Team Manager

Waitrose & Partners; Hythe; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Waitrose & Partners in the United Kingdom seeks a Team Manager for one of our shops. You will influence and motivate your team and act as a positive role model delivering outstanding Partner-led customer service that is distinctively Waitrose, passionate Partners serving food lovers.

Your leadership will maximise sales and profit while maintaining availability, merchandising, and compliant store operations, alongside people-management tasks like organising holidays and managing absences.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a team in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment.
• Ability to build high-performing teams and conduct regular performance conversations.
• A passion for retail and understanding competitive factors affecting the Partnership.
• Ability to plan workload and adapt to meet deadlines and stakeholder needs.
• Strong communication and influence across all levels.

Responsibilities

• Maximise sales and profit while minimising wastage through commercial focus.
• Maintain high availability and effective merchandising for store operations.
• Improve customer satisfaction and store service levels.
• Lead and develop the team, organising holidays and managing absences.
• Create a culture of care, belonging, pace and productivity.
• Engage partners to deliver and embed change within the shop.

Skills

Team leadership

Performance conversations

Retail passion

Workload planning

Stakeholder influence

Job description

About The Role

As a Team Manager in one of our Waitrose shops, you'll influence and motivate your team and be a positive role model for delivering outstanding Partner‑led, customer service that is distinctively Waitrose, passionate Partners serving food lovers. Your strong leadership and team working skills will make all the difference to your team and, ultimately, the impression our customers have about the Waitrose brand. Keeping them returning again and again by earning their trust and loyalty for a lifetime, whilst helping to maximise sales and profit.

Key Responsibilities

• Using your commercial skills to maximise sales and profit while minimising wastage.
• Ensuring consistently high levels of availability and merchandising as well as delivering an efficient, legal, and secure store operation.
• Improving and maintaining customer satisfaction.
• Using your people skills to manage your team, from leading and inspiring to people‑related tasks like organising holidays and managing absences.
• Create a supportive culture of care, belonging, pace and productivity.
• Engage and lead partners in delivering and embedding change consistently and effectively within your shop.

Essential Skills/experience You’ll Need

• Experience of leading a team with a proven track record in a fast‑paced, customer‑focused environment.
• Ability to build high‑performing teams, recognise talent, and hold regular, honest performance conversations.
• A passion for retail, understanding competitors and the economic factors impacting the Partnership.
• Ability to assess workload realistically and adapt plans to ensure deadlines are hit and stakeholder relationships are maintained.
• Ability to communicate with clarity and influence stakeholders at all levels.

Desirable Skills/experience You May Have

• Experience with Disciplinary & Grievance processes.
• Hiring Manager/ Recruitment experience.
• Food Hygiene Level 3.
• Personal licence holder.
• Experience in regulatory compliance management.

About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food‑lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre‑employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third‑party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work‑life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.