Head of Supply Chain

Description

About Us

Founded over 23 years ago by hair extension expert Victoria Lynch, Additional Lengths has grown into one of the UK’s leading hair extension specialists, delivering premium products to professionals and consumers worldwide, with ethical sourcing and excellence at the heart of everything we do.

Headquartered in Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England, with a co-working space in London, we combine strong regional roots with a growing national and global presence.

We’re home to additionallengths. com, our direct-to-consumer destination for luxury extensions, and Remi Cachet, the UK’s number 1 brand for professional hair extensions, setting the industry standard for premium hair, seamless results, and ethical sourcing.

As a certified B Corp, we’re proud to meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

From ethical hair sourcing and long-term supplier partnerships to a genuine focus on employee wellbeing, we believe great business should also be a force for good.

Recognised as one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in 2024, we foster a culture built on passion, creativity, and innovation.

Our team has more than doubled in size in recent years, and with over £25 million in revenue last year, we’re experiencing exceptional global expansion with continued growth ahead.

Role Overview

The Head of Supply Chain owns Additional Lengths’ Group supply chain from end to end: aligning supply with the demand plan, purchasing stock on the best terms, holding the right inventory, and optimising our order to delivery process.

The role brings demand planning, procurement, inventory and, warehousing and outbound logistics under a single owner, with accountability for cost-to-serve, product availability and working capital.

Reporting to the Operations Director, the role leads a team, including a dedicated Demand Planner who leads the demand forecast, and Warehouse Manager who leads customer fulfilment and goods in.

Some of the main responsibilities of this role include

• Procurement and supplier management
• Own purchasing and supplier relationships.
• Oversee the purchase order process in line with demand and inventory plan. Negotiate pricing, minimum order quantities, lead times and payment terms.
• Manage supplier performance on delivery, quality and defects.
• Oversee inbound logistics, lead times and imports.
• Product quality and ethical sourcing
• Set incoming quality control standards and acceptance checks, with particular rigour on human hair quality.
• Hold suppliers to clear ethical and labour standards, backed by audits.
• Maintain traceability and provenance of the hair, from source to stock, protecting both compliance and the brand.
• Supply risk and resilience
• Map and manage single supplier and lead time risk across our product portfolio.
• Develop alternative and second sources for critical lines.
• Maintain contingency and business continuity plans for supply disruption.
• Demand and supply planning (S&OP)
• Own the end-to-end plan with ultimate accountability for it. Whilst the Demand Planner leads the demand forecast; the Head of Supply Chain owns the supply planning, the balancing decision, and the plan as a whole.
• Chair the monthly sales and operations planning (S&OP) process, reconciling demand, supply, finance, marketing, and commercial into one agreed plan, and own the trade-offs and sign-off.
• Translate the agreed demand plan into the purchasing and inventory plan, allowing supply to meet demand at the right cost and working capital.
• Line manage and develop the Demand Planner and keep demand inputs decision read and the S&OP cadence sharp.
• Inventory and availability
• Set safety stock, reorder points and replenishment policy to maintain availability without overstocking.
• Balance availability against working capital and manage excess and slow-moving stock.
• Maintain inventory accuracy across all existing and future channels and markets, through owned distribution and 3PL partners, including appropriate stock movements.
• Warehousing and outbound logistics
• Line manage the Warehouse Manager and oversee the Warehouse operations, from goods-in to dispatch.
• Set outbound service levels and cost-to-serve targets and select and negotiate carriers.
• Own export and customs strategy and design the fulfilment network and new channels and markets are added.
• Cost, performance and continuous improvement
• Own end-to-end cost per order and per unit and reduce it while protecting service and quality levels.
• Track and report supply chain KPIs.
• Own returns end to end, driving continued improvement in returns rate, processing time and cost.
• Lead improvement initiatives with a costed business case and measurable outcomes.

About You

We’re ideally looking for someone with

• Significant supply chain experience spanning procurement or buying, inventory, and fulfilment or logistics within an e-Commerce, retail, beauty or consumer goods environment.
• Strong commercial acumen; a capable negotiator who makes decisions with margin, cost and cash in mind.
• Experience overseeing a warehouse or third-party logistics operation and leading an operational team.
• Comfortable operating hands-on in an SME with a small team.
• Genuinely tech-savvy; fluent in Excel or Google Sheets and confident with supply chain systems (WMS, ERP, and ecommerce platforms such as Shopify), with the appetite and ability to shape how our tools and technology evolve, not only to operate what’s already in place.
• A track record of measurable improvement in availability, forecast accuracy and cost-to-serve.
• Experience, running S&OP or similar, and working with a demand planning function.
• Ideally some carrier and freight negotiation, and international sourcing, imports and exports.
• CIPS or an equivalent professional qualification would be beneficial.
• Experience scaling into marketplaces and international markets.

Whilst the above describes the type of person we’re looking for, we have great training and development capabilities, so even if you don’t tick every point, we’d still love to hear from you.

What’s On Offer

We believe great work deserves great rewards. Alongside a competitive salary, you’ll enjoy a range of benefits designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and lifestyle:

• A collaborative, ambitious and creative culture where you can be your authentic self, contribute ideas, and play a genuine role in shaping and growing the business
• The opportunity to influence strategy and make a real impact in a fast-growing, award-winning brand
• Excellent development opportunities, with room to grow as the business scales
• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, plus your birthday off to celebrate your day your way
• Our inclusive New Child Leave policy, offering up to 12 weeks’ paid leave for all new parents, regardless of how your family grows
• Private health insurance through Vitality, supporting your long-term health and wellbeing
• A healthcare cash plan to help with everyday medical costs
• An enhanced pension scheme with salary sacrifice options, helping you plan for the future
• 40% staff discount on Additional Lengths products and 20% off third-party brands
• Death in service cover providing four times your salary for added peace of mind
• Enhanced sick pay, because looking after our team matters
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme, offering confidential wellbeing and mental health support whenever you need it
• Paid volunteering days each year to support the causes that matter most to you