Vacancy Introduction

Are you looking to take your next step in management?

​Are you an effective operator with the ability to lead and motivate others?

Do you like the idea of being placed at the heart of the community, working for the East of England's largest independent retailer?

Food retail is a dynamic and ever-changing environment. Whilst you’ll have the support and guidance of your Branch Manager, you’ll be confident in leading situations and making decisions which positively impact the performance of your branch.

You know what ‘good looks like’ – and you want to achieve better. You’ll drive store standards, profitability, compliance and colleague engagement. Serving our customers and members is at the heart of what we do; working in a larger store means you’ll be key to your community and you’ll have the opportunity to support local causes and events.

We only place Assistant Managers in our Supermarkets recognising the scale and opportunities of these branches. We don’t just mean turnover; our fantastic colleagues won’t be able to help us to achieve this without your inspiring leadership.  You might be keen to progress further in management, but you’ll be as keen to support your team members with their performance and aspirations too.

Role Responsibility

• Leading your team and getting involved with all aspects of people management and development
• Support your Branch Manager in driving exceptional standards, customer service and the store’s financial performance
• Make sure that your branch is operating safe and legally
• Establish the branch as the convenience retailer trusted most by its local community
• Build relationships with other stores and colleagues and the local community
• Promoting membership

We’re pleased to offer a home delivery service in a number of our stores which is operated by our in-house teams. If there is any requirement to drive in support of this service, this will be discussed with you as part of the recruitment process.

The Ideal Candidate

You don't necessarily need to have managed a store before - we will provide you with the training and skills you need to succeed - but you will have demonstrated team leadership in previous role(s).

• Experience of working in a food retail or customer service environment
• Great interpersonal skills, able to effectively communicate with stakeholders at all levels
• Commercially aware
• Flexible, hard-working and confident
• Driven, determined and resilient
• Good understanding / level of numeracy, literacy and IT
• Self-aware, with commitment to continued professional and personal development

Package Description

Alongside a competitive salary, we also offer enhanced employer pension contribution and holiday entitlement, as well as our colleague discount scheme (including 20% off in our Foodstores) – these are just a few benefits of working for us! Full details can be viewed on the ‘Colleague benefits’ section of our website.

You will also benefit from our award-winning ‘Know-How’ training programme, helping you to achieve your true potential as an Assistant Manager. Should you have your sights on career progression in the future, we’ve supported lots of our colleagues through Apprenticeships and to develop into managerial and professional roles.

Working Hours

We’re here to serve our communities when they need us, so our colleagues are required to cover a number of different shifts across our trading hours, which include early mornings, evenings and weekends. We promote flexible working arrangements and are happy to discuss different ways of working (please indicate your availability within your application).

About the Company

As a co-op we’re a different type of business. We’re owned by our members and we work for the benefit of people and our communities, not just for profit.  We’re driven by our democratic values which are based around being fair, doing the right thing and caring for all those we deal with. This includes our customers, our suppliers, our environment and each other. 

We expect colleagues who work with us to share these values. We’re still a business and we work in a very competitive area so it’s still important that we’re efficient and work to the highest professional standards.

We’ve been able to achieve success for over 150 years because of our people and we encourage applications from individuals from all backgrounds; you reflect the communities we serve! If you would like to join us on the next part of our journey, please follow the instructions on how to apply.

Please note that our working patterns are non-contractual. The advertised working pattern represents the normal working pattern for the role at time of advertisement and is subject to change.

East of England Co-op