Retail Leaders Graduate Programme

📣 Tobi’s Take: This role is all about leading teams in a fast-paced retail environment. You’ll learn how to guide people, keep ops running smoothly and understand how the money gets made in store. You might not initially be drawn to managing a store but it's fast paced and gives you the knowledge you need to build a commercial career with one of the biggest brands in the country.

✅ Show them you’ve got the potential to lead early. Think about times you’ve taken initiative, supported others, or managed responsibility under pressure. They want curiosity for retail and a genuine interest in customers so what trends have you noticed in how people shop differently today?

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❓About the Programme

Lead teams in a fast-paced retail environment. Get first-hand experience as you learn how to run an M&S store with this structured programme designed to accelerate you into store leadership and build your resilience.

💥 What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll start as a Customer Assistant in one of our shops so you can get close to customers and colleagues as you learn how a store runs efficiently. This will help you understand the impact of each role and department.

From here, you’ll quickly progress into a Team Manager role, leading a team and building the skills and experiences you need to run a store. Along the way, you’ll develop your leadership skills and learn how to guide and support your team to achieve results.

Then you’ll train and work towards a Deputy or Store Manager role within 12–18 months. You’ll learn how to manage an entire store, support daily operations, deliver a regional project and broaden your wider business knowledge.

🌟 What It Takes to Succeed

Strong leadership potential. A clear communication style. As you’ll be leading others early in your career, you’ll need to gain their trust quickly and set the direction.

The behaviours that will set you up for success include:

• Showing the ambition to lead, communicating clearly and responding confidently to resolve situations.
• Delivering 5-star service, with attention to detail, safety and delivery.
• Being ready to deliver against goals and targets to meet business plans.
• Having a curiosity for retail with a genuine interest in our customers.

🛣️ Where It Could Lead

The path to store leadership. The momentum for a long-term career. By the end of the programme, you’ll be a Store Manager, leading large teams and managing complex retail operations.

You might decide to progress further into a regional role, managing even bigger stores, or use your commercial understanding and leadership skills to explore other areas of the business. This foundation opens doors across M&S, giving you the credibility and experience to continue building a long-term career in the future of retail.

🛍️ Why Choose M&S Retail?

With a strong own-brand model and a reputation for quality, value and innovation, M&S is one of the UK’s most-loved brands. We’re continually looking for new ways to improve and stay ahead in a fast-changing market.

Our five-year vision is to reshape retail for the future — and you can play a pivotal role in driving this transformation forward as a potential future leader of M&S.