Events Lead 
Up to £60,000 plus great benefits (Work Level 5) 
This is a hybrid role, with 2 to 3 office days each week. You'll be required to work from our Scunthorpe office one day a week, and for the remaining office days you can choose to work from either our Manchester or Scunthorpe office. You’ll also support National events where needed (find out more about our hybrid working policy at https://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy ).  

We’re looking for an Events Lead to join Co-op Wholesale as part of the Customer Experience team. Since 1977, we’ve championed independent retailers to thrive with Nisa – and now, we’re entering a bold new chapter as Co-op Wholesale. It’s the same spirit, with bigger ambition: bringing the power of Co-op to more local businesses than ever. And with that, exciting opportunities are on the rise, like this one.

We’ve set up a brand-new Customer Experience team to make a real difference for our varied wholesale customer base, including independent retailers, corporate partners and national accounts. This team is all about bringing focus, speed, and creating a true partnership model. Providing the right experience to the right people and making sure our customers feel understood.

As we are building and diversifying our customer base, we want to put on best-in-class events for our customers and prospects and show up differently to the industry. That’s where you come in. We’ll look to you to lead the planning and delivery of all Co-op Wholesale events, making sure they are impactful, well-organised and on-brand experiences.

What you’ll do

•    Develop the events strategy aligned with wider business, commercial and marketing goals 
•    Own the annual events plan and development of a 3-year event strategy 
•    Make sure the senior leadership team are aligned, engaged and briefed ahead of events 
•    Plan each event, identifying a key purpose and messaging 
•    Oversee all event operations and ensure best practice across objective setting, logistics, supplier management, budgeting and risk management 
•    Lead a small events team and coordinate cross-functional input from internal teams 
•    Evaluate event success and gather insights to continuously improve future activity

This role would suit people who have

•    Experience in managing B2B events and exhibitions 
•    Strong project management skills
•    Excellent partner management skills, including external agencies and senior leadership 
•    The ability to work under pressure with the ability to manage multiple events at one time 
•    Strong person management skills with experience of leading a team

Why Co-op?

If you have the skills that we need, 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).

•    An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
•    28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays 
•    A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
•    Private healthcare 
•    Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
•    Coaching and training to support your career development
•    Wagestream app – giving you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn

Building a diverse environment

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 at Diversity and Inclusion

Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes up to 50 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.