Chief Operations Officer

We have been retained by a rapidly scaling retail tech & logistics business to search for a Chief Operations Officer / VP Operations, to help ensure their operational delivery capability is able to keep pace with their 200-300% YOY growth. This is a highly challenging role where you’ll build the team; develop business cases for significant operational delivery investments; design and refine operational processes and workflows and ensure that they maintain world class service delivery.

Currently at £5m ARR, they expect to continue this growth rate up to a funding round next year, that will ultimately enable them to open new locations in Europe and North America.

The Chief Operations Officer / VP Operations will join the senior leadership team, with responsibility for a growing team of around 40 across eCommerce fulfilment and operational business areas (finance, HR, legal etc).

This is an incredible opportunity to join a relatively early stage yet highly profitable scale-up, with a proven product-market fit and unique positioning in their sector.

This is a hybrid role, based 3 days per week at their northern Kent offices.

The Chief Operations Officer / VP Operations will:

• Define and set-up the operation strategy, including long-term goals in close collaboration with senior leadership team
• Shape the Finance strategy and provide valuable input on key business model questions
• Own the overall responsibility for company operations translating the company’s strategy and vision into comprehensive goals for performance, growth and success.
• Set up and manage OKRs to continuously monitor overall business performance and foster a customer centric, data driven culture, whilst identifying and targeting areas in which the business should improve.
• Build and lead a highly performant, cross-functional operations team and cultivate an agile one-team culture.
• Own the operational budget, managing a sustainable and profitable financial strategy while assisting the CEO in other growth ventures
• Establish policies and procedures that promote company culture and vision
• Oversee daily operations and the work of executives and proactively mitigate business, governance and operational risks by interpreting data and metrics
• Lead employees by example and be a motivator for other employees
• Delivery of key reports from heads of function for review by CEO

Candidates for the Chief Operations Officer / VP Operations role must have:

• Strong previous experience in an operational leadership role
• Some experience of eCommerce or retail fulfilment environments or technology, or similar such as logistics, supply chain, etc.
• Authentic leadership style with ability to influence, develop and empower employees
• Proven experience managing people who have their own direct reports. Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills
• Agile and forward-thinking with the ability to look at the bigger picture and plan ahead
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to contribute directly to the overall business strategy.
• Proactive, data driven and analytical
• Tech focus with experience in the implantation of new systems
• Outstanding communication and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Knowledge of different business functions such as HR, Finance, Marketing, Operations etc.
• Ideally familiarity of eCommerce / SaaS Business infrastructure
• Outstanding organizational and time management skills
• Problem-solving mindset

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