Operations Director jobs in Reading

£60,000 + Bonus | Woking | Hybrid | Full Time

The Opportunity

A.L.O.B. Ltd is looking for a commercially minded, hands-on Head of Ecommerce Operations to take ownership of the operational performance of our growing sports equipment and games business.

We are an established, owner-managed business with £5m annual turnover and a team of 12, with an ambition to grow to £10m over the next 3–4 years.

Operating across DTC ecommerce, Amazon, marketplaces and B2B, we source physical products internationally and fulfil thousands of customer orders through third-party logistics partners.

We are looking for someone who can make that operational engine work better.

You will own inventory, supply chain, international freight, 3PL and fulfilment, Customer Service and operational systems and processes.

This is a hands-on leadership role. We want someone who can identify inefficiencies, use data to understand their causes and then implement solutions.

Technology will be an important part of this. We are particularly interested in someone who is enthusiastic about using AI, automation and better systems to eliminate manual work, improve decision-making and create more scalable processes.

Reporting directly to the Managing Director, you will be a member of the Senior Management Team and have genuine autonomy to improve how the business operates.

About A.L.O.B. Ltd

A.L.O.B. Ltd operates three established specialist brands: RAM Rugby, RAM Cricket and Uber Games.

For over 25 years, RAM Rugby and RAM Cricket have supplied sports equipment to clubs, schools, universities and corporate customers alongside a growing direct-to-consumer ecommerce business and marketplaces including Amazon and Decathlon.

Uber Games has specialised in premium indoor and outdoor games for over 20 years.

We are now strengthening the operational foundations of the business to support our next stage of growth.

Key Responsibilities

Inventory & Demand Planning

• Own inventory forecasting and replenishment across the business.
• Balance product availability, demand, supplier lead times, purchasing commitments and working capital.
• Improve forecasting accuracy and stock availability.
• Reduce ageing, slow-moving and obsolete inventory.
• Develop clear reporting around stock cover, availability, purchasing commitments and future requirements.
• Work closely with Finance and commercial teams to optimise working capital invested in inventory.

Supply Chain & International Freight

• Manage the end-to-end supply chain from overseas factories through to UK fulfilment.
• Manage supplier relationships and purchasing processes.
• Coordinate international freight and work with freight forwarders to optimise cost, lead times and reliability.
• Identify supply-chain risks and implement practical solutions.
• Improve landed costs and supply-chain efficiency.

3PL, Fulfilment & Logistics

• Own relationships with our 3PL and logistics partners.
• Establish and manage meaningful KPIs and SLAs.
• Monitor fulfilment accuracy, delivery performance, returns and cost per order.
• Challenge costs and identify opportunities to improve service and efficiency.
• Lead operational projects including changes to warehouse, carrier, fulfilment and logistics processes.

Customer Service

• Lead and develop the Customer Service function.
• Establish clear KPIs around response times, complaints, returns, refunds and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure significant customer issues are resolved effectively.
• More importantly, identify and eliminate the operational causes of recurring customer problems.

Systems, AI & Process Improvement

A key part of this role will be continually asking:

“How can we do this better?”

You will:

• Identify inefficient, repetitive or manual processes across Operations.
• Use AI, automation and technology where appropriate to reduce manual workload and improve accuracy.
• Improve the flow of information between ecommerce platforms, inventory, fulfilment, Customer Service and Finance.
• Develop operational dashboards and management information.
• Evaluate and implement new tools where there is a clear commercial benefit.
• Build processes and systems capable of supporting a business twice our current size.

We do not expect you to be an AI developer. We are looking for someone who is curious about technology and actively looks for opportunities to use it to make a business better.

Commercial & Senior Management

• Own operational KPIs and provide clear reporting to the Senior Management Team.
• Understand and continually improve operational cost-to-serve.
• Identify opportunities to improve margin, cash, efficiency and customer experience.
• Lead cross-functional operational projects from problem identification through to implementation.
• Be a key operational sounding board for the Managing Director.
• Help build the infrastructure required to grow the business from £5m towards £10m turnover.

What We're Looking For

You will have significant hands-on experience in physical-product ecommerce or multi-channel retail, ideally within an entrepreneurial SME or scale-up environment.

You will understand the complete operational journey:

forecast → purchase → supplier → freight → inventory → 3PL → customer order → fulfilment → delivery → return → customer service.

Essential

• Strong experience in a physical-product ecommerce or multi-channel business.
• Hands-on inventory and demand-planning experience.
• Supply-chain and purchasing experience.
• Experience managing international freight and/or overseas suppliers.
• Direct experience managing a 3PL, warehouse or fulfilment operation.
• Strong analytical and commercial capability.
• Evidence of delivering measurable operational or cost improvements.
• Strong systems and process-improvement capability.
• Comfortable working in a hands-on SME environment.

Highly Desirable

• Experience using AI and/or automation to improve business processes.
• Shopify or similar ecommerce platform experience.
• Amazon and marketplace experience.
• WMS, ERP or inventory-planning system experience.
• International sourcing/manufacturing experience.
• Customer Service leadership.
• Experience implementing or changing a 3PL, WMS, ERP or other operational system.

The Person

We are looking for someone who is:

Commercial – understands that Operations ultimately affects margin, cash and customer retention.

Analytical – uses data rather than assumptions to identify problems.

Hands-on – comfortable investigating an issue personally and seeing the solution through.

Improvement-focused – naturally looks for faster, simpler and more efficient ways of working.

Technology-curious – interested in how AI, automation and better systems can transform business processes.

Accountable – takes ownership rather than simply identifying problems.

What Success Looks Like

You will deliver measurable improvements in:

• Inventory forecasting and stock efficiency.
• Product availability.
• Working capital tied up in stock.
• Supply-chain reliability.
• Freight and landed costs.
• 3PL and fulfilment performance.
• Cost per order.
• Customer Service performance.
• Operational reporting and visibility.
• Automation and process efficiency.

Ultimately, your role is to help us build a better-run, more efficient and more scalable £10m business.

Pay: £60,000.00 per year

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Send GU23: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Experience:

• Operations /Logistics: 3 years (required)
• physical-product ecommerce or multi-channel business: 3 years (required)

Work Location: In person