Head of South Island - Wholesale

Head of South Island – 2-year fixed-term opportunity

Ko wai mātou – About us   

Kia ora. We’re Foodies. You know Gilmours, New World, PAK’nSAVE, and Four Square, right? That’s us!

Gilmours is 100% NZ Owned and Operated serving thousands of businesses and organisations across the North Island for the food and beverages they need to grow their business. Gilmours is your one-stop Foodservice shop with Butchery, Produce, Chilled & Frozen, Grocery, General Merchandise, Consumables, Beverages and Liquor. 

We’re about to embark on an exciting wholesale transformation programme, supporting a major transition and the future growth of our network.

Te Tūranga – About the role

As Head of South Island, you’ll lead the operational and commercial performance of our South Island Wholesale network, with accountability for sustainable sales growth, profitability, customer outcomes and operational excellence. 

You’ll coach and challenge Site Leadership Teams to deliver agreed budgets, strategic priorities and performance measures, using data, commercial insight and disciplined business reviews to lift capability and results. 

Alongside business-as-usual performance, you’ll lead the South Island execution of a major 24-month transformation programme. Acting as the link between programme teams and operational sites, you’ll ensure new systems, processes and operating model changes are implemented, adopted and embedded successfully. 

Key areas of focus will include: 

• Owning sales, profitability, customer outcomes and operational performance across all South Island Wholesale sites 


• Leading and influencing Site Leadership Teams to deliver budgets, strategic priorities and key performance measures 


• Establishing disciplined performance reviews, tracking and action planning across the network 


• Identifying opportunities to grow sales, market share, customer retention and profitability 


• Leading operational readiness and site execution for programme milestones, deployments and change initiatives 


• Managing delivery risks, barriers and interdependencies while maintaining business performance 


• Building a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement and customer focus

This role will require regular travel between the North and South Islands.

He kōrero mōu – About you

You’re a commercially astute, experienced multi-site leader who can deliver today’s results while leading significant change. You bring credibility with senior stakeholders, a clear performance mindset and the ability to turn complex strategy into focused action. 

You’ll also bring: 

• 10+ years’ experience in wholesale, retail, distribution or multi-site operations, with direct accountability for commercial and operational performance 


• Proven leadership across multiple locations, including coaching senior leaders and driving performance through others 


• Demonstrated success leading large-scale transformation, programme delivery or change in a complex operational environment 


• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including experience managing profit and loss outcomes and delivering sales, margin and profitability targets 


• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills across owners, operators, project teams and senior leaders 


• Confidence using systems, reporting, customer insights and financial data to identify opportunities, manage risk and make decisions 


• The resilience, decisiveness and collaborative leadership style needed to navigate complexity, competing priorities and ambiguity 


• Experience working in a co-operative, franchise or multi-stakeholder operating model, and influencing without direct authority 


• Experience leading geographically dispersed teams and operations 

Ngā painga - What we offer   

• Flexible ways of working and additional leave options to support life both in and outside of work


• Discounts across our Foodies store network, fuel savings, free parking, on site mini mart and fantastic café with subsidised meals


• Access to industry-leading learning, development, mentoring, and career growth opportunities


• Health and wellbeing support, including wellness resources, flu vaccinations, health checks, and gym discounts


• A fun, inclusive culture where you'll be recognised, celebrated, and connected through our people networks, events, and community initiatives

Experience awesome. Achieve awesome. Be awesomely you.

We’re proud to have a focus on Diversity & Inclusion here at Foodies and welcome courageous behaviour, encourage togetherness, inspire our people to be their best selves in our Foodies whānau.

We encourage you to apply with all your awesomeness and welcome your diverse background, including any disability, additional health and mental health needs, and/or neurodiversity.

If you require accessibility support to ensure you can fairly access our recruitment process, please reach out to  [email protected].  Accessibility support could include interview location, sign language interpreter, assistive technology.