Customer Operations Team Lead

Pentland Brands; Sunderland; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Flexible start/finish times

Generous holiday allowance

Product discounts

Sample sales

Enhanced family-friendly policies

Healthcare support

Gym and fitness discounts

Cycle to work

Job summary

Pentland Brands in Sunderland is seeking a Customer Operations Team Leader to guide a team of Customer Operations Executives, directly supporting strategic accounts and ensuring service excellence.

You will collaborate with the Customer Operations Manager to drive daily performance, improvements, and commercial alignment across orders, shipping, and forecast-based planning, in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in a customer-facing or account management role, ideally within a supply chain or commercial operations environment.
• Proven ability to coach and develop teams, and to meet performance metrics (OTIF, SLAs, customer satisfaction).

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and motivate a team of Customer Operations Executives, conducting regular PDRs and promoting Pentland Principles.
• Act as primary point of contact for strategic customer accounts, building trust and driving operational excellence.
• Ensure smooth order placement and delivery, using exception reports to identify and resolve issues promptly.
• Manage in-season order requests and prioritise fulfilment to meet commercial and customer needs.
• Handle order lifecycle processes including cancellations, returns, credits, debits, VAS, and distribution centre requirements.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with merchandising and shipping teams in Asia for direct delivery exports when needed.
• Contribute to commercial discussions by sharing insight from customer interactions to inform forecasting and service improvements.

Skills

Leadership

Customer relationships

Communication

Problem solving

OTIF

Job description

We’re Pentland Brands: a global family business behind some of the world’s most iconic active and lifestyle brands. We bring integrity, energy and ambition to our work, setting high standards and striving to deliver great outcomes without ego.

As Customer Operations Team Leader, you’ll play a pivotal role in leading a team of Customer Operations Executives. This is a hands-on, customer-facing role where you’ll work directly with key strategic customer accounts, ensuring high levels of service and commercial alignment.

You’ll build and nurture strong relationships with our strategic partners, becoming a trusted point of contact who drives collaboration and long-term value. You’ll also work closely with the Customer Operations Manager to support the team’s daily performance and continuous improvement.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead, develop, and motivate a team of Customer Operations Executives, conducting regular PDRs and promoting our Pentland Principles.
• Act as a primary point of contact for strategic customer accounts - building trust, ensuring seamless communication, and driving operational excellence.
• Ensure smooth order placement and delivery, using exception reports to identify and resolve issues promptly.
• Manage in-season order requests and prioritise fulfilment to meet commercial and customer needs.
• Handle order lifecycle processes including cancellations, returns, credits, debits, VAS (value-added services), and distribution centre requirements.
• Work cross-functionally with our merchandising and shipping teams in Asia to coordinate direct delivery exports when needed.
• Contribute to commercial discussions by sharing insight from customer interactions to inform forecasting and service improvements.

What you’ll bring:

• Thrive in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment and enjoys building relationships with strategic accounts.
• Proactive problem-solver who can lead by example and bring structure and clarity to daily operations.
• Proven experience in a customer-facing or account management role, ideally within a supply chain or commercial operations environment.
• Strong communication skills and a customer-first mindset, with the ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.
• A track record of meeting performance metrics such as OTIF (On Time In Full), SLAs, and customer satisfaction targets.
• The ability to coach and develop a high-performing team, driving engagement and ownership.

Why Pentland Brands?

Pentland Brands is the name behind some of the world’s best-known sport, outdoor and lifestyle brands, including Speedo, Berghaus, Canterbury, Endura, Ellesse, Kickers and Mitre.

We are a global family business with a clear purpose: pioneering brands that make life better. Across our teams, functions and locations, we work together to create products, experiences and partnerships that help people live more active, confident and positive lives.

Joining Pentland Brands means becoming part of a business where your work can have real reach, across multiple brands, markets, teams and disciplines. It is a place for people who want to contribute, collaborate, improve how things are done and help build the future of brands with heritage, ambition and global impact.

We offer a competitive salary, discretionary bonus, hybrid working, flexible start and finish times, generous holiday allowance, product discounts, sample sales, enhanced family-friendly policies, healthcare support, gym and fitness discounts, cycle to work scheme and electric car scheme.

You can find full details of our benefits and perks on our UK Benefits page.

The Interview Process

We want our interview process to feel clear, straightforward, and supportive. If your experience and expectations look like a strong match for the role, here’s what you can expect next:

• Talent Team Intro Call - A 30-minute video call with our Talent Team to get to know each other, talk through the role and your experience, and answer any questions you have.
• Experience Interview - A more in-depth interview (usually online) with the hiring manager to explore your skills, experience and approach, and how these align with the role, our principles, and our ways of working.
• Final Interview - A final in-person interview at our office, focused on deeper discussion and practical application, giving you the chance to meet more of the team and see Pentland Brands in action.