Senior Operations Manager - Ecommerce in Potters Bar

Create Joy. Protect Wildlife. Build for Growth. At Elizabeth Scarlett, we believe work should feel meaningful. We exist to create joyful living while raising funds to protect the world’s most precious wildlife. By 2030, our goal is to contribute £2 million to conservation.

As our next Senior Operations Manager, you will own and optimise our end-to-end D2C order fulfilment operations globally. You will be the driving force behind our fulfilment operations, ensuring every order reaches our customers on time, accurately, and beautifully presented - while continuously driving cost efficiency and operational excellence. This is a senior role reporting to the Head of Operations, offering the opportunity to shape operational strategy, optimise efficiency & delivery, and support our ambitious Ecommerce expansion as we grow in the UK, US, and EU.

Why this role matters: This position is ideal for a fulfilment specialist who thrives on operational metrics, loves solving complex logistics puzzles, and wants genuine ownership over a critical function. You'll manage relationships with our UK and US 3PL partners, drive performance improvements, financial efficiencies, and build scalable processes that can support 5x growth. We offer a fast‑paced, entrepreneurial environment that rewards initiative and provides clear opportunities for long‑term career development.

What You Will Be Doing:

• 3PL Partnership Management & Performance: Own the relationships with our UK and US 3PL partners. Conduct monthly performance reviews against SLAs, analysing trends in OTIF (On Time In Full), order accuracy, returns processing speed, and cost per order. Lead quarterly business reviews with 3PL partners, presenting performance data, identifying improvement opportunities, and negotiating financial and operational enhancements. Conduct regular site visits to audit operations, review workflows, and maintain alignment on brand standards. Build escalation protocols and exception management processes to ensure rapid resolution of fulfilment issues.
• Order Fulfilment Excellence: Monitor daily fulfilment metrics: same‑day dispatch rate, order accuracy, perfect order percentage, picking productivity, and packing quality. Implement and optimise cut‑off times across markets to maximise same‑day dispatch while maintaining quality standards. Oversee the execution of complex orders including personalisation services (gift notes, embroidery, monogramming), ensuring quality consistency at scale. Design and enforce packing standards that deliver a premium unboxing experience – working with 3PL teams on material specifications, placement guidelines, and quality checkpoints. Build processes to handle peak volumes (Black Friday, Christmas, Mother’s Day) including capacity planning, temporary labour coordination, and performance monitoring. Create contingency playbooks for fulfilment disruptions (system outages, carrier strikes, warehouse capacity issues). Own and manage carrier relationships, performance and costings. Own the Op‑Ex and financial efficiency of our eCommerce fulfilment.
• Returns & Reverse Logistics: Build efficient returns processing workflows that minimise touch points and accelerate inventory availability. Define quality inspection standards for returned goods, with clear policy guidelines (restock, rework, liquidate, destroy). Track and analyse return reasons to identify product quality issues, sizing problems, or customer experience gaps. Optimise reverse logistics costs including pre‑paid return labels, return carrier selection, and international returns handling. Create seamless integration between returns portal (Shopify), WMS, and NetSuite for real‑time inventory and refund processing.
• Peak Planning & Capacity Management: Develop comprehensive peak season plans (Black Friday through Christmas) including volume forecasts, capacity requirements, and contingency scenarios. Coordinate with 3PL partners on temporary labour hiring plans, training schedules, and ramp‑up timelines. Design pre‑peak operational readiness checklists covering inventory positioning, supplies stocking, system testing, and communication protocols. Monitor daily peak performance against forecast, rapidly adjusting resources and priorities to maintain service levels. Conduct post‑peak retrospectives to capture learnings and build continuous improvement plans for next year.

Who We Are Looking For:

• Mindset: Continuous improvement mindset – you are always seeking the 1% improvements, because you know that they compound over time and scale. Calm and clear communicator – you can explain complex concepts simply and compellingly to varied stakeholder groups.
• Must‑have Skills: Direct experience managing DTC e‑commerce fulfilment at scale (minimum 1,500+ orders/day across multiple geographies). Experience working for a company with both eCom & Wholesale order fulfilment channels, with an understanding and appreciation of the differences between the two channels. Shopify, WMS & NetSuite experience is strongly preferred and expected. Strong Excel or Google Sheets skills and data‑analysis capability. Excellent organisation and time management.
• Nice‑to‑have Skills: Experience opening operations in new markets or territories. Project management qualifications or experience.
• Experience: 7+ years of progressive operations management experience in luxury fashion, accessories, beauty, or consumer goods sectors. At least 3+ years managing 3PL partnerships and driving measurable improvements in OTIF, cost‑per‑order, and order accuracy.
• Culture fit: Kind, collaborative and uplifting. Entrepreneurial and action‑oriented. Excited to join a purpose‑driven brand making real conservation impact.

What We Offer:

• Salary and bonus: £55,000–£65,000 depending on experience. 10% Annual performance‑linked bonus.
• Flexibility and time: Hybrid working (2-3 days in office). 24 days holiday plus bank holidays.
• Personal development: Annual L&D budget worth 3% of your salary. Annual summer retreat (e.g. 42 Acres in Somerset).
• Team perks: 60% employee discount. 25% friends and family discount code.
• Impact and ownership: Join a growing team building the systems that power ethical, scalable production. Direct contribution to our £2M conservation mission.

Our hiring process: Intro chat with our People Team (no video required). Interview with Operations Team. Take‑home task or case study. Final round: presentation and interview, with CEO.

Ready to join a purpose‑driven brand and help us scale joy and conservation impact? Apply now and bring your talent to Elizabeth Scarlett.