Planning and Operations Lead (Parental Cover)
£75,000 to £85,000 plus excellent benefits, including up to 10% employer pension contributions, private healthcare, and a company car or car allowance (Work Level 4)
12-month FTC
Manchester city centre (hybrid working)

We’re open to applications from candidates who want flexible or part time working arrangements. There’ll be an opportunity to discuss your flexible working requirements during the interview process, and at offer stage.

We’re looking for a Planning and Operations Lead to join our Strategy, Performance, and Governance (SPG) team on a 12-month fixed-term contract in Manchester; as part of our wider Digital Technology & Data (DT&D) area. We’ll look to you to lead the design, co-ordination, and delivery of our people and operations strategy across DT&D – bringing this to life for our colleagues. In this role you’ll work in a hybrid way – occasionally travelling into the office for team days, meetings, and events etc (find out more about our hybrid working policy at colleagues.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy).

As a Planning and Operations Lead at Co-op, you'll work closely alongside our DT&D senior leaders; communicating any potential risks, challenges, and opportunities identified within our teams. It'll be up to you to make sure our people and process objectives are delivered on time and to budget, and you'll collaborate with both internal and external partners to help achieve this.

What you’ll do

• Lead the design and delivery of our people and operating strategy
• Make sure our colleagues are aware of changes and developments across DT&D
• Communicate any people and/or operational risks, challenges, and opportunities to our senior leaders to help advise decision-making
• Coordinate the creation of training and development plans for our DT&D colleagues
• Build and maintain positive relationships with external partners to help support our people strategy
• Drive cost efficiency across DT&D by helping to continuously improve our processes and operations

This role would suit people who have

• Experience delivering people and operational projects end-to-end and across multiple teams
• A great understanding of Digital Technology & Data and the role strategy, performance and governance play across Co-op
• Excellent co-ordination and organisation skills, with the ability to adapt to change
• Good relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence and challenge people (including those at a senior level) inclusively

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:

• Private healthcare
• A company car or car allowance
• 28 days holiday (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

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 a fairer world for our members, customers, colleagues, and communities.

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 and all our commitments to diversity and inclusion at colleagues.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion-and-wellbeing.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes between 45-60 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.