India Wilkes

Deputy store manager role in the Academy store for North Yorkshire region. Accountable for directly managing 7 team managers and three shift leads performance, responsible for 98 plus colleagues and a Foods department taking approximately £44 million a year and total store taking over £71 million per annum.

To development myself further in my role I have actively been accountable for the store in my store manager's absence ensuring not only store performance is managed but also directly liaising with the store commercial managers to ensure the store commercial, people and engagement plan is robust and is being prioritised at all times.

Within my role I have led and built structure into the store team by implementing weekly resource meetings and bi-weekly people meetings. This has driven the team to deliver 0,1% wage underspend YTD and a total of 17 absence sanctions since January 2026.

As an individual I have also developed a store growth plan to build sales and challenge space within the store to ensure the store is best fit to drive sales and profit in key areas. I have hosted multiple share holders to showcase the different strategies we have implemented in store.

As well as this, I am aware that my role also has a wider impact within the business from trialling new ways of working and sharing consistent feedback around new technology, policies and business strategies. I am also aware of the importance our store holds for being an Academy and since September 2025 I have successfully trained and signed off 14 new learners and have delivered and facilitated multiple training sessions for new or less experienced managers to ensure they are best fit to strive in their role.

Since starting in this store I have coordinated promotional events with the whole store team to ensure the store is ready to strive in all events. Using my commercial mindset I have agreed space changes, selling incentives within the store and cross business unit support to ensure the store is ready to trade.

Whilst also driving commerciality I have engaged all team managers in the store around profit and the importance of stock loss and waste and how each process can affect this. I wholeheartedly believe that driving sales is important but stock management and loss is a bigger driver of profit. I actively attend fashion, home and beauty meetings as well as food meetings to ensure I have a full store understanding of shrink but also to support the individual teams with ideas that can be implemented across the store.

• Deputy store manager role in the Academy store for Leeds region. Accountable for directly managing five team managers performance, responsible for 80 plus colleagues and a Foods department taking approximately £24 million a year and total store taking over £68 million per annum. Also, responsible for being a global leader across the store ensuring colleagues are managed effectively across all business units, driving standards and trading safely as the premises license holder, leading store engagement and actively working as the duty manager in the absence of the store manager. A key stakeholder in the Leeds region as being an Academy manager holds responsibility for regional learning, training, upskilling, talent pipeline development and setting the standard for the region. Passionate about using my role to trail blaze business change and drive more efficient processes in the business. Dedicated and determined to drive a high performing store whilst delivering key KPIs, budget lines And most importantly, store and colleague engagement.
• Additional responsibilities also include facilitating training sessions, creating and monitoring learning plans for both internal and external leaders. Completing sign offs with learners to ensure they are fit for role within the region and providing feedback and managing performance of new candidates. Key role in the hiring process to ensure best candidates are hired for roles within the region.

• Buyer specialising in Citrus with responsibility of organising and managing supply, quality and product specifications. Strong communication skills and stakeholder management. Responsible for budgets, customer feedback, availability and supplier contracts. Strong experience gained within logistics as also responsible for organising and using various channels of transport which were used to meet strict deadlines. With this role a clear ability of crisis management is needed due to fresh produce being a volatile product. An ability to build strong relationships with suppliers and ensuring being comfortable in difficult negotiations to ensure the best result for the business.

• Senior manager with accountability for the Fresh Food and Ambient Food operation in a super-centre format with annual revenue of £125 million. Responsible for leading a large team of Team Leaders to deliver operational standards, drive commercial performance, develop talent and exceed expected compliance standards. Senior role within store in delivering HR services and active role in performance management and disciplinary processes. Assisted with recruitment and training of new employees, while also monitoring the productivity of current employees. Led recruitment efforts and training of new employees. Effectively multi tasked and prioritised projects according to need. Fully engaged with team members to achieve the highest levels of productivity.

• Senior manager accountable for the George Clothing and General Merchandise operations in a superstore format. Responsible for leading my departmental leaders and colleagues to deliver key results areas, shared responsibility of the whole store operation and ambassador of the organisational culture. Accountability of stock protection and process accuracy in highest retail shrink areas. Managing seasonal change in all non-food areas including clothing. Undergo vigorous training to become store mental health ambassador and recruitment champion. Solely accountable for the managing of total store operations, delivering key targets areas and total store legalities within the absence of the store manager.

• Accountability for the Fresh Production operation in a super-centre format with annual revenue of £60 million. Responsible for leading a large team of Team Leaders to deliver operational standards, drive commercial performance, develop talent and exceed expected compliance standards. Accountable for managing production for bakery and fresh counters areas and driving the team to produce quality products whilst delivering key sales and waste targets. Active role in delivering skill and behavioural training for newly appointed fresh managers in West Yorkshire region and supporting individuals after in store training by supporting the individuals through modules and extra essential learning.

• Sole accountability for the Fresh Food operation in a super-centre format with annual revenue of £100 million. Responsible for leading a large team of over 200 individuals. Managing these individuals to achieve targets, deliver great operational standard and ensure that they are working ethically and achieving expected compliance standards. Engaging and driving high work morale to get the best out of each individual. Becoming a more global duty manager and driving standard and engagement throughout the store with a mixture of individuals with a varying degree of capability.

• Responsible for the Ambient Grocery operation in a supermarket format with annual revenue of £25 million. Responsible for delivering high operational standards, collaborating with various teams to deliver key result areas and managing commercial performance.

• Served as a friendly, hardworking, and punctual employee.
• Worked well independently and on a team to solve problems.
• Worked with a true sense of fairness.
• Involved and expanded knowledge by supporting all areas of the business.