Our Funeral teams have been looking after families for over 100 years. To help support us in creating meaningful funerals, we’ve got a family of businesses which includes over 160 funeral homes, a Crematorium, Florists, a Masonry Team and a Coffin Factory.

Joining us as Head of Funeral, you will be overseeing these businesses and our fantastic colleagues who help to ensure that every farewell is as meaningful as it should be.

You’ll lead our Funeral business, developing strategy and the transformation roadmap.  

Leading the teams in delivering the Funeral strategy, you’ll also embed a customer centric culture throughout- putting our clients, members and colleagues at the core of the funeral proposition.

Key to this role will be the relationships you build with our 450 funeral colleagues, management executives, the wider Central Co-op Leadership team, as well as the wider Funeral industry. These relationships will help you drive innovation and improvement for our funeral business.

You’ll collaborate with external parties including Coroners, NHS, independent co-operative providers, crematoriums, and key suppliers e.g. Will & Probate.

Leading 6 direct reports- you’ll create a leadership culture which embraces openness, authenticity, diversity and personal growth.

You’ll stay up to date with trends and future insights-helping to identify any potential areas for improvement and raising business cases for consideration.

As well as communicating through Board Reports, you’ll also utilise conferences to inform, decision-make, motivate, and engage colleagues as well as recognising success.

We are looking for an inspirational and inclusive leader who can bring experience leading a widely distributed workforce.

Essential to this role will be your leadership experience and knowledge within an industry based on exceptional service and care.

You’ll have the skills and ability to clearly communicate purpose and be experienced in building a high performing team that works collaboratively.

To be successful in this role, you’ll bring strong planning skills, to enable you to agree clear goals and priorities which you are then able to share with your team.

You’ll bring experience in leading meaningful change and able to demonstrate how you have helped shape direction through innovation and strategic leadership.

As well as demonstrating the ability to lead, inspire and engage, you’ll also be able to show an understanding of the importance of celebrating individual and team successes.

This role would suit someone who has previous experience in working in a regulated environment as well as working closely with Executive and Board members.

What is in it for me?

In addition to our competitive salaries, our colleagues also benefit from:

• Retail discounts- our hub offers colleagues access to hundreds of exclusive retail discounts, savings on days out and holiday discounts.
• Holiday buy- colleagues can buy up to a week extra of annual leave each year
• Colleague recognition- we celebrate our colleague’s achievements both personally and professionally
• Enhanced family friendly policies- to help you feel fully supported during any significant life events.
• Colleague Dividend- We pay a share of our profits to eligible colleagues as a thank you for their contribution to our success.
• Paid time for volunteering- we encourage our colleagues to spend three days per year taking part in volunteering, fully paid for by us.
• Give as you earn- helping you support charities which mean something to you.
• Healthcare Cashplan- your wellbeing is important, so you’ve got the opportunity to contribute into a voluntary plan that helps pay towards a range of healthcare expenses.
• Company Pension- you can access a company pension scheme with us as well as access to Pension wellbeing information.
• Life Assurance- after an initial qualifying period, you’ll get free life assurance cover, that pays your nominated beneficiary if you die while you’re working for us.
• Personalised learning and development- with easy access to a wide range of training programmes
• We’ve got you – our new colleague wellbeing campaign, making wellbeing benefits and resources accessible and relevant to the role that you do.
• iTrent Financial Wellbeing (Wagestream)- offers something for all our colleagues, whether you want to track your finances, save some money, or access up to 50% of your earned pay flexibly in a way that suits you.

To find out more about all of these plus many more reasons to join us at Central Co-op, please visit Rewards and benefits - Central Coop (careers.coop)

Everyone is welcome here We’re happy to make reasonable adjustments so that all our candidates can show us how they’ll perform their role. There is a section in the application form where you can provide any additional information. Please use this section to include any reasonable adjustments you need, and we’ll do our best to support you through our recruitment process

We’re Central Co-op, a Member-owned and Member-led co-operative Society.

And with us, you’re not just a colleague, you’re a Member. You’ll own a share of the business.

You’ll be able to make a positive impact in your community, joining us in our mission to create a sustainable Society, and working alongside a team of passionate people who’ll help you grow. To find out more about working for us, visit our website www.careers.coop