Job Description:

Head of Operations

Nottingham

Upto £80,000 + competitive and generous Bonus + excellent Bens

Our client is a leading independent wholesaler entering an ambitious period of multi business growth.

The Head of Operations exists to build and lead a scalable, disciplined and increasingly automated operation across the Group that delivers operational excellence today while creating the capacity, productivity and capability required for future growth.

This is not simply a role for running today's operation. The Head of Operations will be responsible for building the future operation while successfully running the current day to day activities - including the operational design and transition to a new warehouse, increasing the use of automation and robotics, supporting multiple businesses and integrating future acquisitions.

This is a senior leadership role accountable for delivering results through the following accountabilities:

• Leadership, Management & Accountability - build, lead and hold accountable a high-performing operational team with the right people in the right seats.  Build a strong operational leadership structure capable of supporting future scale. Ensure right people/right seats, clear ownership and measurable expectations. Develop managers and succession capability so day-to-day performance does not depend on the Head of Operations.  

• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement - create a calm, controlled and continuously improving operation delivering exceptional safety, quality, accuracy, service and operational standards.  Own warehouse performance, customer service, quality, H&S and operational standards. Establish a disciplined, proactive and visually managed operation. Embed continuous improvement throughout Operations. Ensure recurring issues are resolved through root-cause analysis rather than repeated firefighting. Build standardised processes that are documented, understood, followed and continuously improved. Maintain and improve OTIF, accuracy and customer experience as the business scales.

• Scale, Capacity & Future Operations - anticipate growth and build the capacity, infrastructure and operating model required to scale towards £50m, including leading the operational design and successful transition into a new warehouse.  Identify capacity constraints before they impact growth or customer service. Build scalable solutions across goods-in, storage, replenishment, picking, packing and dispatch. Lead the operational design, readiness and successful transition into the new warehouse.  Ensure warehouse layout, processes, people, systems and automation are designed around future volume and complexity. Build peak-capacity and resource plans that minimise reliance on additional labour.

• Automation & Technology Adoption – to partner with Technology to identify and implement automation, robotics and digital solutions, owning operational adoption and delivery of the expected benefits.  Develop robust business cases for robotics, automation and digital solutions. Provide the operational requirements needed to identify and implement appropriate technology solutions. Own operational implementation, adoption and benefits realisation. Continually challenge repetitive manual activities and identify opportunities for technology to improve productivity.

• Multi-Business & Acquisition Integration - build a shared operational platform across the Group and future businesses, leading the operational integration of acquisitions and new units.  Lead operational integration following acquisitions. Identify opportunities to consolidate infrastructure, processes, people and technology across businesses. Ensure acquisitions can be integrated without unnecessary duplication or operational complexity. Work cross-functionally with Technology, Procurement, Finance and Sales & Marketing during integration and transformation programmes.

• Cost-to-Serve & Productivity - deliver measurable year-on-year improvements in productivity, labour efficiency, automation utilisation and cost-to-serve without compromising customer service.

The ideal candidate:

• Proven ability to build and lead high-performing operational teams, establish clear accountability and develop strong managers capable of independently leading day-to-day operations.
• Demonstrable experience of materially scaling an operation and building the processes, capacity, infrastructure and organisational capability required for growth.
• Track record of building and improving operations rather than simply maintaining an established operation
• Experience operating within a multi-site, multi-brand or multi-business environment, with the ability to create common standards while recognising different business requirements
• Practical experience implementing warehouse automation, robotics or other technology-led operational improvements and demonstrating measurable benefits.
• Strong track record of delivering measurable improvements in productivity, efficiency, cost-to serve and operational performance
• Strong working knowledge of ERP/WMS environments and the ability to use operational data to identify problems, make decisions and drive improvement.
• Confident using ERP, WMS, operational dashboards and data to understand performance, identify trends, anticipate constraints and make evidence-based decisions. Able to translate operational challenges into clear technology requirements and work effectively with the Head of Technology to implement automation, robotics and digital solutions. Uses data to drive measurable improvements in productivity, capacity, cost-to-serve, service and operational performance, rather than relying on instinct or historical ways of working.
• Experience leading significant operational change while maintaining customer service and business continuity
• Proven ability to develop managers, create accountability and build leadership capability below Head of Operations level.
• Experience integrating acquired businesses, operations, warehouses or teams into a larger operating model would be a benefit
• Experience designing, commissioning or relocating warehouse operations, particularly involving significant automation would be advantageous.
• Strong understanding of how operational decisions affect margin, working capital, cost-to serve, customer experience and overall business performance.

An exciting opportunity to join this established business at a time of growth – lots of scope to really get involved and make some significant impact.

Please get in touch if you would like to hear more……