Regional Commercial Services Manager

Job description

Regional Commercial Services Manager

Shape the future of Commercial Services across our North East colleges

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and commercially focused leader to join NCG as our Regional Commercial Services Manager for the North East. This is a key leadership role with responsibility for Commercial Services across Newcastle College and Newcastle Sixth Form College, encompassing 12 outlets across our main campuses and satellite buildings.

It is a varied, fast-paced operation, supporting thousands of students, colleagues and visitors and providing everything from busy day-to-day retail catering through to hospitality and events.

We are looking for someone who can bring strong leadership, fresh thinking and genuine commercial drive to the region. You will lead and develop our teams, improve consistency across our outlets and help us create services that are financially sustainable while delivering an excellent experience for our students and customers.

The role forms part of NCG's wider Commercial Services structure and will report directly to the Director of Commercial Services, with responsibility for leading college Team Leaders across the region.

The Role

No two days will be the same. You will oversee the performance and day-to-day delivery of our commercial catering operations across the North East, taking ownership of financial performance, operational standards, people development and the customer experience.

You'll have responsibility for regional catering P&L performance, budgets, profit targets and cost control, while identifying opportunities to grow income through retail, hospitality and events. You'll regularly review sales, labour costs, gross profit margins and wastage, using performance information to identify where we can work smarter and improve results. Just as importantly, this is a people leadership role.

You'll work closely with Team Leaders and their teams, supporting recruitment and workforce planning, performance management, training, employee engagement and the effective deployment of colleagues across our sites. You'll be visible within the colleges and comfortable moving between outlets, talking to teams, understanding challenges and turning ideas into practical improvements.

What you'll be responsible for

Your remit will include:

• Leading Commercial Services across Newcastle College, its satellite locations and Newcastle Sixth Form College.
• Driving the financial performance of the region, including sales, labour, gross profit, wastage, budgets and profitability.
• Ensuring consistent operational standards across our catering outlets, with a strong focus on food safety, health and safety, allergen management, presentation and customer experience.
• Leading, coaching and developing Team Leaders and supporting recruitment, workforce planning, performance and employee engagement.
• Helping shape menus and promotions that are commercially viable, nutritionally balanced, relevant to our students and consistently delivered across the region.
• Working within NCG procurement frameworks and improving value for money through effective purchasing, stock control, reduced wastage and greater standardisation.
• Building strong relationships with College Principals, senior leaders, curriculum teams, Estates and operational colleagues.
• Using KPIs and performance data to identify opportunities, make informed decisions and drive continuous improvement.

About you

We're looking for an experienced operational leader who understands that great commercial services come from great people, strong standards and sound commercial decision-making.

You'll bring significant management experience from catering, hospitality, retail, commercial services or a similarly fast-paced operational environment, together with experience of managing services across multiple locations.

You will be confident managing budgets and financial performance, leading and developing teams, overseeing compliance and working with a wide range of stakeholders. Strong commercial awareness is essential, but so is the ability to engage people, build relationships and bring teams with you through change.

You'll also need to be highly organised, resilient and comfortable balancing multiple priorities across different sites. A collaborative leadership style, strong customer focus and a willingness to travel regularly between NCG locations are important to the role.

Why join us?

This is an excellent opportunity to take responsibility for a significant regional operation at an exciting point in the development of NCG Commercial Services.

You'll have the chance to influence how services are delivered, develop our people, improve our commercial performance and create a more consistent experience for students and customers across our North East colleges.

If you're an experienced catering, hospitality, retail or commercial services leader who enjoys working across multiple locations and wants the opportunity to make a visible difference, we'd love to hear from you.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

NCG is a great place to work, with a whole host of benefits such as:

• Generous Annual Leave
• Flexible Working
• Student Discount
• Government Pension Schemes
• Cycle to Work
• Employee Assistance Programme

For more information, please see our website - Our Benefits

NCG VALUES

Our values are not just about what we do, but also how we do things. Shaped by our colleagues, customers and learners, they set the standard of how we should behave, how we work together and give us the opportunity to make the right decisions based on the values we all share.

• Being both inclusive and diverse
• Trusting and respecting our communities
• Taking ownership whilst working collaboratively
• Inspiring excellence and curiosity

For further detail about our Values and Strategy, please visit our website - Values and Strate gy