Director of South

Location
South Division, Travel UK

Contract Type
Permanent

Brand
Travel UK

Salary
Competitive

At WHSmith, our people are at the heart of everything we do. They are the ones who go the extra mile for our customers and enable our growth. We are looking for a Director of South to provide strategic leadership across all WHSmith Travel stores within the South Division of Travel UK.

You will lead and inspire the field leadership team to deliver strong sales performance through their people, while creating and sustaining an inclusive culture that makes WHSmith a great place to work.

A key part of the role is building strong, authentic and influential relationships with landlords and other external partners, ensuring WHSmith is the travel retailer they choose to work with.

What you will be doing:

• Develop and execute strategies through the Field Leadership team to achieve sales, profit and growth targets.
• Identify opportunities for expansion and market penetration, collaborating with key Support Centre teams to deliver them.
• Analyse and share market trends and competitor activity to keep the division ahead of potential competition.
• Attract, retain and develop a people-focused, high-performing Field Leadership team, with clear goals, effective performance reviews and meaningful development plans.
• Foster and role-model a positive, inclusive culture, lead key employee engagement activities, and consistently demonstrate the WHSmith Values and Leadership Behaviours.
• Take full accountability for divisional budgets, cost control, profitability and delivery against key performance indicators.
• Implement strategies that maximise profit and minimise losses without compromising operational excellence or customer satisfaction.
• Ensure all stores operate efficiently and comply with WHSmith policies and processes.
• Oversee inventory management, supply chain and stock replenishment, working collaboratively with the Central Operations Director and other internal and external stakeholders.
• Drive operational excellence in merchandising and visual presentation.
• Ensure consistently high standards of customer service and brand presentation across every store.
• Implement customer satisfaction programmes, resolve escalated issues and collaborate to improve brand standards.
• Ensure full compliance with WHSmith policies, legal requirements and health and safety regulations.
• Deliver effective shrinkage, theft-prevention and colleague welfare initiatives, ensuring health and safety procedures protect colleagues and customers.
• Develop and maintain excellent, influential relationships with external stakeholders to create opportunities and establish WHSmith as the primary partner in each location.
• Build strong relationships with LHR and GSL so WHSmith remains the preferred travel retail partner.
• Resolve and escalate stakeholder concerns efficiently, collaborating with Support Centre functions to deliver solutions and improvements.
• Act as the bridge between the Service Centre and stores, representing the voice of colleagues and customers.
• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and provide regular reports and updates to the Executive Leadership Team.