Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Retail Team Leader

Neal's Yard Dairy
Covent Garden, London

Posted: 16 Apr 2025

Deadline: 20 Apr 2025

Compensation: £29,750 per annum

Paid Full-time Permanent

Job description

Are you passionate about great food and even better service? Would you like to help shape the future of British cheese, while leading a team that brings that mission to life every day?

We are looking for a full-time Team Leader to join our Retail team on a permanent basis — based mainly at our Covent Garden shop, but with time spent at our other London locations as well as occasional markets and events across the country, as needed.

As a Team Leader, you’ll be the go-to person on the shop floor — energising the team, keeping the day running smoothly, and making sure our customers receive the kind of welcoming, knowledgeable service we’re known for.

Working closely with the Retail Department Manager and Assistant Managers, your responsibilities will include:

• Leading the team day-to-day through setting the tone, delegating tasks, and maintaining focus on sales and service goals
• Managing daily shop admin including checklists, delivery processing, daily sales reporting and point-of-sale updates
• Ensuring that everything runs smoothly from making sure deliveries are checked in and stored correctly, to managing team availability and absences, and keeping stock levels and waste in check
• Supporting training and communication to help keep the team engaged, informed, and developing in their roles
• Covering leadership when Assistant Managers are away, ensuring continuity and consistency in shop operations
• Leading by example in providing excellent, mission-driven customer service

We're looking for someone who:

• Has prior experience in a leadership role within retail or hospitality (cheese knowledge is a bonus, but not essential)
• Is confident and clear in communication, and comfortable managing a team day-to-day
• Can balance attention to detail with a wider awareness of team morale, customer flow, and sales performance
• Is organised and dependable – with the ability to prioritise under pressure and think on their feet
• Is self-motivated, curious, and passionate about food and people
• Is eager to learn, happy to give and receive feedback, and comfortable working collaboratively with different teams

Practical details:

• This is a full-time role, 5 day per week, including weekends
• Full availability 1st-24th of December inclusive is essential as this is our busiest time of year
• Full weekend availability
• Based primarily at our Covent Garden shop, with occasional days at other locations (Borough Market, Bermondsey, Islington, Barons Court)

Benefits: 

• A starting salary of £29,750 per annum
• Full on-the-job training 
• The makings of a delicious lunch every day 
• A steady supply of fresh bread and cheese (of course!) as well as tea and coffee 
• A generous staff discount

A couple of important things to note before submitting your application:

• This role involves the handling and selling of alcohol.
• For our Retail Cheesemongers to understand the flavour and texture profiles of our cheeses and thus better be able to recommend options to customers, for this role there is a requirement to regularly taste our full range of cheeses including those that contain animal rennet.

If this sounds like the role for you, we would very much like to hear from you. Please complete the application form by clicking on the link below, by end of day Sunday 20th of April.

We aim to contact successful candidates within 7 days of their application and reserve the right to close our vacancy earlier than advertised. 

All applicants must have the right to work in the UK

We are happy to discuss reasonable adjustments needed to support you in our recruitment process. 

As part of our recruitment process, Neal’s Yard Dairy collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. We are committed to being transparent about how we use that data, and to meeting our data protection obligations. Please read our Job Applicant Privacy Notice for further information.

Application information

To apply, please complete the form by clicking on the link below by EOD Sunday April 20th 2025.

Neal's Yard Dairy - Jobs

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs