Chief of Staff – Finance
£75,000 to £83,000 pro-rata plus great benefits (Work Level 4)
12 to 18-month fixed-term contract
Manchester City Centre (Hybrid)

We’re looking for a Chief of Staff to support our Chief Finance Officer (CFO) in leading our Finance, Procurement, Property and Sustainability function at Co-op, delivering on our vision and strategy, and working towards our ambitious goals. We’ll look to you to help establish clear priorities, plans, and an effective communications strategy across our Finance, Procurement, Property, and Sustainability teams. If you have the skills and experience we’re looking for, this is a great opportunity for you to help our CFO make a positive impact across our Co-op; helping us to achieve our vision of ‘co-operating to build more value for our member-owners every day’.

As the Chief of Staff for our CFO at Co-op, you’ll attend senior meetings, drive key projects and initiatives, help to prioritise activities to ensure we make a clear, tangible difference for our Co-op, and support the production of clear and insightful board reports. It’ll be up to you to keep our teams focused, continuously improve ways of working, and feel more connected overall to our strategic objectives and vision. In this role you’ll work in a hybrid way – splitting your time between home and the office (you can find out more about our hybrid working policy at https://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy).

What you’ll do

• Work closely with our CFO and Finance, Procurement, Property and Sustainability Leadership Team (FLT) to deliver on our strategic objectives and implement effective ways of working
• Act as an advisor and strategic partner to the CFO and FLT
• Assist in the development, tracking and driving momentum of strategy for the function 
• Lead and support a variety of cross-functional projects to help deliver on our function’s strategy 
• Organise, plan, and facilitate sessions with colleagues to help maintain engagement and positive relationships
• Be accountable for the tone of voice for all our CFO communications, making sure these are clear, engaging, and accessible for audiences – both external and internal
• Build and utilise a network across Co-op to respond to our operations board and/or board requests, and deliver activity on behalf of our CFO
• Collaborate with our Group CEO’s Chief of Staff on all governance and reporting requirements

This role would suit people who have

• Significant experience working within a Finance environment
• An in-depth understanding of the technical and strategic market considerations that are relevant to the work of the CFO
• The ability to work both independently and in collaboration with others to deliver strategic objectives
• Good organisation skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively and adapt to change
• Good communication skills, with the ability to clearly translate technical language for non-technical audiences
• Good relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence and challenge people, at all levels of seniority, inclusively

We know that some people are less likely to apply for a role if they don’t meet all the criteria in the job description. At Co-op, we're committed to building a diverse and inclusive working environment, so if you'd like to apply for this role but your experience doesn't quite meet every point, we'd still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for the job or other roles we have available.

Why Co-op?

If you’ve got the skills and experience we’re looking for, we can offer you a competitive salary and great benefits package which includes 30% off Co-op branded products in our food stores (as well as other discounts on Co-op products and services). You’ll also get:

• 28 days holiday pro-rata (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
• Coaching and training to support your career development
• Wagestream – a money management app that gives you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it
• Grocery Aid – 24/7 access to a range of emotional, financial, and practical support services for you and your family

Building an inclusive work environment

At Co-op, we’re proud to do things a different way. As one of the world’s largest co-operatives, owned by millions of members, community is at the heart of what we do. Since our Co-op was founded in 1844, we’ve had a clear social purpose, and everything we do as a business helps to build more value for our member-owners every day.

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs.

We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process.  

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme at Disability Confident Scheme - Co-op Colleagues and more about our commitments to diversity and inclusion here.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes between 45-60 minutes.