Strategy & Operations Manager

GoPlaces; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus up to 15%

Phantom share options

Summer hours

Work abroad 2 weeks

25 days holiday

Birthday off

Hybrid work

Job summary

GoPlaces is seeking an independent Strategy & Operations Manager to drive core business strategy and planning, delivering change across the organisation. You’ll analyse performance, coordinate cross-functional initiatives and empower product owners with clear requirements.

You’ll lead improvement programmes, manage complex problems, and partner with teams to design operating models, budgets and reporting for revenue levers while coaching the wider organisation in change management.

Qualifications

• 1–2 years of operations or consultancy experience.
• Knowledge of organisation design, governance, RAID and AI tools is useful.
• Able to work with a range of stakeholders to drive change.
• Experience in a scale-up or complex environment is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Own improvement programme initiatives, prioritising change and owning delivery.
• Deep-dive across business units to understand problems.
• Work with tech and business teams to help product owners define requirements.
• Lead the business through large, ambiguous problems: structuring the approach and building buy-in from the organisation, clients and other stakeholders (e.g., TikTok).
• Support the development of our operating model, platforms and products.
• Support strategy definition, delivery tracking and reporting for all our revenue levers.
• Manage the planning cycle, becoming the connector between client and ops teams.
• Manage budgets, resource allocation, and procurement planning and tracking.
• Own our operations reporting cycle, monitoring performance metrics and preparing reports.
• Coach the organisation on change management, requirements writing and analysis.
• Defining team size, structure and processes for teams delivering in European markets.
• Holding account management teams accountable when their plans change.
• Running our quarterly cycle of operational performance reviews.
• Rebuilding our client onboarding process to deliver the best results for our clients.
• Delivering regular reports to senior leadership that highlight business delivery risks and propose solutions, which you’ll manage through to delivery.
• Redesigning how we build P&Ls in our BD process to focus on exceptional client outcomes.
• Supporting our Heads of Live Shopping, Creators, Logistics, Customer Service and Onboarding to deliver more effectively for our clients
• Defining requirements for a tool to automate our daily client reporting

Skills

Structured problem solving

Project management

Stakeholder management

Change management

Decision making under ambiguity

Job description

At GoPlaces, we’re revolutionising social commerce by helping brands thrive in the era of socially enabled shopping. We provide an end-to-end solution for brands, managing everything from logistics and demand forecasting to affiliate management and live shopping experiences.

Working across beauty, FMCG and consumer technology, we partner with a diverse portfolio of leading brands to drive growth through innovative commerce strategies. As we continue to scale rapidly, we’re investing in exceptional people who are excited to grow with us and help shape the future of social commerce.

Role Overview

We’re looking for an independent, solution-focused Strategy & Operations Manager to drive core business strategy and planning processes and deliver business transformation priorities. You’ll drive analysis and report on the performance of our operations. You must be comfortable working with a range of stakeholders to deliver change across the business, including hosting forums, reporting to senior management and supporting our co-founders’ initiatives. You’ll break down business problems into structured requirements, working as a business analyst and project manager to deliver change at pace, on time and to a high standard.

Knowledge of structured approaches to organisation design (e.g., spans & layers), governance (e.g., RACI), project management (e.g., RAID) and AI tools is useful. It’s a bonus if you’ve come from a complex or scale-up environment. TikTok experience is not required. 1–2 years’ experience in operations or consultancy.

Core Responsibilities

Own key parts of our change programme

• Own improvement programme initiatives, prioritising change and owning delivery
• Deep-dive across business units to understand their problems
• Work with tech and business teams to help product owners define requirements
• Lead the business through large, ambiguous problems: structuring the approach and building buy-in from the organisation, clients and other stakeholders (e.g., TikTok)
• Support the development of our operating model, platforms and products

Own key parts of our ongoing business delivery

• Support strategy definition, delivery tracking and reporting for all our revenue levers
• Manage the planning cycle, becoming the connector between client and ops teams
• Manage budgets, resource allocation, and procurement planning and tracking
• Own our operations reporting cycle, monitoring performance metrics and preparing reports
• Coach the organisation on change management, requirements writing and analysis

Examples of Work You’ll Focus On

• Defining team size, structure and processes for teams delivering in European markets
• Holding account management teams accountable when their plans change
• Running our quarterly cycle of operational performance reviews
• Rebuilding our client onboarding process to deliver the best results for our clients
• Delivering regular reports to senior leadership that highlight business delivery risks and propose solutions, which you’ll manage through to delivery
• Redesigning how we build P&Ls in our BD process to focus on exceptional client outcomes
• Supporting our Heads of Live Shopping, Creators, Logistics, Customer Service and Onboarding to deliver more effectively for our clients
• Defining requirements for a tool to automate our daily client reporting

Who You Are

• You have energy for ambiguity and pace in a startup that’s going global
• You take a structured approach to problem solving
• You can make the complicated feel simple
• You have the instinct to design, deliver and own, not just advise
• You have exceptional project management ability
• You can work with a wide range of stakeholders and learn from each of them

What We Offer

• Up to 15% bonus
• Phantom share options
• Summer working hours: finish at 1pm every Friday from June to August
• The option to work from abroad for 2 weeks per year
• 25 days’ holiday, plus your birthday off and public holidays
• Hybrid working: 3 days in our Archway office and 2 optional WFH days