Head of Operations

Join; Rainham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days per year + bank holidays

Pension salary sacrifice

Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave

Employee Discount on our bikes and C2W

Job summary

Bike Club seeks a Head of Operations for Rainham to own the system that runs the site as it becomes a refurb centre and national distribution hub from January 2027.

The role combines planning, analytics and continuous improvement with people leadership across Distribution, Warehouse, and Mechanic teams, ensuring on-time, accurate dispatch and inventory control while scaling operations to meet growth.

Qualifications

• Proven experience running a modern, multi-function warehouse or distribution site at scale.
• Background in D2C logistics and industrial manufacturing.
• Strong quantitative and analytical ability; comfortable building and interrogating models.
• Lean/continuous improvement background applied as a default way of working.

Responsibilities

• Own demand, capacity and forward planning across the site.
• Own data integrity, reporting and systems design for inventory and dispatch.
• Manage inventory accuracy, cycle counts and disposal authorisation.
• Design and implement performance frameworks and QC gates for build and despatch.
• Drive continuous improvement with lean methods and automation where beneficial.
• Lead the Distribution Manager, warehouse and Mechanic teams; build scalable structure.

Skills

Warehouse leadership

D2C logistics

Data analytics

Lean/continuous improvement

AI native

Salesforce

Carrier management

People leadership

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

We're customer obsessed. We put the customer at the heart of everything we do - and we're looking for people who feel the same way.

About Bike Club

Bike Club is the easiest way to keep kids on the right sized bike. Through our subscription model, we remove the hassle of buying, outgrowing and reselling children's bikes, so families always have the right bike, right when they need it. We are a purpose led, fast-growing business built on ease, care, progress and joy - with a relentless focus on customer growth, retention and building a more circular approach to children's cycling.

Purpose of the Role

The Head of Operations owns the system that runs Rainham: the plan, the standard, the data and the forward view. This is a new role, created as Rainham becomes both a refurb centre and a national distribution site from January 2027.

This is a planning, analytical and continuous improvement role first as well as a people management role. The Head of Operations will build the system the warehouse team, mechanic team and distribution team deliver against and will be ultimately accountable for whether the site performs both efficiently and effectively.

Tasks

Key Responsibilities

1. Demand, capacity and forward planning

• Own capacity planning end to end: built stock cover, inbound space, returns and disposal flow, physical site capacity as the site takes on distribution volume.
• Build and stress test the peak plan well ahead of demand, including Christmas peak, modelling labour, space and carrier capacity against it.
• Run rigorous what-if scenario planning: model the impact of demand shifts, supply delays, absence and carrier disruption before they happen, not after.
• Set build volume targets from demand and the labour model that delivers them, and own whether the number lands.

2. Data, systems and reporting

• Own data integrity across the site: build, dispatch and inventory reporting must reconcile, and any variance is investigated, not repeated.
• Fluent in Salesforce (ideal) and confident evaluating or evolving a WMS suited to the site's needs as it scales.
• Own the design of scanning, location and inventory status processes/workflow that the Distribution Manager and Mechanic Team execute.
• Build the reporting the business needs to trust: no repeat of build numbers running on an unvalidated figure

3. Inventory and stock governance

• Own inventory accuracy, cycle count governance and disposal authorisation across the site
• Set the reorder points and supplier process for packaging and consumables for the Distribution Manager to own and execute upon.
• Reconcile stock movements regularly and investigate variance as standard daily practice - not as a reaction to a discovered problem.

4. Performance framework and quality

• Design and own the performance framework: what good output looks like, how it is measured, and when it is escalated
• Design the QC gates built into both the build and despatch process, so defects are caught by design and automation where applicable.
• Set the standard for order completeness and despatch accuracy, and firmly hold the site to it.
• Own the formal performance management framework, including how underperformance is identified, documented and addressed

5. Continuous improvement

• Continuous improvement is a default operating habit of this role, not a project or an initiative
• Bring a lean methodology to daily operations: identify waste, standardise process, remove friction, on an ongoing basis
• Apply automation and AI where it genuinely improves accuracy or throughput 6. Despatch performance
• Single point of accountability for on-time-in-full dispatch performance to all members. The Distribution Manager owns the execution but you are accountable.

6. Despatch performance

• Single point of accountability for on-time-in-full dispatch performance to all members. The Distribution Manager owns the execution but you are accountable.

7. Team leadership

• Lead all Site functions; the Distribution Manager, the warehouse (Goods In/Bike Wash teams), and the Mechanic Teams.
• Set clear objectives for each line, reviewed monthly, and hold each accountable for delivery against the plan
• Build the structure needed under each line as the site scales, including supervisory layers where a team requires one. (i.e. Mechanic supervisor)
• Maintain and continuously improve the company’s safety management systems in alignment with OHSAS

Performance Metrics

• OTIF despatch performance, site wide
• Inventory accuracy and cycle count variance
• 100% fulfilment guarantee. (if a SKU is available and not on site it must be built within 24hrs)
• Build output against target, and build quality against standard
• Packaging and consumables stock cover, zero stockouts.
• Data reconciliation accuracy, build to despatch to inventory
• Peak plan delivery against forecast
• Continuous improvement initiatives delivered and their measured impact

Requirements

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Proven experience running a modern, multi-function warehouse or distribution site at scale
• Background in D2C logistics and industrial manufacturing
• Strong quantitative and analytical ability: comfortable building and interrogating models, not just reading dashboards
• Genuine continuous improvement or lean background, applied as a default way of working to black belt standard.
• AI native - Fluency and experience is a must
• Commercially and technically fluent, including confidence with Salesforce, WMS systems and warehouse automation
• Track record of building control environments: inventory accuracy, reporting integrity, performance frameworks, where none existed before
• Experience managing carrier relationships
• Strong people leadership through both line managers and direct floor management Desirable
• Experience in a circular economy or refurbishment-led operating model
• Experience building a WMS from scratch or its continuous evolution
• Peak season planning experience in a high SKU count, seasonal demand environment

Our Values

We look for people who live our values every day:

Ease: we make things simple for our members and for each other.

Care: we look after our customers, our colleagues and our bikes.

Progress: we keep improving, learning and raising the bar.

Joy: we help kids fall in love with cycling, and enjoy the work we do.

Benefits

We offer 26 days per year + bank holidays

Pension salary sacrifice

Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave

Employee Discount on our bikes and Cycle to Work Scheme

Why Bike Club?

You'll be joining a business with a clear purpose, a genuinely different proposition and significant opportunity to grow.

This is a rare opportunity to build the operating system for our national refurbishment and distribution site from the ground up, shaping how Bike Club gets the right bike to every family, right when they need it.