As Audley Travel celebrates 30 years of creating extraordinary journeys, we’re opening a brand-new chapter as we expand into UK Retail stores. We’d love you to be part of this exciting journey, helping shape this milestone retail experience from the very beginning.
The Opportunity
As a Retail Director you will own and deliver the retail strategy for Audley Travel in the UK, positioning the retail channel as a core driver of growth within the business. You will be fully accountable for the performance and expansion of the retail business unit, ensuring it delivers exceptional client experiences alongside strong commercial outcomes. You will lead a multi‑site retail operation, translate Audley’s client‑centric proposition into a premium, service‑led store experience that differentiates us in the market, and build the capability, structure and culture required to scale the retail network for sustainable growth. Working closely with central teams you will ensure retail is fully integrated into Audley’s broader commercial strategy, contributing to acquisition, conversion, repeat business and long‑term client loyalty.
- Own the retail P&L with accountability for revenue, margin, cost control and return on investment
- Accountable for overall performance of the UK retail business unit
- Define and deliver the UK retail strategy aligned to the business growth plan
- Lead trading performance across all stores, improving conversion and profitability
- Ensure a consistently exceptional premium client experience
- Build and embed a high‑performance culture across all stores
- Partner with Finance on budgets and performance
- Work with Marketing to drive demand and local engagement
- Collaborate with People on recruitment, training and performance management to build capability
- Define and deliver an expansion strategy including new openings
- Ensure strong operational standards and governance
- Act as a senior retail leader within the UK Leadership Team
Team Management
- Lead Store Managers and central support teams
- Responsible for productivity and efficiency of the team through consistent performance management, regular feedback and coaching
- Conduct one‑to‑one and performance reviews with individual team members to provide support and identify development/training needs
- Set and review objectives for the team and create development plans
- Create a culture of engagement, collaboration and open communication within the team
Travel across the UK is expected as part of this role and a car allowance will be available.
What You’ll Bring
You will bring experience leading multi‑site retail operations, with full P&L ownership, strong commercial acumen and the ability to scale and grow operations.
Additional Experience Required
- Strong leadership and stakeholder management
- Strategic and analytical mindset
- Good understanding of Office 365 including MS Word, Excel, SharePoint and Outlook
- Embodies the Audley values of being positive, being the difference, being one team and being passionate about travel
Benefits
- Holiday – 25 days rising to 30 days with length of service
- A day off for your birthday
- A day off for volunteering to support a charity, local support group or community work of your choice
- Private Medical Insurance
- Access to Healthshield health‑cash plan – money back for costs associated with everyday healthcare (including optical, dental, medical, prescriptions, physio), and access to medical and wellbeing resources such as a GP service, employee assistance programme and counselling
- Car Allowance
- Enhanced family leave and pension scheme
- Life insurance
- Discounted Audley trips for you and your friends & family and exclusive access to staff travel discount websites
- Wellhub – a wellbeing platform that gives you unlimited, discounted access to top gyms, studios, and wellbeing apps
- Benefits Platform – a reward scheme that gives you discounts and cashback with hundreds of retailers
