Store Detective

Mitie Cleaning & Hygiene Services; Bournemouth, Poole; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 41,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company pension

Training & development

Career progression

Major national client

Flexible locations

Job summary

Mitie Cleaning & Hygiene Services is recruiting a Store Detective to join our retail security team across Bournemouth, Poole and surrounding areas. Working in plain clothes, you will help identify, prevent and investigate retail crime, gathering evidence and producing detailed reports to support stores and prosecutions.

You will need a valid SIA licence, a full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle, with willingness to travel.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.
• Strong observational and decision-making skills.
• Ability to produce clear, concise evidential reports.
• Willingness to travel across Bournemouth and surrounding areas.

Responsibilities

• Undertake undercover store detective duties professionally and discreetly.
• Identify, monitor and investigate suspected offenders.
• Prevent theft, fraud and other retail crimes.
• Gather evidence and intelligence for investigations and prosecutions.
• Submit accurate incident reports using company platforms.
• Coordinate with management, security officers and external agencies.

Skills

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Observation skills

Report writing

Tools

Mobile apps

IT skills

Job description

Store Detective Exe Region Lidl

Better places, thriving communities.

Store Detective Exe Region Lidl

Location: Bournemouth, Poole and surrounding areas

Hours: 45

Pay: £15.50

About The Role

We are seeking a highly motivated and professional Store Detective to join our retail security team, supporting a major retail client across Bournemouth Poole and surrounding areas.

Working in plain clothes, you will play a key role in identifying, preventing, and investigating retail crime. You will be responsible for detecting theft, gathering intelligence, producing high-quality evidence, and supporting stores in reducing stock loss and criminal activity.

This is a dynamic and intelligence-led role that requires excellent observational skills, strong report-writing abilities, and the confidence to work independently while maintaining close communication with operational management, store teams, uniformed officers, and police partners.

This position is primarily focused on loss prevention, offender detection, and intelligence gathering. Successful applicants must be comfortable working independently in plain clothes for extended periods, maintaining concentration, identifying suspicious behaviour, and producing detailed evidential reports.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct undercover store detective duties in a professional and discreet manner.
• Identify, monitor, and investigate suspected offenders.
• Detect and prevent theft, fraud, and other forms of retail crime.
• Gather evidence and intelligence to support criminal investigations and prosecutions.
• Complete accurate and detailed incident reports using company reporting platforms.
• Submit intelligence relating to repeat offenders and organised retail crime groups.
• Liaise with store management, uniformed security officers, and external agencies when required.
• Support loss prevention strategies and store shrinkage reduction initiatives.
• Maintain a visible deterrent when operationally required.
• Ensure all actions are carried out in line with company policies, legal requirements, and client expectations.

Essential Requirements

• Valid SIA Door Supervisor or Security Guarding Licence.
• Full UK Driving Licence.
• Access to a reliable vehicle.
• Ability and willingness to travel throughout Bournemouth and surrounding areas.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong observational and decision-making abilities.
• Competent IT skills and confidence using mobile applications.
• Ability to produce clear, concise, and evidential-quality reports.
• Professional appearance and conduct at all times.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.

Desirable Experience

• Previous Store Detective experience.
• Retail Security or Loss Prevention experience.
• Knowledge of retail crime trends and offender behaviour.
• Experience dealing with organised retail crime and prolific offenders.
• Experience using intelligence or incident reporting systems.Experience conducting covert observations and surveillance.

What We Offer

• Competitive hourly pay.
• Guaranteed 45-hour contract.
• Company pension scheme.
• Ongoing training and professional development.
• Opportunities for career progression within a growing operation.
• Supportive and experienced management team.
• Opportunity to work with a major national retail client.
• Involvement in intelligence-led retail crime reduction initiatives.
• Varied working locations and operational responsibilities.

Our market-leading flexible benefits scheme provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible benefits platform, Choices. This gives you the chance to customise your benefits to best suit your lifestyle. You can choose from dental insurance, dining cards, coffee clubs, buying technology products at an affordable cost and much more!

We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme.

Life cover is the greater of your equivalent annual salary or a minimum of £10,000 - giving peace of mind for your dependants. We also offer a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,000!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing at .

Since 1987, Mitie’s 84,000 employees have been maintaining companies globally. We are the UK’s leading facilities management and professional services company, and our clients range from household names in banking, critical government sites as well as hospitals and schools.

Join our Mitie Team.

Together our diversity makes us stronger.

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