Lead First Line Manager

Pets at Home; Stafford; On-site; GBP 43,000 - 47,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave

Bank holidays

Stakeholder pension plan

Personal Health Insurance

Life assurance

Colleague discount

Bonus

Birthday day off

Job summary

Pets at Home is seeking a Lead First Line Manager to join the Stafford Fulfilment Centre. This leadership role oversees day-to-day warehouse operations across multiple functions, guiding teams, driving performance, and ensuring safety and quality standards are met.

You will cover day and night shifts, manage labour, coordinate with Stock Control and Transport, and act as deputy to the Senior Operations Manager while preparing for future progression into senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading teams within a logistics, warehouse or distribution environment.
• Strong leadership qualities with the ability to motivate, coach and inspire colleagues.
• Experience working in an automated warehouse environment.
• Confident IT skills and experience with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS).
• A passion for continuous improvement and delivering operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily operations across multiple warehouse functions, ensuring safe, efficient, and high-performing processes.
• Conduct daily briefings aligned with business priorities and provide clear performance updates including KPIs, service levels, errors, volumes, and damages.
• Plan and manage labour to meet demand, optimising resource allocation across shifts.
• Liaise with Stock Control to resolve cross-offs, investigate availability issues, and correct replenishment errors.
• Work closely with Transport to consolidate loads while maintaining excellent service to stores.
• Ensure seamless and accurate shift handovers.

Skills

People leadership

Team leadership

WMS experience

Continuous improvement

IT skills

Automation familiarity

Job description

Lead First Line Manager – Warehouse

Stafford Fulfilment Centre

Salary - £43,000 - £47,000 dependant on experience

Hours - 40 per week, shifts covering days and nights and to include some weekend working

At Pets, our mission is to give the nation’s pets everything they need to live their happiest, healthiest lives — whether that’s a squeaky toy for a spaniel, a scratch post for a calico, or a cosy home for a hamster. To make this happen, our Distribution Centres must run safely, efficiently, and with brilliant leadership every day.

Right now, we’re searching for a Lead First Line Manager (Lead FLM) to join our Warehouse Operations team.

The Role

This is more than a standard FLM role — it’s a leadership position operating one tier above First Line Manager level, providing operational coverage across multiple warehouse functions and acting as the deputy to the Senior Operations Manager.

You’ll support the full day-to-day running of warehouse operations across both day and night shifts, ensuring colleagues are engaged, performance is strong, and operational standards are consistently delivered. You’ll lead teams, drive continuous improvement, and maintain a safe and inclusive working environment — all while preparing for future progression into senior leadership roles.

With responsibility across stock flow, resource planning, colleague engagement and safety, you’ll ensure service, productivity, and quality targets are hit every single day.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Lead daily operations across multiple warehouse functions, ensuring safe, efficient, and high-performing processes.
• Conduct daily briefings aligned with business priorities and provide clear performance updates including KPIs, service levels, errors, volumes, and damages.
• Plan and manage labour to meet demand, optimising resource allocation across shifts.
• Liaise with Stock Control to resolve cross-offs, investigate availability issues, and correct replenishment errors.
• Work closely with Transport to consolidate loads while maintaining excellent service to stores.
• Ensure seamless and accurate shift handovers.

People Leadership

• Motivate, engage, and develop teams, fostering a high-performance, inclusive culture.
• Oversee absence management, ensuring all Return-to-Work Interviews are completed.
• Manage disciplinary processes up to and including dismissal, following Company Handbook guidelines.
• Engage proactively with agency partners regarding performance, attendance, and behaviours.

Safety & Standards

• Lead and complete accident and incident investigations, reporting outcomes to Health & Safety.
• Champion safe working practices and ensure all colleagues operate within compliance and safety guidelines.

Leadership Continuity

• Provide full operational cover for the Senior Operations Manager during holidays, rest days, and absence.
• Operate with leadership behaviours aligned to the next tier, contributing to building a strong future leadership pipeline.

What We’re Looking For

Essential

• Proven experience leading teams within a logistics, warehouse, or distribution environment.
• Strong leadership qualities with the ability to motivate, coach and inspire colleagues.
• Experience working in an automated warehouse environment.
• Confident IT skills and experience with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS).
• A passion for continuous improvement and delivering operational excellence.

Desirable

• Experience driving performance within high-volume environments.
• Understanding of resource planning, efficiency improvement, and warehouse optimisation.
• Knowledge of employment policies and colleague relations best practices.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to interpret performance data.

What You Will Get in Return

• Competitive salary.
• Annual leave including Bank Holidays, increasing after 2 years of continuous service.
• An extra day’s holiday on your birthday.
• Stakeholder pension plan.
• Personal Health Insurance scheme (when enrolled in the pension plan).
• Life assurance.
• 20% Pets at Home colleague discount after 12 weeks’ service.
• Pets “Treats” voluntary benefits package.
• Annual performance-related bonus.

Company Culture

We take our inspiration from pets in embracing people from all walks of life, valuing and celebrating difference. We encourage our people to be their best selves so that together we can create a better world for Pets, our Planet, and People.

Even if your experience doesn’t perfectly align, if your values and behaviours match ours, we’d love to hear from you.