Job description

Overview of the Role

The Senior Store Manager – Food is responsible for leading the overall commercial, operational, and people performance of a high-volume Marks & Spencer Food store. The role provides strategic leadership to ensure the delivery of exceptional customer experiences while driving sustainable sales growth, profitability, operational excellence, and compliance with M&S Food standards.

Leading a large, cross-functional team, the Senior Store Manager is accountable for delivering best-in-class retail operations across all Food departments, fostering a high-performance culture, and ensuring the highest standards of food safety, product availability, and customer service. Working closely with Regional Operations, Supply Chain, Planning, and Commercial teams, the role plays a key part in delivering business objectives and supporting future growth.

Success in this role is measured through commercial performance, operational excellence, customer satisfaction, team engagement, food safety compliance, and overall business profitability.

What You Will Do

Drive Commercial Performance & Business Growth

• Develop and execute the store's commercial strategy to achieve sales, profitability, and operational targets.
• Analyse trading performance and implement action plans to maximise revenue, customer conversion, and profitability.
• Drive commercial initiatives, promotional activities, and seasonal campaigns to improve business performance.
• Monitor key business KPIs, including sales, gross margin, inventory, waste, shrinkage, labour productivity, and customer satisfaction.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and implement best practices to optimise store performance.
• Ensure effective inventory investment while maintaining high product availability and reducing waste.

Lead & Inspire High-Performing Teams

• Provide inspirational leadership to department managers and store colleagues, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and customer excellence.
• Develop leadership capability through coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and performance management.
• Recruit, develop, and retain top talent to build a high-performing leadership team.
• Drive colleague engagement initiatives that promote inclusion, wellbeing, and continuous learning.
• Ensure effective workforce planning to support operational and commercial priorities.

Deliver Exceptional Customer Experience

• Champion a customer-first culture that consistently delivers the premium M&S shopping experience.
• Ensure customer service standards exceed expectations across every department.
• Actively review customer feedback and implement service improvement initiatives.
• Lead the resolution of escalated customer concerns professionally and effectively.
• Drive customer loyalty through service excellence and operational consistency.

Operational Excellence

• Provide strategic oversight of all daily store operations, ensuring efficient execution across all Food departments.
• Ensure operational standards, policies, and procedures are consistently implemented.
• Drive productivity improvements across replenishment, inventory management, merchandising, and store operations.
• Ensure the store is fully prepared for trading through effective operational planning.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance operational efficiency.

Food Safety, Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure full compliance with M&S Food Safety standards, HACCP requirements, Municipality regulations, and Health & Safety legislation.
• Maintain the highest standards of food quality, freshness, hygiene, and operational compliance.
• Lead food safety audits and implement corrective actions where required.
• Promote a proactive safety culture across the store.
• Ensure all operational risks are effectively managed.

Inventory & Supply Chain Management

• Drive inventory optimisation to maximise availability while controlling waste and shrinkage.
• Collaborate with Planning and Supply Chain teams to improve forecasting and stock flow.
• Ensure replenishment processes deliver exceptional on-shelf availability.
• Monitor inventory accuracy, stock loss, and waste performance.
• Support business initiatives that improve supply chain efficiency.

Visual Merchandising & Brand Standards

• Ensure the store consistently delivers world-class visual merchandising standards.
• Maintain exceptional store presentation aligned with M&S brand guidelines.
• Support seasonal campaigns, promotional launches, and commercial initiatives.
• Conduct regular commercial reviews to identify opportunities for improvement.

Financial & Business Management

• Own the store's P&L and deliver financial targets through effective cost control and commercial decision-making.
• Manage labour budgets, operational expenditure, and controllable costs.
• Analyse financial reports and implement actions to improve profitability.
• Present business performance, risks, and opportunities to senior leadership.
• Drive strategic initiatives that contribute to long-term business growth.

Skills

Required Skills to be Successful

• Strong commercial and financial acumen.
• Strategic leadership and people development skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing ability.
• Expertise in food retail operations and customer experience.
• Strong understanding of inventory management, replenishment, and supply chain principles.
• Ability to interpret commercial data and make informed business decisions.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to lead large teams in a fast-paced retail environment.
• Strong planning, organisational, and problem-solving skills.
• Continuous improvement mindset with a focus on operational excellence.

What Qualifies You for the Role

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Management, Retail Management, Hospitality, Supply Chain, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in Food Retail, Supermarket, Hypermarket, or Grocery Retail.
• 5+ years of experience leading large-format or flagship retail stores.
• Proven track record of delivering sustainable sales growth, profitability, and operational excellence.
• Experience managing large, cross-functional retail teams.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, HACCP, Municipality regulations, and retail compliance.
• Experience managing P&L, labour budgets, inventory, and commercial performance.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and talent development experience.
• Proficiency in retail management systems, SAP, Microsoft Office, and business reporting tools.

Key Competencies

Commercial Leadership

• Commercial Acumen
• Business Strategy
• Financial Management
• P&L Ownership

Leadership & People

• Inspirational Leadership
• Coaching & Talent Development
• Succession Planning
• Stakeholder Management

Operational Excellence

• Food Retail Operations
• Inventory Optimisation
• Food Safety & Compliance
• Supply Chain Collaboration
• Continuous Improvement

Customer Excellence

• Customer Experience
• Service Excellence
• Brand Standards

Personal Effectiveness

• Strategic Thinking
• Decision Making
• Problem Solving
• Communication & Influencing
• Planning & Organising
• Accountability