Head of Portfolio Planning

Head of Portfolio Planning 
£80,000 - £90,000 plus great benefits (Work Level 4) 
Fully remote role involving travel across the UK

As this role is linked to a business case, any ‘at risk’ colleagues who apply will be given priority. Please make sure you tick the ‘at risk’ box on your application if this is applicable.

We’re looking for a Head of Portfolio Planning to join our Property team at Co-op. This is a unique opportunity to influence the future of Co-op’s property estate, shaping how we invest in our existing spaces and grow across our food and funeralcare businesses. The decisions you make will have a real impact on our members, customers, and colleagues across the UK.

Why this role matters

Our property estate is at the heart of how we serve communities. From food stores to funeralcare branches, every location matters. In this role, you’ll influence significant investment (more than £100m annually), making high-profile decisions that make sure our estate is optimised to meet the needs of customers and colleagues. You’ll help define what the future of Co-op looks like, influencing strategy at the highest level.

If you’re strategic, commercially minded, and passionate about making a difference, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll do

• Lead and inspire a high-performing team of 8 colleagues
• Create the investment and optimisation plan for our food and funeralcare existing space portfolio 
• Translate strategy into store-by-store and branch-by-branch plans
• Make sure that refit investments align with agreed plans
• Solve challenges where spaces don’t meet customer or colleague needs
• Build strong relationships with finance, propositions, estates, and construction teams
• Influence senior leadership team colleagues and be part of the property leadership group
• Keep our plans aligned with market and industry trends

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for someone who has:

• Experience in location planning or property strategy development
• Proven leadership skills and experience managing teams to deliver great results
• Strong commercial acumen and financial understanding
• A track record of developing strategies, solving complex problems, managing conflicting priorities
• The ability to influence and collaborate with senior stakeholders
• High levels of resilience and experience of dealing with ambiguity

Why Co-op?

At Co-op, we’re owned by our members. And because we’re owned by you, we can do right by you. So when you join us, you’re not just taking a job, you’re joining a movement. We’re an organisation that puts people and communities first, and we’re powered by purpose. We want this to be a place where you can thrive, so you’ll also receive:

• An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
• 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays 
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
• Private healthcare for you and your family
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
• Coaching and training to support your career development
• Wagestream app – giving you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn

Building a diverse environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme at Disability Confident Scheme - Co-op Colleagues and more about our commitments to diversity and inclusion at Diversity and Inclusion

Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes up to 50 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.