Kieran Armstrong

Experience

• 

  McDonald's

  Jun 2016 - Apr 2021

  As a shift manager I was responsible for the planning of my shifts. This involved using my analytical skills to review sales patterns and trends, setting SMART targets and placing my people in their most effective positions to ensure my shift is set up for success. I also complete pre-shift checklists.This involves completing a travel path of the restaurant, evaluating and analysing the current set-up and demands of the shift, adding actions to my to-do list, prioritising, delegating tasks and following up on their completion.I also actively monitor operations and performance on the floor. This is a high-paced environment where issues arise quickly and must be addressed promptly to avoid having an adverse effect on the customer. This role requires strong verbal communication skills to coordinate activities whilst keeping morale high through praise and recognition. Alongside strong communication, good analytical skills are also required. I must think critically and be proactive, identifying danger zones and bottlenecks before they negatively impact the customer. As the leader of the shift I am also accountable for resolving serious customer complaints. This requires an ability to empathise and deal with customers effectively to ensure a positive resolution for both parties.I am also responsible for post-shift duties. This includes analysing sales trends, labour spend, waste, food cost, inventory levels and cashing up tills. Results are then communicated through written means in an email to keep my colleagues updated. It is critical in these emails that I communicate in a clear and succinct manner to ensure my observations can be understood by my colleagues, who can then act on my feedback when planning their shift. Show less After two years of working my part-time job I was recognised for promotion from a Crew-Member to a Crew-Trainer. This promotion brought with it increased responsibility and new duties, including: conducting on job evaluations for new recruits, training new crew-members, conducting performance reviews, providing feedback and having coaching conversations. In addition to training responsibilities, I was also given more responsibility to lead people. This included, being held accountable for leading production, service and customer areas and for monitoring operations when the shift manager needed assistance. The training and leadership aspect of this role enabled me to develop the crucial interpersonal skills involved in building prosperous relationships with your team. I have learned that in order to work effectively as a team and as a leader there needs to be an open environment built on the foundations of trust and respect in order to really get the best out of every member of the team. A final crucial aspect of my role as a Crew-Trainer was being an 'expert'. This required me to learn all of the procedures extensively and keep up to date with any changes by reading new updates and attending relevant training opportunities. This marked the start of an interest in professional development and a strong desire to learn and progress. I proactively searched out opportunities to learn new aspects of the job, upskill myself and increase my value to the company. Alongside this next year at work, I continued to take advantage of the flexibility of the role by continuing to travel during breaks from university. During this time I took the opportunity to travel around Europe. Show less As a crew-member I worked all of the roles available to me. Some of the roles were customer facing such as serving customers on the till, coaching customers on the kiosk and presenting orders to customers on the drive-thru. These roles have enabled me to develop effective communication skills in order to communicate with my colleagues and team efficiently. I also worked roles in the production areas, making, organising and bagging orders as quick as possible to serve customers promptly. Both of these types of roles involved learning to work together in a friendly and fast way to ensure customers receive a high standard of service and have a positive visit to our restaurant. Show less

  • Shift Manager

    Oct 2019 - Apr 2021

  • Crew Trainer

    Aug 2018 - Oct 2019

  • Crew Member

    Jun 2016 - Aug 2018
• 

  Avado

  Sept 2020 - Dec 2020

  FastFutures Programme

  Selected to be part of the first cohort of 1000 students from over 6000 applicants after a lengthy selection process. The FastFutures programme is a 12-week virtual internship that aims to provide young people with the practical business skills that businesses need to respond to digital transformation. Acquired hard skills in entrepreneurship, data, technology, marketing and finance, plus the soft skills of virtual collaboration, communication and team working. Graduated as a ‘FastFutures Scholar’ by finishing in the top 5% out of over 800 graduates for the high quality of work and strong engagement with the programme. Also completed a group project with 6 other delegates from around the world, to provide an innovative solution to climate change for one of the programme’s employer-partners, BT. The entire project was completed virtually and our project was recognised in the top 25 out of 132 group projects and will subsequently be reviewed by a panel of experts at BT. Show less

• 

  Modulr

  Apr 2021 - Oct 2022

  Payment Operations Analyst

  Modulr is the payments as a service API platform for businesses that need a faster, easier and more reliable way to move money. As a payments analyst, my key responsibilities include:● Monitoring the timely and accurate processing of client money transactions across key payment schemes, including Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS, SEPA, SWIFT, Direct Debits, Card transactions and FX.● Identifying required daily treasury movements and executing these with accuracy under strict timelines● Responsible for the timely processing & investigation of our payment exception queue – included but not limited to unallocated, suspended, failed, and pending payments● Assisting and resolving ad-hoc complex payment issues where required, working across departments and with key internal stakeholders to find the best solution● Support ad-hoc incident management where required, including monthly on-call out of hours support for incidents and payment queries● Responsible for the preparation of daily bank reconciliations/s within deadlines and adhering to our reconciliation policy Show less

• 

  Mettle

  Oct 2022 - Apr 2023

  Senior Payment Operations Analyst

  Mettle is the free business account by NatWest that helps small businesses start, run and grow. It’s built for startups, limited companies and sole traders.

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  NatWest Boxed

  Apr 2023 - now

  • Financial Crime Investigations Analyst

    Dec 2023 - now

  • Senior Payment Operations Analyst

    Apr 2023 - Dec 2023