Position: Retail Relief Manager
Reporting to: Area Manager
Salary: £28,300 full-time equivalent
Hours: Part-time or full-time, 30 hours/4 days to 37.5 hours/5 days per week to be worked within Monday-Saturday. Some flexible working will be required
Location: Hybrid - working from home and shop locations
Willow’s charity shops deliver sustainable income for the charity, supporting the delivery of more than 1,000 special days, treats or breaks for our beneficiaries each year. Our shops also play a key role in the local community, raising awareness and support for Willow, as well as providing opportunities for volunteers.
Job purpose
- The Relief Manager provides operational cover across Willow’s retail shops, ensuring smooth daily running, strong sales, effective volunteer management, and high shop standards. The role supports the Area Manager, drives income through donations and Gift Aid, and maintains excellent customer and donor relationships—all while promoting Willow’s mission. This is a mobile role requiring flexibility, organisation, and confident leadership.
Key responsibilities
- To provide cover in Willow retail shops, managing Assistant Manager(s) and Volunteers, including the recruitment and retention of a motivated team of volunteers.
- To ensure income and profit maximisation through maximising donations, preparation of items for sale, sales and disposals of un-saleable items to trade merchants.
- Achieve sales and profit targets in order that we are able to increase the number of Special Days for seriously ill young adults
- To achieve the optimum price for all donated stock.
- To maximise sign-ups for Retail Gift Aid and ensuring full records are maintained for donations under this scheme.
- To control shop expenditure in line with budget, applying Willow policies for purchasing at all times.
- To manage customer and donor engagement ensuring the best possible relationship with Willow.
- To manage the physical appearance of the shop maintaining high standards of shop merchandising and visual layout, controlling stock density and rotation systems, ensuring that it is inviting to customers and safe for customers, staff and volunteers at all times.
- To contribute to the development of retail through innovation, ideas and creativity, feeding back all team ideas to the Area Manager and Head of Retail.
- To demonstrate understanding of Willow’s purpose and activities striving to improve brand awareness and communicate key messages in order to raise the charity’s profile.
- To complete all shop administration including cash handling and banking functions accurately and to deadline, ensuring company policies and procedures are adhered to.
- To plan and organise daily workload for team, encouraging effective communication, setting objectives and fostering a positive team spirit.
- To ensure that trading standard regulations are adhered to at all times.
Generic responsibilities:
- To ensure all duties are carried out in a manner which promotes Willow’s equality and diversity policies
- To promote a health and safety culture within the workplace, observing all health and safety rules and procedures and attend all training courses as required
- To ensure that essential information of a sensitive or personal nature is not disclosed to, or discussed with inappropriate persons and that all information is maintained in accordance with the Data Protection Act
- To undertake other duties, commensurate with the post, as required
Travel requirements:
- To cover shops in the Willow network on a regular basis; to attend meetings at Head Office; to attend Shop Managers meetings; training sessions as required.
- Willow’s shops are located in: Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Hitchin, Letchworth Garden City and Biggleswade.
Unsocial hours requirement
- To work on Saturdays (and by prior agreement Sundays) on occasion.
This job description serves to illustrate the type and scope of the duties currently required for the above post and to provide an indication of the required level of responsibility. It is not a comprehensive or exclusive list and duties may be varied from time to time, they will not however change the general character of the job or the level of responsibility entailed.
Person Specification
Knowledge and Qualifications
- Good understanding of retail operations
- Good understanding of stock management
- Understanding trends and best practice in charity retail
- Good understanding of retail gift aid and related processes
- Good understanding of health and safety and trading standards
- GCSE Maths and English or equivalent literacy and numeracy skills
Key Skills
- Accurate, conscientious, and self-motivated
- Ability to work on own and use initiative and make decisions
- Ability to plan, prioritise, and organise
- Good communication skills at all levels
- Creative e.g. visual merchandising, marketing
- Ability to motivate, engage and develop teams to deliver results
Experience
- Proven retail experience in charity sector
Personal Attributes
- Self-starter – high energy levels
- Positive and enthusiastic
- Resourceful, problem solver
- Strong professionally – credible with integrity
- Good listener – will challenge constructively and respond well to feedback
- An affinity with Willow’s objectives and activities
Other
- Mobility – the job entails frequent travel
- Some Saturday and Sunday working is required (with notice)
How to apply
Please send a CV and covering letter to [email protected]
Please note due to the critical timing of this role, we will be interviewing applicants as they apply, so please don’t delay in submitting your CV and covering letter.