Operational Communications Specialist

Operational Communications Specialist 
Up to £45,000 plus great benefits (Work Level 6A) 
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 (find out more about our hybrid working policy at https://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy).  

We’re looking for an Operational Communications Specialist 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 new ways of working. Getting the right messages to the right people and making sure our customers feel understood.

In this role you’ll lead the approach for how we communicate operational updates across our diverse set of Wholesale customers. You’ll lead on clear, timely communications that keep our Wholesale business running smoothly. Turing complex updates from internal teams into content and communications that makes sense for everyone. 

What you’ll do

•    Own end-to-end planning and delivery of operational communications across trading, supply chain, compliance and service changes 
•    Get information from internal teams and translate that into communications for the customer, making sure we prioritise urgent comms 
•    Tailor messaging for segmented audiences across different fascia and customer types
•    Align operational messaging with strategic campaigns and leadership narratives 
•    Maintain a communications framework and calendar to manage message flow and avoid overload 
•    Monitor performance metrics and continuously improve communication effectiveness 
•    Line manage and mentor the Operational Comms Co-ordinator 
•    Keep up to date of any legislation changes and what that means for internal teams 

This role would suit people who have

•    Strong background in communications and or/operations with experience working in a partner-based organisation 
•    Excellent writing and editing skills, with the ability to work on tone and clarity of communications  
•    An understanding of audience segmentation and message targeting 
•    The ability to be collaborate with partners especially senior leaders and cross functional teams 
•    Experience using CMS / CRM systems to manage customer data 

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
•    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.