Caroline Gardner Publishing
Operations Manager / Head of Operations
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We're looking for an experienced, dynamic and collaborative Operations Manager / Head of Operations to join our team!
permanent / full time / split between SW London and Banbury / ASAP start
Caroline Gardner Publishing is a leading supplier of cards, stationery, and stylish home and gifting products, catering to design-focused retailers worldwide. From high street brands and department stores to independent galleries, our products find a home in a diverse range of retail spaces.
The business is at an exciting stage of growth and transformation. We have recently established our own warehousing operation in Banbury, giving us greater control over fulfilment, stock management and customer service. Alongside this investment, we are continuing to modernise our operational systems, strengthen our supply chain and logistics network, and build more joined-up ways of working across the business.
This role is central to that journey. Working across our London office and Banbury warehouse, you will help shape how the business operates as we continue to grow, improving processes, connecting departments, and ensuring our operations remain scalable, efficient and capable of supporting our ambitious plans for the future.
Role Overview:
We are looking for an experienced operations leader to bring greater coherence and control to the operational side of the business. Depending on your experience, this may be an Operations Manager or a Head of Operations appointment, and we are open to both. For an exceptional candidate with less senior experience, we would consider appointment as Operations Manager, with the opportunity to grow into the Head of Operations role.
This is not a warehouse management role. Our Despatch Manager currently leads the day-to-day operation at Banbury and will report to you, and supporting their development into the Warehouse Manager role is a genuine part of the job. The role sits above and across the business, ensuring that the operational decisions taken in Sales, Buying, Merchandising, Design, Finance, Warehouse and Shop are coherent and serve the whole company, rather than each department working in isolation.
This is a hands-on role. As a close-knit and growing business, we need someone who is comfortable working in the detail as well as leading, rather than managing solely through delegation.
You will report to the Strategy & Operations Director, operating with their delegated authority, with a dotted line to the Finance Director on systems and improvement work. You will assume day-to-day responsibility for operations, bring rigour and joined-up thinking to how we run, and make good use of modern tools, including AI, to help us work more efficiently and make better decisions.
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What You’ll Do -
The remit is broad and cross-functional, spanning operations, supply chain, warehouse and systems, and will include:
- Bringing coherence to operational decision-making across Sales, Buying, Merchandising, Design, Finance, Warehouse and Shop, and owning a planning rhythm that connects demand, stock, buying and fulfilment.
- Owning supplier relationships and inbound logistics end to end, from sourcing and commercial terms through to freight, customs and landed cost.
- Leading our compliance programme, including upcoming EU packaging and deforestation regulation and B-Corp recertification - you don't necessarily need to arrive knowing these, but you do need to get on top of them.
- Leading and developing our Warehouse Manager, and owning cross-channel fulfilment strategy, inventory performance and outwork partners.
- Managing operational systems, external IT partners, and improving how we use data and AI to run the operation.
- Leading operational projects and improvement work, and managing operational budgets and cost-to-serve.
Please read the full JD available on our website before applying as the above is not exhaustive.
Why Join Us -
- Competitive salary depending on the level of the appointment and your experience.
- Benefits include a generous holiday allowance, staff discount of up to 65%, discretionary annual bonus scheme, enhanced pension and group life assurance policy, an Employee Assistance Programme, and much more.
- This is a full-time role, based across our London office (Putney) and Banbury warehouse, with regular travel between the two. Some flexibility on hours will be needed to support peak periods and the rhythm of the business.
What We’re Looking For -
- A hands-on operations leader with a track record spanning more than one function in a product, retail or multi-channel business - someone who joins things up, not just runs a department.
- Comfortable working in the detail as well as delegating, and skilled at turning competing priorities into steady, visible progress.
- Experience with sales-and-operations planning (aligning demand, stock and fulfilment) is a strong plus.
- Confident with systems, data and modern tools, including AI, and experienced managing external IT partners.
- Good commercial judgement across cost, service and returns, plus a solid grasp of warehouse and logistics operations.
- Able to build trust and influence across a close-knit, founder-led business, working with delegated authority.
- Happy splitting time between our London office and Banbury warehouse.
- Shares our values: thoughtful, practical, open, collaborative, with a real eye for quality.
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How to apply:
Please submit your CV and your answers to the below questions directly to HR via email at jobs@carolinegardner.com as soon as possible. If your application is shortlisted, the interview process will consist of a number of stages, the first of which will be a remote interview via Teams with HR or the Strategy & Operations Director. No agencies please.
Application Questions:
- Do you have the right to work in the United Kingdom? Y/N
- Are you able to divide your working week between our London office and our Banbury warehouse, with regular travel between the two? Y/N
- How many years of experience do you have leading operations across more than one function? (numeric)
- What is your notice period, in weeks? (numeric)
- What salary are you looking for? (numeric)
- Have you managed people who did not report directly to you? Y/N
- What is the biggest mess you have sorted out? (150 words)
- Tell us about a time you had to make a decision where no answer seemed like the right one. (150 words)
- When have you had to get something done without the authority to make anyone do it? (150 words)
- What have you got most wrong at work, and what happened next? (150 words)
- Anything else you would like us to know? Optional (100 words)
We welcome your application: Caroline Gardner is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability or age.
Please find out more about Caroline Gardner on our careers page in the link here!
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