We have an exciting opportunity for an Operations Manager to join our established Milton Keynes Distribution Centre in a newly created leadership role. This position is critical to driving operational performance, service excellence, and continuous improvement across the site. You will own output, safety, cost, and capability development, ensuring the operation delivers against business commitments and customer expectations.
Acting as the deputy to the Distribution Centre Manager, you will represent the site with senior stakeholders, customers, and external partners. This role is pivotal in building a culture of safety, accountability, and high engagement while enabling sustainable growth.
Key Responsibilities: (included but not limited)
Operational Leadership & Performance Delivery
1. Lead daily performance across throughput, labour efficiency, stock accuracy, and service quality.
2. Translate business strategy into clear operational plans and measurable targets.
3. Drive cost optimisation through labour planning, process design, and lean methodology.
4. Ensure accurate reporting and data integrity within WMS and supporting systems.
5. Act as site lead when required, providing full operational governance.
Safety, Compliance & Risk Management
6. Own the Health & Safety culture on site, ensuring safe systems of work and proactive risk control.
7. Govern statutory compliance and regulatory requirements for people, equipment, and environment.
8. Sponsor structured safety improvements through audits and corrective actions.
Customer Experience & Stakeholder Management
9. Maintain strong relationships with customers and internal teams to ensure service alignment.
10. Lead resolution of service risks and escalations, implementing preventative measures.
11. Represent the site in divisional forums and with external partners.
People, Culture & Capability
12. Build and develop a high-performing team through coaching, clear expectations, and recognition.
13. Drive succession planning, skills development, and talent retention.
14. Champion diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity across all employee groups.
Continuous Improvement & Change
15. Lead transformation projects including process automation and WMS enhancements.
16. Drive measurable improvements in cost, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
17. Benchmark performance to adopt best practices and innovation.
About You
We’re looking for someone with:
18. Experience in large distribution centre or 3PL environment with a proven track record of operational leadership.
19. Previous experience with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) – ideally 5 years.
20. Strong team management skills with the ability to build and develop high-performing teams.
21. Growth mindset – eager to learn, develop, and be part of a business that values progression.
22. Comfortable managing high-value contracts in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
23. Driven, energetic, and able to deliver under pressure.
24. Experience working in large sites handling high-volume accounts
25. Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities and operational demands.
26. Ability to thrive in a highly competitive talent market.
Benefits
Additional benefits include:
27. 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays
28. Pension scheme
29. Life assurance
30. Income protection
31. Employee assistance program
32. Cycle to work scheme
33. Shopping discounts
Location: Milton Keynes
Hours: 37.5 hours per week – on site
About us
We’re DS Smith, the company who are redefining packaging for a changing world. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. Today, we operate in more than 30 different countries, supporting customers across sectors like FMCG, industrial, and e-commerce. We deliver on quality, service, innovation, and added value to deliver market-leading sustainable packaging solutions our customers need. Our industry needs to transform, and we’re building the team to drive change across Europe and North America
To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.
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