Operations Manager

Overview

As Operations Manager at Heywood, you lead a flagship, automated cold storage site to deliver safe, compliant, and efficient warehouse operations. You will deputise for the General Manager, guiding multi-shift teams and driving continuous improvement to meet service, productivity, quality, and financial targets. You’ll champion safety, food safety, and regulatory compliance while shaping site strategy and customer satisfaction. This role offers senior leadership impact in a global, purpose-driven logistics company.

Pay / Benefits

• competitive pay
• paid time off
• skills training and development
• cycle-to-work scheme
• credit union loans and savings
• 24/7 EAP

Responsibilities

• Provide senior operational leadership across the Heywood site to ensure safe, compliant, and efficient warehouse activities while meeting service, productivity, quality, and financial targets
• Act as deputy to the General Manager, taking full site leadership in their absence and providing strategic direction across all operational functions
• Lead multi-shift warehouse operations, overseeing teams and shift patterns to ensure continuous performance and 24/7 customer satisfaction
• Promote a world-class safety, food safety, and compliance culture with adherence to Health & Safety legislation, food hygiene standards, HACCP, and related regulations
• Drive site-wide continuous improvement initiatives to improve productivity, cost control, efficiency, quality, and service
• Coach and develop a team of operational managers and supervisors to build a high-performance culture with succession planning
• Own workforce planning, labor forecasting, resource allocation, and operational budgets for optimal utilization
• Ensure compliance with quality, customer, and accreditation standards (CMI, STS, EHO, etc.) and maintain governance and audit readiness
• Provide senior oversight of engineering and maintenance, manage contractor relationships, and oversee preventive maintenance to minimise disruptions
• Monitor and analyse operational KPIs, financial performance, customer metrics, and compliance indicators to drive corrective actions and improvements
• Build relationships with Finance, HR, Commercial, Customer Services, Engineering, and Continuous Improvement teams
• Support the General Manager in delivering site strategy, business objectives, customer growth plans, and operational transformation initiatives

Key requirements

• Significant leadership experience in fast-paced warehousing, logistics, distribution, or supply chain
• Proven ability to lead large-scale, multi-shift operations through managers and supervisors
• Senior-level leadership experience (e.g., Senior Operations Manager, Operations Manager, Deputy General Manager)
• Experience deputising for senior site leadership and making critical operational decisions
• Experience managing large teams and developing leadership through coaching, performance management, and succession planning
• Strong commercial awareness with budgets, labour costs, productivity targets, and OPEX
• Experience in automated, food, FMCG, temperature-controlled, or highly regulated logistics is advantageous
• Advanced understanding of WMS, operational reporting, labour management systems, and KPI analysis
• Proven ability to identify operational challenges, root cause analysis, and sustainable improvement actions
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across levels
• Knowledge of Health & Safety, food safety, compliance, and quality management systems in a warehouse
• strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities

• leadership
• coaching and development
• stakeholder management
• Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
• operational reporting
• labour management systems

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