COO - Beauty/Retail

Rapidly growing beauty and retail business with operations in the UK and US and very ambitious future plans are looking for COO to help guide and play a vital role in the companies success. This role will be critical in delivering this growth plan and elevating the client experience to a level currently not seen in this space.

This new position comes at a pivotal point for our business, and will play a leading role with the CEO to set, drive, and achieve the vision and ambitions of the Group. The COO will focus on translating strategy into actionable goals for performance and growth, overseeing and communicating operational planning to ensure optimum employee productivity and alignment to the goals and direction of the Group. At the heart of this will be ensuring we realize our vision of delivering an exceptional client experience.

The COO will have responsibility for the operations of all sites and Head Office support including marketing, people, procurement, sales, IT, and facilities.

A key member of the Senior Leadership Team, they will continually apply sound judgement, communicate clearly the vision, and be a role-model leader, building a highly inclusive culture where employees thrive and organisational outcomes are met.

The main responsibilities of the COO include:

Operational Excellence:

• Develop actionable operational plans that align with the short-term and long-term goals of the Group
• Evaluate current operational policy, identify areas of process enhancement, and formulate an appropriate action plan for success
• Measure the efficiency and effectiveness of operational processes, set appropriate benchmarks and standards to drive performance, manage cost, and establish corrective measures as needed. Prepare detailed reports to monitor and track performance
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with key stakeholders, including board members, clients, all colleagues, CQC etc
• Manage all quality assurance and complaints on behalf of the Group
• Ensure business continuity plans are tested and effective in an emergency situation.

Business Growth:

• Develop and present growth strategies to the Board of Directors, and implement suitable strategies as agreed
• Manage said capital investment and expenses to ensure investor targets are met relative to growth and profitability
• Direct acquisitions and sales of assets to meet organisation goals

Leadership:

• Ensure that the experience mindset is cascaded throughout the organization
• Directly oversee operations, marketing, people, procurement, sales, IT, and facilities
• With the People Lead, establish workforce resource plans to ensure operations remain effective to meet growth targets without compromising the quality of the service offered. Attract and retain a skilled and talented workforce through exceptional recruitment processes, development plans, internal opportunities, and competitive reward packages
• Build an effective communication channel between colleagues for the benefit of information flow and to curb any problems that arise
• Act as a role-model leader to all senior and operational employees, mentoring and/or coaching to build a high performing team to continually excel and meet the goals of the Group

Our ideal COO will have:

• A solid understanding of consumer journeys, and market drivers in the discretionary spending and/ or wellness category
• An exceptional reputation for their role as an executive leader in a premium professional, retail or hospitality field with experience of successfully working at board level or in a role of equivalent scale
• A demonstrable track record of leading complex, multi-faceted change and modernisation programmes aimed at raising organisational performance
• A string of successes in delivering targets, encouraging high performance, and driving standards whilst ensuring maximum efficiency and return on investment
• Experience of supporting the business to attract capital investors
• Experience of working in a regulated environment and knowledge of legislation required to run a large and complex organisation
• Graduate level qualification, or equivalent. We also take experience over qualifications very seriously.

Handle actively welcomes applicants from under-represented backgrounds - we pride ourselves on attracting the best talent for every opportunity through a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.