Sales & Operations Associate

Grounded Packaging; Greater London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

4.5-day week

Fridays finishing at 1pm

20 days holiday + public holidays

In-office culture in Dalston, East伦

Real responsibility from day one

Exposure to sales, operations, supply链

Clear path to senior roles

Job summary

Grounded is seeking a fast, organised sales/ops candidate who thrives in a quick, hands-on environment in London. You will own inbound enquiries, guide customers through options, and ensure orders move smoothly into production.

You will collaborate with operations, suppliers and finance and leverage AI tools to reduce admin and speed up communication. This hybrid role offers direct exposure to sales, operations, supply chain, and the AI tooling behind how we work, with a clear path to grow into

Qualifications

• Curiosity, follow-through and the confidence to learn quickly.
• Strong customer-facing skills and rapport-building.
• Experience using AI tools to speed up work and keep organised.

Responsibilities

• Own a pipeline of qualified inbound enquiries, build rapport and move customers from first conversation to closed order.
• Explain trade-offs between cost, lead time, quantity, quality and sustainability to customers.
• Follow up properly to keep deals moving and turn first orders into long-term relationships.
• Ensure deals are clean before production and coordinate with operations, suppliers and finance to keep orders moving.
• Use our AI-assisted tools daily and decide when human judgment is required; identify friction and suggest improvements.
• Keep sales, operations and finance aligned on active deals and work with tool builders to reflect real processes in systems.

Skills

Fast

Organised

People skills

AI tools usage

Tools

AI tools

Job description

Own customer deals from first enquiry through to fulfilled order, using the best tooling in packaging to move quickly, stay organised and keep customers properly looked after.

London · Dalston

Mon–Thu full day + Friday to 1pm

In-office

Start ASAP

Own customer deals from first enquiry through to fulfilled order, using the best tooling in packaging to move quickly, stay organised and keep customers properly looked after.

London · Dalston

Mon–Thu full day + Friday to 1pm

£40,000 base + commission

In-office

Start ASAP

About Grounded

Grounded makes sustainable packaging simpler, faster and more transparent.

We work with growing brands and global manufacturers to reduce plastic, cut waste and manage complex packaging supply chains. We do that through a mix of deep packaging knowledge, strong supplier relationships and Pacflow, our own platform for quoting, procurement and production.

We are a small team by design. We use technology to remove repetitive work, not to add layers of process. That means the people here spend their time on judgment, customer relationships, commercial decisions and making things happen.

The role

This is a hybrid sales and operations role for someone who likes pace, responsibility and variety.

You will take qualified inbound enquiries and own them through to a clean, fulfilled order. That means speaking with customers, understanding what they need, guiding them through options, closing the deal and making sure the order is handed over properly into production.

You will also work closely with our AI assistant, which helps with triage, admin and routine communication. Your job is not to behave like a script. Your job is to bring human judgment: commercial calls, rapport, problem-solving, follow-through and making sure customers feel properly looked after.

Because you will be one of the heaviest users of our tools, you will also help shape them. When something is slow, clunky or repetitive, we want you to spot it and feed it back so we can improve how we work.

This is not slow B2B. We reply quickly, keep momentum and treat follow-up as part of the job, not an afterthought.

What you’ll do

Sales and conversion

Own a pipeline of qualified inbound enquiries. Pick them up quickly, build rapport and move customers from first conversation to closed order.

Help customers, often first-time packaging buyers, understand the trade-offs between cost, lead time, quantity, quality and sustainability.

Follow up properly, keep deals moving and turn first orders into long-term customer relationships.

Order ownership

Make sure deals are clean before they move into production.

Work with operations, suppliers and finance to keep live orders moving and resolve blockers quickly.

Stay close to the details so customers get clear answers and the team is not left chasing missing information.

Working with AI and internal tools

Use our software daily to move faster and reduce repetitive admin.

Take the judgment calls that the tooling cannot handle.

Spot friction in the process and help us decide what should be automated or improved next.

Cross-functional work

Keep sales, operations and finance aligned on active deals.

Work closely with the people building our tools so the systems reflect how the work actually happens.

Who you are

You are fast, organised and good with people.

You do not need a packaging background. You do need curiosity, follow-through and the confidence to learn quickly.

We think you will be a strong fit if you are:

Comfortable using AI everyday

You already use AI tools in your own work and understand how they can remove admin, speed up communication and help you stay organised. You do not need to be technical, but you do need to be curious and willing to push the tools.

Quick to respond

You do not like things sitting unanswered. You follow up, close loops and keep momentum without needing to be chased.

Strong with customers

You can build rapport quickly, explain things clearly and make customers feel looked after. A hospitality, retail, front-of-house or customer service background would be very relevant here.

Early-career, ambitious and switched on

You are looking for responsibility, not a narrow job description. You want to learn how a business works from the inside and you are happy being close to both customers and operations.

Organised and reliable

You finish what you pick up. You keep details straight. People can trust you to move things forward properly.

Interested in sustainability

Sustainable packaging is the point of what we do. You do not need to be an expert, but you should care about the problem we are trying to solve.

Comfortable in a small, fast company

We are building our own way of doing things. That should feel exciting to you, not chaotic.

What we offer

• £40,000 base + commission
• 4.5-day week, with Fridays finishing at 1pm
• 20 days holiday + public holidays
• In-office culture in Dalston, East London
• Real responsibility from day one
• Direct exposure to sales, operations, supply chain and the AI tooling behind how we work
• A clear path to grow into senior sales, account management and shaping the systems we use to sell and deliver

Grounded is an equal-opportunity employer and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. If you share our pace, curiosity and interest in sustainable packaging, we would love to hear from you.