Operations Excellence & Strategy Lead (12-month FTC)

What you’ll be doing:

Reporting to the COO, as the Operations Excellence Lead, you will be the strategic engine driving efficiency and improvement across Bloom & Wild’s complex operational network. This is a high‑visibility role where you will bridge the gap between data‑driven strategy and hands‑on execution. You will drive operations improvement projects, deliver analysis, perform cross‑site/supplier benchmarking, build business cases, oversee the performance of 3rd‑party suppliers and implement changes required from changing supply chains and the growth of ranges and product categories.

Your mission is to ensure that as we scale our floral and non‑floral categories, we maintain a “best‑in‑class” customer experience through operational rigour and the deployment of cutting‑edge technology like AI.

• Third‑Party Supplier Governance & Performance Management: Monitor the performance of our key 3rd‑party supplier, overseeing a robust governance cadence to ensure KPI delivery and strategic alignment.
• Independently lead high‑value strategic projects which result in improvements in cost, quality or customer experience.
• Support with quarterly SteerCos and Exec briefings, aligning supplier delivery with internal strategic priorities.
• Lead “peak” (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day) retrospectives to turn operational challenges into standardised, scalable improvements.
• Lead end‑to‑end Mother’s Day planning, driving alignment across internal teams and 3rd‑party supplier to hit key milestones while optimising production plans against quality standards, cost‑efficiency, and forecast flexibility.
• Lead end‑to‑end projects across both owned and 3rd‑party production & fulfilment sites to identify efficiencies, streamline processes, and deliver measurable cost savings.
• Analyze complex operational datasets to establish performance baselines, identify “best‑in‑class” practices across sites, and pinpoint high‑value opportunities for replication or improvement.
• Act as a flexible “internal consultant”, deployed to work flexibly for the VP Operations: Customer Operations or the VP Operations: Production & Supply Chain to deliver value‑driving projects in owned or 3rd‑party supply chains.
• Manage the implementation of new operational standards and processes, ensuring that change is not just launched, but sustained through training and accurate adoption.

• Non‑Flower Category Range Expansion: Collaborate with operational, range and commercial teams to support the development of robust inventory management and fulfilment systems, processes and reporting required to scale a high‑complexity range of non‑floral gifts, foods, home goods.
• Optimise process to enable further expansion of the “add‑on” range without compromising core floral operations.
• Identify and implement, or lead implementation of, AI‑driven opportunities to automate workflows, eliminate human error, and allow our operations to scale vertically without a linear increase in costs.

• Analyst & Advisor to the COO: Conduct deep‑dive analyses and prepare business cases for VP and exec‑level decisions on changes in supply chain, production or fulfilment strategy.
• Perform analysis on budget and performance variations to identify root causes and actionable insights.

Qualifications:

• Consulting Background: 3+ years in a consulting environment, developing a toolkit for structured problem‑solving, building robust business cases, and managing complex stakeholders.
• Operations Experience: Hands‑on operational experience in a fast‑paced e‑commerce or retail setting that had its own production, warehousing or fulfilment operations.
• Analytical & Data‑Driven: You don’t just report data; you find the narrative within it to drive decision‑making.
• Pragmatic Strategist: You can move from a high‑level business case to the warehouse floor without losing momentum.
• Expert Influencer: Comfortable holding 3rd‑party partners accountable while maintaining a collaborative, commercial relationship.
• Forward‑Thinking: Excited by the potential of AI to revolutionise traditional logistics and customer service models.
• Context Switching: Able to switch easily between big‑picture strategic thinking and day‑to‑day execution of complex projects.