The Alchemists Kitchen (UK)
Recruiting Operations Specialist
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ABOUT US
The Alchemist's Kitchen UK is a whole-plant wellness brand. We are preparing to launch direct to consumer, online and through physical stores, with a range that combines carefully selected third-party brands and our own products.
The brand and the commercial model are in place. What we do not yet have is the operation that makes and ships it. That is the job.
THE ROLE
You will build and run our end-to-end operation — buying, importing, producing, packing, holding stock, fulfilling orders and controlling what all of it costs. You report to the CEO and own the function outright, from the first purchase order to the parcel on the doorstep.
This is a build, not a caretaking role. On day one there is no warehouse, no fulfilment partner, no inventory system and no production facility. Within your first year there will be all four, plus a first hire working to you.
WHAT YOU WILL OWN
- Procurement of our third-party range — supplier terms, order quantities, lead times and the margin we buy at. We hold our own stock rather than drop-shipping, so this is a proper buying operation.
- Sourcing and import for our own products, including lines made overseas. Deciding how they get from source to saleable UK stock, and at what landed cost, is one of the first significant calls in the role.
- Contract packers and packaging. Selecting partners, deciding what we do in-house versus what we outsource, and sourcing packaging that holds our sustainability standards without breaking the numbers.
- Fulfilment and logistics — third-party, in-house, or a combination — across both ecommerce and store, including couriers, shipping and returns.
- Stock and inventory. A real system with reorder points, lead-time buffers and batch tracking, so we never run out and never tie up more cash than we need to.
- Systems. Order management and stock synchronisation working properly with our website partners, tested under real volume.
- Customer service operations, answering queries promptly and consistently from our first day of trading.
- Small-scale production in our own facility, in the second phase of the build — securing the site, fitting it out, and running it safely and to standard.
- Gross margin. Not as a reporting line, as a responsibility. What we pay, how we import, where we pack and what carriage costs are your decisions, and we want them taken with the margin consequence understood at the time.
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WHAT IS NOT IN YOUR REMIT
We would rather be clear upfront. You are not responsible for formulation, product development or ingredient selection, and you are not responsible for product safety, regulatory compliance or label content. Those sit with our product and regulatory leads, who supply the specification. You produce and pack to it.
What you own is everything from purchase order to delivered parcel — and what it costs.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We assess on evidence — what you have built, run and fixed — rather than on general impression.
- A track record of standing up an operation from scratch: people, process, systems and suppliers. Ideally in an early-stage or founder-led business, where you were doing the work rather than directing it.
- Comfort orchestrating physical production and fulfilment — contract packers, third-party logistics, sourcing and landed cost.
- Commercial fluency. You can build and hold a margin model, and negotiate against it rather than report on it afterwards.
- Real supply chain and inventory discipline: order quantities, lead times, reorder points and forecasting.
- Someone who documents as they go, and who can hire and develop the person who takes on the day-to-day.
- Structured, numerate and calm under launch pressure.
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Useful but not essential: food, supplements, beauty or another regulated consumer goods category; import experience including customs and duty; Shopify and third-party logistics integrations; HACCP or food-safety standard production.
You do not need all of this. If you have built most of it once and are hungry for the scope, we would rather have that than a longer CV with less appetite.
PRACTICALITIES
UK-based. You do not need to be in London — our production facility can be sited anywhere in the UK, and choosing where is part of your remit. Expect time on site and with suppliers.
Reports to the CEO. Package competitive and happy to discuss early. Start as soon as you are able.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a CV, or a LinkedIn profile and a few lines about the operation you are proudest of building. We are more interested in what you have built than in a covering letter.
The Alchemist's Kitchen UK is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from every background and are happy to make adjustments to our process — just tell us what would help.
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