Director/Head of Operations

We are looking for a hardworking and ambitious new Director/Head of Operations to join our rapidly growing family-owned footwear business, Pavers. This is the most senior operations role in the business, and we are looking for a commercially astute individual with experience of high growth environments to take over the leadership and oversight of the function and develop it into a source of commercial advantage. This role is based at our Head Office in York and will lead our warehousing (internal and 3rd party), stock control, inbound supply chain, and outbound logistics teams, and report directly to the Managing Director. With a turnover of over £200m, having grown almost 50% since 2019, and with significant further growth planned, we are looking for a tenacious leader who is not afraid to challenge and drive change, implement process improvement, and bring people with them through collaboration, engagement, and clear communication.

As a member of the Senior Operating Group, you will be expected to work collaboratively with your peers to drive the business’ profitability and processes. You will have responsibility for significant stakeholder management, supporting employees, recruitment, retention, engagement, and nurturing development amongst the teams to align with the culture and values at Pavers, always leading by example, and not being afraid to get hands on when required. You will need to design and execute operational and capital investment plans and deliver them to budget. Whilst the role will involve a lot of financial performance monitoring, forecasting, data analysis and efficiency work, people are at the heart of the business. As a leader you’ll need to motivate your management team and instil a culture of accountability in all key areas, creating improvements and future-proofing solutions.

Pavers has been trading for over 50 years and is a highly profitable family owned-and-run retail business with a strong balance sheet, over 185 retail locations, and a rapidly expanding digital presence. We also own the Jones Bootmaker, Padders, and Herring Shoes footwear businesses, remain acquisitive, and employ over 1700 people. We are one of the UK’s Top 10 Retail Employers according to Best Companies, are Carbon Neutral, have donated more than £1.5m to charity in the past 4 years, and are currently in the final stages of B Corp accreditation.

Key Responsibilities and Duties of the Director/Head of Operations:

• Provide strategic and operational leadership and motivation to direct and indirect reports within the Operations team to motivate both individual and team performance and productivity
• Develop and own the operations budget, monitor, and report monthly to the Senior Operating Group
• Drive operational KPIs, maximise outputs and efficiencies
• Implement best practice process change and management techniques to increase efficiency and safety
• In conjunction with the Trading team, plan the forecasting for future capacity and growth of the supply chain
• Co-ordinate all external storage activities
• Proactively monitor and manage all inbound/ outbound activity
• Own the resource capacity and I/O forums
• Assess and develop future operational plans including 3PL solutions
• Co-ordinate cross functional activities to reconcile variances to plan
• Identify root cause analysis and instigate solutions for improvements and cost efficiencies
• Stock control management both centrally and across the Retail estate
• Recruit, develop, coach and manage the operations team management, embedding a culture of excellence and continuous improvement
• Utilise financial and operational data to improve profitability and control costs
• Improve and embed processes, systems and policies in support of organisational goals
• Formulate and implement departmental and organisational policies and procedures to maximise output & monitor compliance to rules, regulations and procedures
• Collect, analyse, and report productivity data
• Examine and improve our auditing and stocktake processes
• Sign off and approval of all operations expenditures

Qualifications & Skill Requirements to be our Director/Head of Operations:

• Extensive experience in all facets of warehousing, inventory management, inbound/outbound logistics, preferably in a Retail, military, or manufacturing setting
• Ability to operate as an effective tactical as well as strategic thinker
• Strong mentoring, coaching experience to a team with diverse levels of expertise
• Experience and management of inventory and supply chain systems
• Proven track record of success facilitating progressive organisational change and development within a growing organisation.
• Ability to manage multiple inputs – channels/products
• Excellent judgement and creative problem-solving skills including negotiation and conflict resolution skills
• Superior management skills: ability to influence and engage direct and indirect reports and peers
• Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills and the ability to effectively interface with senior management and staff
• Knowledge and experience in organisational effectiveness and operations management
• Knowledge of project management principles and practices
• Lean methodologies
• Experience working in a family business plus a sense of humour and a drive to get things done would be ideal!

Pay & Benefits for our Director/Head of Operations:

£Competitive salary depending on experience, plus:

• Flexible/Hybrid Working 2 days per week working from home once fully inducted
• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• Generous Staff Discount
• Death in Service Benefit x3 Salary
• Private Medical Insurance
• LTIP
• Holiday Entitlement (Increases with service)
• Company Contribution Pension 7.5% matched
• Access to Retail TRUST (Wellbeing & Financial Support)
• Access to the Pavers Foundation: an employee-led grant application and charitable giving scheme
• Access to Pavers Academy for learning and development opportunities

About Us

At Pavers we look for confident, upbeat people and we provide great jobs in a supportive family environment for them. We know that without our colleagues there is no business, and so we always try and do the right thing by our people.

We strive for diversity of thinking across the business and believe strongly in supporting our local communities. In 2018 we donated over £2.2m to establish the Pavers Foundation, with the specific purpose of providing grants for causes important to our colleagues in the areas of health, education, and community. In terms of the environment, we are constantly seeking to reduce our impact. Since 2021 we have been fully carbon neutral, and we also have one of the largest solar arrays in the North-East of England on our warehouse, generating clean energy. Due to our yearly donation of 2.5% of our net profit to our Foundation, our overarching aim is to be financially successful, but to achieve this in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

If this sounds like the kind of business you’d like to work for, we’d love to hear from you - please apply today for the role of Director/Head of Operations.