly organised, with a strong eye for detail and the confidence to hold high standards with warmth
• Curiosity about new tools and ways of working, including AI

Responsibilities

• Set, audit and continuously improve operational standards across all three stores, covering opening and closing, till and cash procedures, stock accuracy and shrinkage.
• Make sure stores meet legal and regulatory requirements, and keep up to date with changes that affect retail.
• Own business dress and presentation standards for the retail teams.
• Own communications from head office to the stores, so that teams know what's happening, why, and what they need to do.
• Lead the rollout and adoption of new retail systems and processes, making sure they stick.
• Manage store maintenance, facilities, contractors and suppliers, and act as the escalation point when things go wrong.
• Own health and safety across all three stores, including risk assessments, fire safety, first aid, accident reporting and regular audits.
• Lead loss prevention, covering shrinkage, security, cash handling and stock controls.
• Run regular stock checks and counts, working with Merchandising and the Congleton warehouse to improve stock accuracy.
• Investigate losses and discrepancies, and put practical fixes in place.
• Line manage and support the Retail Training & Development Manager, agreeing training priorities based on store performance, audits and client feedback.
• Work closely with the Assistant Store Managers and store teams, coaching them on standards, operations and compliance.
• Support retail recruitment and onboarding in partnership with HR.
• Manage employee relations matters with HR, and help managers address issues early and fairly.
• Build a culture of recognition, accountability and genuine care for our clients.
• Track and report store performance against sales, conversion, average transaction value and labour cost targets, and turn the numbers into practical actions for store teams.
• Support the Head of DTC with the retail budget, tracking spend, flagging variances early and giving feedback from the shop floor.
• Help embed clienteling as a daily habit, making full use of our CRM tools.
• Report regularly to the Head of DTC on performance, risks and opportunities.
• Lead store projects from brief to completion, including refits, refreshes and new systems or services.
• Manage project timelines, contractors and stakeholders, keeping disruption to trading to a minimum, and apply the lessons from each project to the next.
• Work with the Visual Merchandising Lead to agree the VM calendar around launches, campaigns and seasonal drops, within the agreed VM budget.
• Agree the scope, timings and deliverables of VM work, sign off window and in-store schemes, and make sure presentation standards are kept up between VM visits.
• Represent retail in business-wide projects, bringing the store and client perspective to decisions.
• Work closely with HR, Finance, Merchandising and Marketing so that new initiatives land smoothly in store.

Job description

Job Title: Retail Area Manager
Role Type: Full Time
Reports to: Head of Direct to Consumer
Location: Head office (Baker Street), with regular visits to our London stores
Salary: Competitive

About the Role

Our stores are where Derek Rose really comes to life. It's where clients feel the quality of our fabrics for themselves, meet a team who know them by name, and leave feeling properly looked after. We're looking for a Retail Area Manager to help make that happen every day across our Marylebone, Knightsbridge and Notting Hill stores.

Operations & standards

· Set, audit and continuously improve operational standards across all three stores, covering opening and closing, till and cash procedures, stock accuracy and shrinkage.

· Make sure stores meet legal and regulatory requirements, and keep up to date with changes that affect retail.

· Own business dress and presentation standards for the retail teams.

· Own communications from head office to the stores, so that teams know what's happening, why, and what they need to do.

· Lead the rollout and adoption of new retail systems and processes, making sure they stick.

· Manage store maintenance, facilities, contractors and suppliers, and act as the escalation point when things go wrong.

Health, safety & loss prevention

· Own health and safety across all three stores, including risk assessments, fire safety, first aid, accident reporting and regular audits.

· Lead loss prevention, covering shrinkage, security, cash handling and stock controls.

· Run regular stock checks and counts, working with Merchandising and the Congleton warehouse to improve stock accuracy.

· Investigate losses and discrepancies, and put practical fixes in place.

People leadership & team development

· Line manage and support the Retail Training & Development Manager, agreeing training priorities based on store performance, audits and client feedback.

· Work closely with the Assistant Store Managers and store teams, coaching them on standards, operations and compliance.

· Support retail recruitment and onboarding in partnership with HR.

· Manage employee relations matters with HR, and help managers address issues early and fairly.

· Build a culture of recognition, accountability and genuine care for our clients.

Commercial performance & clienteling

· Track and report store performance against sales, conversion, average transaction value and labour cost targets, and turn the numbers into practical actions for store teams.

· Support the Head of DTC with the retail budget, tracking spend, flagging variances early and giving feedback from the shop floor.

· Help embed clienteling as a daily habit, making full use of our CRM tools.

· Report regularly to the Head of DTC on performance, risks and opportunities.

Retail projects, VM & brand presentation

· Lead store projects from brief to completion, including refits, refreshes and new systems or services.

· Manage project timelines, contractors and stakeholders, keeping disruption to trading to a minimum, and apply the lessons from each project to the next.

· Work with the Visual Merchandising Lead to agree the VM calendar around launches, campaigns and seasonal drops, within the agreed VM budget.

· Agree the scope, timings and deliverables of VM work, sign off window and in-store schemes, and make sure presentation standards are kept up between VM visits.

Cross-functional leadership

· Represent retail in business-wide projects, bringing the store and client perspective to decisions.

· Work closely with HR, Finance, Merchandising and Marketing so that new initiatives land smoothly in store.

What success looks like in the first 12 months

· All stores fully compliant on health and safety, with risk assessments and audits up to date

· Reduced shrinkage and improved stock accuracy across all three stores

· Clear, current retail policies and an operations manual that teams actually use

· Clear, reliable communication between head office and the stores

· Store projects delivered on time and within budget

· Strong working relationships with the store teams, and a growing role in leading and developing them

Skills & experience

· 5+ years experience as an Area Manager, Operations Manager, or multi-store manager in luxury or premium retail, with a genuine passion for, and track record in, operations

· Strong working knowledge of retail health and safety

· Hands-on experience of loss prevention, stock control and store compliance

· Confident writing and rolling out policies and procedures that store teams follow

· Happy to be hands-on in store and to work alongside the team, not just oversee them

· Experience coaching and developing managers, and supporting employee relations matters with HR

· Commercially aware and comfortable with data, including retail analytics and POS reporting

· Project management experience, ideally including store refits or systems rollouts

· Experience managing contractors and suppliers against a brief and budget

· Understanding of omnichannel retail and clienteling

· Highly organised, with a strong eye for detail and the confidence to hold high standards with warmth

· Curiosity about new tools and ways of working, including AI