Pet Department Manager

Pet Department Manager | Northeast Nottinghamshire

Salary: DOE
Hours: Full-time

Got a background in pet retail and fancy the opportunity to make a department your own?

We're working with an established garden centre business looking for a Pet Department Manager to take the lead on its pet department. They're looking for someone who knows their way around pet retail, understands what makes a department commercially successful and takes animal welfare seriously.

There's a good range of live animals, plenty of products to sell and real scope to grow the department. It's a great opportunity for someone who enjoys having responsibility, developing a team and seeing the results of their work.

About the Business

This is a well-established garden centre with plenty going on beyond plants and gardening. Alongside its garden retail offering, there's a restaurant, home and gift departments, and a sizeable pet and aquatics department.

The pet department has plenty of potential, and the business is keen to bring in someone who can build on what's already there. Whether that's improving displays, introducing new ideas or finding ways to grow sales, you'll have the freedom to make a difference while keeping animal care at the forefront.

The Role

As Pet Department Manager, you'll be responsible for running the department day-to-day, looking after your team and making sure everything is working as it should. You'll have the freedom to make decisions, with support from the Store Manager when you need it.

The department stocks a wide variety of animals, including fish, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, birds, parrots, budgies and reptiles, alongside all the food, products and accessories customers need.

You'll manage a team of around 4-5 colleagues, helping them develop and making sure standards stay high. There's a wider store element too, including keyholder duties and helping with the general running of the garden centre.

What you'll be getting involved in:

Sales and performance: Looking for ways to grow sales across live animals and pet products, while making sure customers get the right advice and service.
Merchandising: Keeping displays looking good, making the most of the space available and ensuring products are easy to shop.
Animal welfare: Making sure animals receive the right care and that daily and weekly checks are completed, recorded and kept up to standard.
Managing the team: Leading and supporting your team, setting expectations and helping everyone do their job well.
Stock and paperwork: Keeping on top of stock levels, records, administration and the checks needed to run the department properly.
Licensing and compliance: Taking responsibility for the relevant animal activities licence, with support from the business throughout the application process.
Supporting the store: Acting as a keyholder and working alongside the Store Manager to help keep the wider garden centre running smoothly.

About You

Ideally, you'll have experience managing a pet shop or pet department, although a strong retail background and the ability to run a department are just as important. You'll understand the balance between looking after animals properly, giving customers good advice and making sure the department performs commercially.

You'll also bring:

Experience leading or supervising a team, or the confidence to take that next step into management.
A good eye for merchandising and an understanding of how to drive sales.
Good organisational skills, particularly when it comes to paperwork, records and compliance.
A genuine interest in animal welfare and maintaining high standards of care.
The initiative to get on with things, manage your own workload and spot opportunities to improve the department.

You don't need to hold the relevant licence already, but you will need to be happy to apply to have it transferred into your name. The business will support you through the process, which includes an assessment by the local authority.

Interested?

If you've got a background in pet retail and fancy the opportunity to take ownership of a department with room to grow, I'd love to hear from you.

Drop me an email at for a confidential chat and to find out a bit more
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed