Head of Operations

Caravan Coffee Roasters Ltd; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

50% off all food in Brew Bars

Dining discount at our restaurants

Weekly roastery team lunch

All coffee on site

Weekly allowance of coffee for home

Bike to work scheme

Mental health and well-being support

Financial health education and support

Leadership training and development

Birthday & Anniversary voucher for our

Internal career progression

Job summary

Caravan Coffee Roasters Ltd in North London is seeking a Hands-on Head of Operations to lead our roastery and end-to-end operations. You will own planning, procurement, production, fulfilment and customer experience while driving cost efficiency and quality.

We seek an experienced operator with a lean mindset who can lead teams through change, manage budgets and build a scalable operation that supports growth across our cafes and direct customers.

Qualifications

• Senior operations experience in food, beverage or FMCG manufacturing.
• Lean/Six Sigma mindset with track record of improvements.
• Hands-on leadership with ability to troubleshoot and act.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop Operations and Customer Experience teams to build high-performing culture.
• Own budgets, drive purchasing, resourcing, production and fulfilment efficiency.
• Ensure Health & Safety, risk management and compliance (SALSA, Fairtrade).
• Embed B Corp principles and sustainability improvements across operation.
• Own S&OP, translate forecasts into production and inventory plans.
• Drive lean manufacturing, reduce waste and improve workflows.
• Lead major change and automation projects from business case to implementation.
• Use AI to simplify planning and reporting workflows.
• Maintain inventory accuracy in Unleashed as truth source.

Skills

Senior operations

Lean mindset

Hands-on leadership

People leadership

Commercial planning

Supply chain

AI/automation

Tools

Unleashed

Job description

We’ve been passionate about great-tasting, 100% traceable speciality coffee since roasting our first coffee in the basement of our original restaurant 16 years ago. Today, we’re a B Corp-certified roaster, producing fresh coffee from our North London roastery, supplying our nine restaurants, Brew Bars, and a growing customer base.

We’re looking for a hands-on Head of Operations to lead our end-to-end roastery operation.

You’ll own the operational engine: planning, packaging & consumables procurement, production, fulfilment, customer experience and cost management. You’ll build a scalable, efficient operation that delivers consistently high standards of quality and service, whilst leading the team through a period of change and growth.

Responsibilities

People, Cost & Compliance

• Lead and develop the Operations and Customer Experience teams, building a high-performing, solution-focused culture.
• Own operational budgets and drive better purchasing, resourcing, production and fulfilment efficiency.
• Own site Health & Safety, risk management and compliance, including SALSA and Fairtrade standards.
• Embed B Corp principles and measurable sustainability improvements across the operation.

Planning & Production

• Own the S&OP process, bringing clear decisions through the exec routine, turning demand forecasts into green coffee, packaging, capacity and production scheduling plans.
• Drive lean manufacturing and continuous improvement across the roastery, reducing waste, improving workflows and delivering measurable efficiency gains.
• Lead major operational change and automation projects, from business case through to implementation.
• Use AI and automation to simplify planning, reporting and operational workflows.
• Own Unleashed as the operational source of truth, ensuring accurate inventory, stock movements and master data.
• Be hands-on when needed, stepping onto the production floor to solve problems and keep things moving.

Procurement & Supplier Management

• Own strategic relationships with third-party production and logistics partners, holding them to agreed SLAs, quality and service standards.
• Ensure packaging and consumables are competitively priced and regularly benchmarked.
• Oversee quality assurance, complaints and compliance documentation.

Customer Experience

• Support the Customer Experience Manager to deliver a seamless customer journey across D2C and B2B, providing operational support with customer communication, order-to-cash, technical servicing, SLAs and senior-level escalations.

The Person

• Experienced operator: Proven senior operations experience in food, beverage or FMCG manufacturing.
• Lean mindset: Practical experience with Lean/Six Sigma and a track record of delivering measurable improvements.
• Hands-on leader: Comfortable getting into the detail, troubleshooting problems and making things happen.
• People leader: Able to build, motivate and lead teams through change.
• Commercially sharp: Strong planning, budget management and data-driven decision-making skills.
• Supply chain savvy: Strong understanding of procurement, inventory and production planning; AI/automation experience essential.
• Customer focused: High standards of service and experience leading customer-facing teams.

To say thank you for choosing us, we also offer our teams

• 50% off all food in our Brew Bars
• Dining discount when visiting our restaurants
• Weekly roastery team lunch
• All of the coffee you can drink on site
• Weekly allowance of coffee for home
• Bike to work scheme
• Mental health and well-being support
• Financial health education and support
• Leadership training and development
• Birthday & Anniversary Treat: on your birthday and work anniversary, you'll receive a Caravan voucher to spend in any of our restaurants
• Development and career progression: 80% of all our management roles are filled internally

Compensation: Competitive salary