Area Operations Manager

Job Description

Step into a role where your influence shapes every day. As an Area Operations Manager for Newcastle, Cumbria and Dumfries, you’ll elevate shop performance, energise teams, and deliver standout customer experiences. You’ll set the pace on standards, smash commercial targets, and drive digital and sustainability initiatives that push us ahead of the industry. You will cover the Newcastle, Cumbria and Dumfries regions.

What you will be doing:

• Be a visible leader across shops, building trust and driving a good customer‑first culture.
• Inspire, coach and support Team Leaders to deliver high commercial, operational, and compliance performance.
• Ensure outstanding shop standards, addressing performance gaps quickly and constructively.
• Drive KPI delivery across revenue, customer experience, compliance, digital adoption, and sustainability.
• Turn strategy into clear goals, using data insights to coach teams and improve results.
• Partner with HR and Compliance, strengthen talent pipelines, and ensure all shops meet regulatory standards.

Who we are looking for:

• Area/regional operational leadership experience across a 10+ site retail footprint (average shops per area ≈ 17).
• Good commercial and operational performance, consistently delivering KPIs and driving shop‑level results.
• Deep compliance knowledge in Licensing, AML and Safer Gambling, ensuring robust operational standards.
• Employee relations and people leadership strength, including coaching, performance management and ER case handling.
• A detailed and change‑focused mind, using insights to improve performance and embed consistent operational ways of working across teams.
• Proven track record of implementing operational changes or improvement initiatives.

What we offer:

• Family support: industry‑leading maternity and paternity leave and paid time off for caring responsibilities.
• Perks and discounts at a range of high‑street retailers.
• Financial compensation, pension and bonus schemes.
• Health & wellbeing tools and services, including mental health and financial education support, gym discounts and a cycle‑to‑work scheme.
• Hybrid working: up to 80% of time from home with 20% office time, encouraging face‑to‑face collaboration.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

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