As a part of the REL central team, working on adidas Europe’s Brand and Product Learning Programme, I am involved with the management of Product Trainers in 25 countries across Europe and their respective KPIs. I have key involvement in daily KPI tracking, raising concerns where necessary to ensure KPI success and client awareness; weekly reporting directly to all key stakeholders; monthly and quarterly review presentation deck creation, added insight and presentation direcly to the client; cluster meeting leading and support with follow-up to the wider central team to ensure knowledge transfer; additional meetings for clusters in need of extra support; training and onboarding support for new colleagues; client platform analysis, including feedback per cluster on ways to improve moving forward; KPI submission management; internal reporting system development, both front-end changes and dashboard visualsation, inclusive of communication with the reporting team, testing, creation of user guides and the leading of training sessions to ensure effective implementation; in addition to ad hoc, time sensitive reporting and insight requests in support of the central team, European Account Manager, the team across Europe and adidas EU. Being brought into the team due to a secondment in 2023, I was then delighted to be retained and in 2024 was invited to London to present during the mid-year review to the client and to the REL Managers Conference. In November 2024, we were delighted to secure a contract-renewal with the client due to the success of the team over the past 3 years - both the central team in the United Kingdom and the wider team across Europe.

Working towards and exceeding business needs surrounding the timely and accurate processing of supplier invoices and credit notes across a number of systems, including: Causeway, McNicholas, Coins Plus, CRM, Concept and Oracle. A variety of key responsibilities were undertaken which include: The timely and accurate creation of daily worklists then allocated to team members in line with business needs to ensure priority is given to aged items with the goal of timely supplier payments within agreed terms is achieved, thus preventing the business from being placed on ‘stop’. Daily allocation of escalated ‘Query Cleanse’ items to be actioned same-day which have been returned to our scope following contacts with the AP Queries team regarding issue(s) which are preventing matching. Working closely with the Payments team regarding the processing of same-day Manual Payments for one-off vendors/escalated items, with sole-responsibility of this process for 18 months. I had heavily involvement in the training of both new members of the team in addition to cross-training of existing members onto different systems due to my SME status, in addition to welcoming and overseeing four finance graduates during their rotation through Invoice Management. I was able to build great relations due to my willingness to go above and beyond to resolve issues in a timely manner – resulting in a nomination for ‘Unsung Hero’ and ‘Future Star’ at Kier’s annual awards ceremony in 2021, going on to be awarded ‘FSSC Rising Star’ in 2022.

Graduate Management Development Programme incorporating practical aspects of retail, from retail assistant to shop manager across various Staffordshire stores; plus skills development projects to enhance leadership and management skills and share good practice. A fast-paced and demanding environment, each store required staff management, cash handling, customer service, stock control and responsibility for shop security. Each provided unique learning opportunities and challenges such as building strong working relationships in a short timeframe, and proved to be an excellent base to further develop my future people management and leadership skills.

Responsibilities included facilitating the efficient delivery of food produce from depot to store, by meeting daily targets both individually and as part of a team; ensuring quality management by isolating damaged goods from the logistics process; strict adherence to workplace H&S regulations; whilst acknowledging the importance of meeting the needs of a major multinational retailer.

A variety of roles including corporate silver-service, and food/beverage service at major sporting and music events. Flexibility and adaptability to different venues and responsibilities at short-notice was essential, as was the ability to learn new skills quickly and communicate effectively with new team members. The ability to deal with clientele professionally and confidently, ensure accurate cash handling, and adherence to H&S protocol including food allergies were essential qualities required for the role(s).

Responsibilities included the efficient production and service of food/beverages direct to the customer in a fast-paced environment as part of a team with aim to achieve sales targets whilst minimising waste. Assisted with training new staff members in key competencies and undertook a leadership role within small teams and during staff absences. Communication, customer service skills and the ability to deal with complaints professionally was essential, along with observing stringent food hygiene standards.