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Universal Business Team

Head of Operations

Widnes , United Kingdom
full-time

AI overview

Lead operational transformations in a rapidly growing company aiming to scale from £10m to £40m by 2030 through innovative logistics and systems improvements.

Head of Operations

Widnes, Cheshire
Full-Time | Senior Leadership Role
£80,000 – £100,000 + Profit Share + Benefits

The Opportunity

I’m recruiting exclusively on behalf of a rapidly scaling UK-based group operating across marine, onsite and wholesale distribution, currently turning over £9.5–£10m with a clearly defined ambition to reach £40m by 2030.

This is a critical, newly created leadership role designed to bring operational rigour, structure and scalability into the business. The organisation is commercially strong, sales-led and entrepreneurial — what’s needed now is a senior operational leader who can strip back, rebuild and future-proof operations without disrupting momentum.

You will operate as a standalone operational silo, Initially reporting to the commercial director, with full autonomy to design systems, set KPIs and drive delivery across production, warehousing, logistics and international supply chains.

This role is not about maintaining the status quo — it’s about doing the extraordinary.

Key Objectives (12–24 month horizon)

  • Scale operational capability in line with aggressive growth plans
  • Improve DIFOT performance from 91% to 96%+, with international shipments targeted at 100%
  • Reduce project lead times to 2 weeks
  • Implement scalable systems across manufacturers, warehouses and logistics
  • Strengthen the relationship between sales and operations
  • Create structure without slowing the business down

What You’ll Be Accountable For

Operational Leadership

  • End-to-end ownership of operations across UK and international sites
  • Oversight of multiple warehouses (including Europe) and subcontract manufacturers
  • Direct management of warehouse leadership and operational teams

Production & Supply Chain

  • Managing 3–4 key manufacturing partners (with 10–12 factory-based personnel)
  • Production planning, forecasting and component control
  • JIT / Lean principles where appropriate
  • Oversight of technical specification checks (technical team to transfer into role)

Logistics, Customs & Compliance

  • Full responsibility for import/export operations and international delivery systems
  • Customs documentation, commercial invoices and shipment control
  • ISO, H&S and project delivery compliance

Systems & Process Improvement

  • Strip back legacy processes and rebuild scalable, joined-up systems
  • ERP / supply chain system optimisation
  • Stock control, purchasing, dispatch and delivery performance
  • KPI setting, reporting and accountability frameworks

This is a hands-on leadership role — you will be expected to roll your sleeves up where required while still operating at a strategic level.

The Profile That Will Succeed

This role will suit someone who is:

  • Humble, hungry and smart — no ego, high accountability
  • Solutions-focused, pragmatic and resilient
  • Customer-focused mindset that is willing to do the extraordinary
  • Comfortable challenging the norm and “taking the bull by the horns”
  • Calm under pressure with ability to work with other colleagues to demanding deadlines
  • Commercially aware and deeply operationally credible

Experience & Capability

  • Senior operations leadership within manufacturing, wholesale or distribution
  • Strong background in metalwork / engineering / manufacturing environments
  • Proven experience managing subcontract manufacturers
  • Deep understanding of import/export, customs and international logistics
  • Track record of scaling operations in fast-growth businesses
  • Systems-led, data-driven and IT savvy (Excel competence beneficial)

You won’t be fazed by complexity, ambiguity or hard work — you’ll thrive on it.

What’s on Offer

  • £80,000 – £100,000 base salary (DOE)
  • Profit share bonus
  • Company vehicle
  • Private medical insurance
  • Laptop and phone
  • 25 days holiday + bank holidays
  • On-site parking
  • Autonomy, influence and genuine board-level exposure
  • The opportunity to architect operations in a business with serious growth ambition

Working Pattern

  • Core hours: 7:30am – 5:00pm
  • Flexibility required to meet operational demands

Perks & Benefits Extracted with AI

  • Health Insurance: Private medical insurance
  • Other Benefit: On-site parking
  • Paid Time Off: 25 days holiday + bank holidays
Universal Business Team

Universal Business Team (“UBT”) is a global enterprise spanning 19 countries across the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, Central America and Australasia. UBT, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, is a diversified business consultancy that supports clients with business-advisory and group-buying services with the objective to help businesses develop a competitive edge. UBT was launched in 2009 in response to the Global Financial Crisis to support client organisations that were either in distress or looking to improve their competitiveness and financial performance. Currently, UBT turns over $500M (AUD) and has aspirations for significant growth over the next three to five years. A recent decision was made to bring four separate global regions together under the one global brand and leadership team. UBT’s business advisory services comprise corporate training, consulting, recruitment, accounting, and group buying services. UBT facilitates leadership and business excellence for our client’s in their respective industries. Through the group buying function, UBT nurtures mutually-beneficial relationships between member businesses and world-leading providers of business goods and services. The outcome to which we strive is a “win-win” for small-to-medium enterprises and big business alike. UBT provides services and products to approximately 3,000 independent, family-owned businesses globally with combined annual revenues exceeding $12B (AUD). The majority are small to medium sized enterprises with typical annual revenue ranges between $5m-$20m. However, there are also some larger businesses with annual revenues in the range of $100m-$250m. The unifying feature of all UBT’s clients is that the owners are parishioners of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC). UBT (which is owned by the PBCC) supports clients by providing products, services and support designed to increase their profitability and growth. The after-tax profits generated by UBT are reinvested into community initiatives, predominantly through schools (established to educate the children of Brethren families) and charities, such as the Rapid Relief Team (“RRT”) and the Red Cross. UBT Recruitment are an Equal Opportunities Employer. We will apply a rigorous, objective selection process using non-discriminatory criteria, as far as possible on behalf of all the businesses we recruit for.To view our policy in full please contact [email protected]

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£80,000 – £100,000 per year
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