How Aldi’s head of HR went from graduate to group director in under a decade

Katherine Stubley had always wanted to work with people. As a business student at Durham University, she was keen to find an industry placement where she could spend a year learning on the ground, preferably at a business where she could work with the public and a range of teams.

Having spotted posters in the university library advertising a scheme at the supermarket Aldi, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Those posters set in motion a career that has seen her rise to group HR director, via logistics and operations roles (and including a stint in the US), in just under a decade.

Having secured a spot on the retail management placement, Stubley spent a year learning about every part of the business and on her return to university wrote her dissertation on Aldi in her final year. She went on to land a job with the supermarket on its graduate area manager programme, and joined after she left university in 2013.

“I worked as an area manager for around three years – a job I enjoyed,” she says. “And then I was offered the opportunity to go on secondment.” For some motivated and passionate area managers, the graduate programme opens doors to both national and international secondments, and Stubley was one of those whose hard work led her to the US.

“I was really lucky and went to New York,” Stubley says. “The premise of the role was exactly the same as in the UK – you have three to five stores, and you look after those day to day. But it was also completely different to the UK – different employment law, hourly wage rates, healthcare and benefits.”

Stubley says the secondment gave her the opportunity to broaden her horizons. “I loved working in New York City – getting to work alongside people from different cultures was a huge reason why. Plus, I wasn’t short of friends and family wanting to come and visit to see the sights!”

It has been instrumental to her career: “Both the secondment scheme and the graduate programme are incredibly good because they enable you to work in a range of positions [across the business], which ultimately makes you perform better in whatever role you take on next.”

She is now group HR director, and says it’s her experience of working in operations and logistics teams that enables her to do the job effectively. “Aldi UK employs 38,000 people, with 36,000 working in stores and logistics. Having an understanding of those two areas is really important when looking at HR policies and procedures. It’s good to have that background when I’m making decisions.”

Having access to this breadth of roles is unusual in business generally, she says, and she feels fortunate to work for a company that offers this. “Being able to upskill yourself in lots of different areas means you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and gaining life experience.”

Among its many benefits, her secondment enabled her to bring the strengths of US retail to her UK roles. “One of the things I learned from being in the US is that they’re massive fans of customer service. It’s always in my mind that we can have the friendliest, fastest people in retail.”

She credits her secondment, as well as the broad scope of the Aldi graduate programme, as giving her the expertise required for her subsequent roles. “The secondment built me up as a person, matured me a little bit, and it meant in Aldi’s eyes I was ready to be a director. I had a much broader understanding of the business.”

After three years working in New York, Stubley returned to the UK as logistics director, charged with leading the opening of a new warehouse in Sawley, Derbyshire. “I was one of a few female logistics directors in Aldi and was really excited to break the stigma that it’s a male-only industry,” she says. “I’d always been interested in logistics and loved that role.”

She would encourage anyone considering Aldi’s graduate programme to go ahead and apply, and to seize the opportunity for a secondment if it came their way. “Everyone who takes up the opportunity would recommend it. It’s only going to help you in your career.”

Many come back to director roles, she says, having gained valuable management skills and proven their ability to adapt and perform well in a wide range of environments. “The secondment, without a shadow of a doubt, put me in a fantastic position. It was an amazing experience,” she says.

Are you ready for a career that means more? Join Aldi’s graduate area manager programme