Operations Director jobs in Reading

About LifeBook Memoirs

LifeBook Memoirs creates private, professionally ghostwritten memoirs for clients worldwide: beautifully produced, handcrafted books that preserve life stories as a lasting legacy. We have 25 full-time staff, around 300 contractors, a US subsidiary and clients in more than forty countries.

What sets us apart is the empathy, patience and emotional intelligence our editors and project managers bring to deeply personal stories. Privacy, integrity and confidentiality are central to every client relationship.

The Opportunity

This is a hands-on leadership role at the heart of the business. You will run a small, talented operations team and own the journey that turns a client’s memories into a finished memoir.

We need someone who will sharpen productivity and lead the sensible, practical adoption of AI and technology. Our craft will always be human, but there is real opportunity to remove friction, speed up the routine and free our people to spend more time where it matters most: with our authors.

You will report directly to co-founder Yvette Conn and work closely with her.

What you will do

• Run the operation — lead and support a small, high-performing operations
• Sharpen productivity — find and remove friction across the journey from first interview to printed book, lifting output without lowering quality.
• Lead practical technology adoption — identify and implement tools that reduce friction in transcription, scheduling and quality checking, while protecting human craft and client confidentiality.
• Evolve our operating platform — own how project-management processes and Microsoft 365 support core workflows, using tools such as Power BI to improve visibility, reporting and decisions.
• Own delivery — ensure content gathering, editorial, typesetting, print and delivery all happen to a premium standard and on time, every time.
• Plan capacity — match team capacity to a growing order book, planning resourcing sensibly ahead of demand.
• Manage suppliers — manage print, typesetting and supplier relationships, protecting quality, cost and timeliness.
• Measure what matters — track a small, meaningful set of KPIs and keep Yvette clearly informed.
• Guard the client experience — protect the empathy and care that sit at the heart of every LifeBook.

About You

• A proven operations leader in a small or medium-sized service or production business, who is comfortable being hands-on.
• A natural productivity-improver — you see waste and friction, and you fix it with sensible process and good use of technology.
• A continuous-improvement mindset — you are never quite satisfied that something cannot be done better, and you bring the team with you when you change how things are done.
• Genuinely curious about AI and knowledge of how it can be applied practically and responsibly, no hype, just useful results.
• Confident working in a Microsoft 365 environment, with enough understanding of data, reporting and tools such as Power BI to help turn operational activity into clear management insight.
• A warm, capable people leader who can get the best from a small, dedicated team.
• Commercially grounded, with a firm grip on capacity, cost and quality.
• High in emotional intelligence — our authors are often elderly, and their books are deeply personal and a lasting legacy.
• Self-directed, well organised, and a hands-on support for the team.

We care more about mindset than sector. Experience in premium/bespoke services, craft or made-to-order production, publishing, professional services, or later-life and care services could translate well.

Location & working

This role is based at our office in Godalming, Surrey. For the right person, we are open to some hybrid working — it need not be every day of the week.

The package

• Competitive salary
• 25 days’ holiday (pro-rata) plus UK bank holidays & Birthday holiday
• Company pension scheme
• The opportunity to shape and share in the next chapter of a growing, much-loved business

To apply

1. In no more than 100 words: why are you the right person for this role?

2. One example of how you have made a team or operation more productive — what you did, and the difference it made.

3. How would you approach bringing AI into a business built on human craft and confidentiality, where the personal touch is everything?

4. Please include your current salary, salary expectations and notice period.

Pay: From £75,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Company pension
• Employee discount
• Flexitime
• On-site gym
• On-site parking
• Referral programme
• Sick pay
• Work from home

Education:

• Bachelor's (required)

Experience:

• Operations management: 5 years (required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Godalming (Surrey)