Senior Warehouse Operations Manager

What you’ll be doing

We are seeking an experienced and proactive Senior Warehouse Operations Manager to provide senior operational leadership across our warehouse and inventory operations in Hemel Hempstead and York. This elevated role will be responsible for driving performance, strengthening operational controls, improving inventory accuracy, and supporting the continued development of a scalable, well-controlled multi-site warehouse operation.

The role will have a particular focus on Hemel Hempstead, where increasing configuration activity, higher-volume deliveries, secure handling requirements, and more complex customer fulfilment require visible senior leadership several days each week. The postholder will lead configuration from a warehouse operations perspective, ensuring the site has the right processes, controls, space, resource planning, stock discipline, and dispatch readiness to support accurate and efficient output.

The successful candidate will also travel regularly to York to maintain consistency across sites, support the different operational requirements at York, engage directly with local teams, and ensure shared standards are embedded across the warehouse network.

This role will suit someone who combines strong warehouse leadership with a detailed understanding of inventory control, process compliance, continuous improvement, multi-site operational management, and complex logistics requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop warehouse supervisors and the inventory team, creating clear accountability, strong communication, and a high-performance culture across all areas of responsibility.
• Provide senior leadership across the York and Hemel Hempstead warehouse operations, with direct accountability for warehouse performance, inventory control, operational standards, and the continued development of a scalable, well-controlled multi-site operation.
• Oversee inventory management, stock accuracy, cycle counts, investigations, and controls to ensure stock remains organised, visible, and reliable across all warehouse locations, including offsite storage and stock held at third-party warehouses.
• Ensure warehouse workflows, resource planning, shift patterns, and operational priorities support service levels, order fulfilment, configuration activity, stock control, and customer commitments.
• Lead configuration activity from a warehouse operations perspective, ensuring warehouse processes, space planning, resource allocation, stock control, handling standards, and dispatch readiness support efficient and accurate configuration output.
• Monitor performance against key operational and inventory KPIs, including order accuracy, on-time dispatch, stock accuracy, productivity, put-away performance, picking accuracy, and aged stock management.
• Identify operational risks, capacity constraints, process gaps, and performance issues, implementing practical improvements that increase efficiency, control, and cost-effectiveness.
• Develop, embed, and maintain consistent standard operating procedures across warehouse and inventory activities, ensuring teams follow agreed processes for receiving, put-away, picking, packing, dispatch, returns, stock movements, and adjustments.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders to ensure operational plans support customer requirements, commercial priorities, supplier activity, and wider business objectives.
• Provide senior operational expertise in complex logistics requirements, including secure and sited deliveries, international shipments, labelling and compliance requirements, same-day activity, container movements, shipment rules and regulations, and the management of deliveries from third-party facilities.
• Support the future development of the role to include broader logistics ownership, including export activity and complex shipment management, as the operation continues to evolve.
• Maintain strong health and safety standards across warehouse locations, promoting a proactive safety culture through audits, training, risk assessments, and clear management expectations.
• Maintain regular senior presence at Hemel Hempstead and York in line with the expectations of the role, ensuring operational issues are understood, prioritised, and resolved quickly at site level.

Requirements

• Proven experience in a senior warehouse operations role, ideally across multiple sites or within a complex operational environment.
• Strong people management experience, including leading supervisors, team leaders, or inventory teams.
• Detailed understanding of warehouse workflows, inventory control, stock accuracy, WMS systems, goods-in, picking, packing, dispatch, returns, and stock adjustment processes.
• Strong knowledge of logistics and complex shipment requirements, including secure deliveries, sited delivery activity, international and export movements, labelling standards, same-day shipments, container handling, rules and regulations, and third-party facility dispatches.
• Ability to work in a hybrid, multi-site role, with a regular presence at Hemel Hempstead several days each week and travel to York for at least two days every two weeks.
• Experience implementing standardised processes, improving operational controls, and driving continuous improvement across warehouse and inventory functions.
• Strong analytical, organisational, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data and KPIs to identify issues and improve performance.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence, engage, and collaborate with colleagues across operations, commercial, customer service, and leadership teams.
• Knowledge of health and safety requirements, risk assessments, warehouse compliance standards, and safe systems of work.