Operations Director

DHL Supply Chain; United Kingdom; Hybrid; Confidential; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car scheme or allowance

Pension scheme with employer contribution

24/7 GP consultations

Retail and lifestyle discounts

Loans and savings schemes

Free mortgage advice

Job summary

A leading logistics company is seeking an Operations Director to manage its Ecommerce and Retail division in the United Kingdom. In this key role, you will lead multiple operational teams, drive performance, and set strategic directions for supply chain optimization. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in retail or FMCG supply chains, strong leadership skills, and a passion for continuous improvement. Join us in shaping the future of logistics while benefitting from a hybrid work model and a range of employee perks.

Qualifications

• Strong retail or FMCG supply chain exposure.
• Experience in leading operational teams across multiple sites.
• Ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead senior operational teams and strategic direction.
• Drive transformation and automation initiatives.
• Oversee operational governance and compliance.

Skills

Team Leadership

Strategic Planning

Supply Chain Optimization

Automation and CI

Customer Relationship Management

Commercial Acumen

Job description

Location: United Kingdom – Hybrid/Remote

As an Operations Director within DHL Supply Chain's Ecommerce and Retail division, you're at the heart of an industry-leading logistics powerhouse. Every day, you shape the success of some of the UK's most recognisable brands, ensuring their products flow smoothly through our network and into customers' hands. You'll lead passionate teams, drive performance across multiple high-profile sites, and make strategic decisions that directly influence the future of our operations. It's a role where your leadership has real impact, and where innovation, safety, and operational excellence go hand in hand.

At DHL, you're part of a global business known for developing talent, rewarding ambition, and giving leaders the platform to truly excel. You'll immerse yourself in a culture built on respect, continuous improvement, and doing what's right for our people and customers. It's fast, dynamic, and packed with opportunity perfect for someone who wants to build something exceptional while pushing both themselves and the business forward. Together, we don't just move products… we keep the world moving.

✅A TYPICAL DAY MAY INVOLVE

• Leading and inspiring senior operational teams across multiple sites, creating clarity of purpose, building strong engagement, and ensuring leaders are aligned, accountable, and fully invested in delivering the end to end strategy.
• Setting strategic direction for a multi‑site operation, ensuring the entire end‑to‑end supply chain, from source to store is optimised, connected, and resilient.
• Leading transformation, automation, and CI programmes, identifying where technology, process redesign, or new ways of working can unlock efficiency, accuracy, and speed across the network.
• Driving supply chain planning excellence, influencing replenishment strategies, ANR stock planning, and network stock flow to improve product availability and reduce waste across ecommerce and retail channels.
• Conducting structured Gemba activity and performance reviews, using data and behavioural insight to identify capability gaps, fix root causes, and create sustainable improvements.
• Strengthening executive‑level customer relationships, particularly with major UK retailers, shaping strategy and driving collaborative decisions that enhance end‑to‑end performance.
• Overseeing operational governance, compliance, and future resource planning, ensuring we have the right skills, leadership bench, automation readiness, and structure to support long‑term growth.
• Collaborating across functions and customer groups (Supply Chain, Planning, Retail, Transport, IT, Finance) to ensure decisions are joined‑up and not made independently within siloed teams.
• Assessing where value is delivered across the supply chain, identifying inefficiencies, challenging established thinking, and improving the connectivity between sourcing, logistics fulfilment, and retail operations.

✅THIS ROLE WOULD SUIT PEOPLE WHO

• Lead and inspire high‑performing teams, creating a culture of accountability, empowerment, continuous improvement, and operational discipline.
• Embrace automation as a strategic enabler, understanding how digital tools, mechanisation, and data‑driven technologies can enhance accuracy, speed, safety, and efficiency across a multi‑site network.
• Navigate complex stakeholder environments, influencing senior customer boards, retail planning teams, and internal leaders to align decisions.
• Are true end‑to‑end supply chain thinkers, able to understand, influence, and optimise the full chain, from sourcing and inbound flows to replenishment, logistics operations, and retail execution.
• Have strong retail or FMCG supply chain exposure, bringing insight into how stock planning, availability, fulfilment, and store performance connect to operational success.
• Drive continuous improvement and transformation, using structured methodologies and insights to raise standards, build efficiency, and remove waste across an entire operation.
• Bring strong commercial and strategic acumen, understanding how operational performance, cost control, availability, and innovation combine to create sustainable customer value.
• Think boldly but stay grounded, balancing long‑term strategic direction with practical, shop‑floor‑level leadership where real value and insight are found.
• Enjoy shaping transformation, helping customers modernise legacy ways of working and shift towards connected, automated, data‑driven supply chain operations.

✅WHY JOIN US?

• Access to the Company car scheme, or car allowance
• Join our generous pension scheme and benefit from an 8% employer contribution, alongside a 4% employee contribution
• Free confidential 24/7 GP consultations
• Hundreds of retail and lifestyle discounts
• Affordable loans, savings schemes and free mortgage advice
• Visit https://careers.dhl.com/global/en/working-at-dhl-supply-chain to learn more