Head of Operations

We are one of the nation's most loved and trusted brands, known for offering quality health food, vitamins and supplements all sold by highly trained and qualified advisors.

It's an exciting time to be at Holland & Barrett. We are investing across all areas of our business with a vision of empowering our customers to live happier, healthier lives. Our mission is to be the leading player in global wellness chosen by millions as their trusted partner for personalised wellness journeys. To achieve this goal, we are embarking on a radical transformation. We are recruiting top talent in all areas of our business, from Finance to Digital Marketing, from HR to IT, as well as new functions around Health and Wellness.

Bucking the current trend of high street retailers, we forecast significant growth and global expansion plans, with considerable investment going into all areas of the business. We certainly embrace change and drive speed in everything we do. Every day presents a different challenge, but every day is also filled with fun, teamwork, and passion to succeed and surpass every expectation.

We are recruiting a leader for our main distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent. The role will be responsible for the operations on the site, delivering fantastic customer service through lean and cost-effective operations. You will be leading a site with core functions around receipt and putaway of goods, and pick and pack across Retail, Digital and Wholesale channels, with a reporting structure of shift managers and a lead Operations Manager, responsible for a wider team of 400-500 colleagues.

The role will be measured on KPIs across service levels, efficiency, Health and Safety and people. This is the biggest distribution centre in the H&B network, responsible for significant (£££million) operating budget and has a huge impact on service to our customers. Additionally, our operations need to continue evolve and transform, so you will be expected to lead the team through this but also influence the wider business on changes to and through the site – as broader initiatives are launched we will need to understand how these are best delivered to our customers through your operation. Cross-functional and matrix working is key to delivering great outcomes for the business and relationship management within and across teams is incredibly important.

• Lead the core management of the B1 distribution centre in Burton to cost, service, H&S and people KPIs
• Develop individuals within the team – build a fantastic base that lets the DC grow and is a talent pool for the business
• Deliver into live change initiatives which help step-change our operation or our service to customers
• Work across functions to ensure that wider transformation initiatives can be sensibly delivered through the network
• Flex approach and operations as appropriate – enabling the operation to do extraordinary things to support a changing business
• Continually look to improve operations, with and without external help
• Live the culture we want to build in the business, communicating with everyone and representing the voice of the DC throughout the business
• Interfacing with teams across the business to get things done – and done in the right way

• Significant experience of distribution centre management and leadership
• Experience of landing change within distribution environments
• A fantastic leader through people and a developer of people – knows the difference between leadership and management and enables a team to deliver the right outcomes
• Data-oriented with a bias towards management to KPIs
• Action-oriented with the ability to solve problems directly and with others
• Collaborative and cross-functional across teams to achieve the right outcomes for the site and for the wider business
• Practical and straightforward with the ability to set and deliver longer-term strategic initiatives alongside tactical improvements