International Operations Manager

Living Things is one of the fastest-growing drinks brands in the UK, with listings in every major grocer, the best independents, and 20+ international markets. We're less than three years into our mission to make soft drinks that are delicious and guilt‑free and we're growing our team. We’re looking for people who want real ownership and the chance to build one of the UK's defining consumer brands.

You’ll play a central role in standing up and running localised production across the world, working closely with our Supply Chain Manager and the founding team to bring three new international co‑manufacturing sites online. Once live, you’ll own the operational management of those sites, keeping production running smoothly, ensuring product is locally compliant and tuned to regional tastes, and aligning output with demand. This is a builder's role: you’ll be setting up something new, then making it run well, in a high‑growth, hands‑on environment with real impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Export logistics & supply chain
• Manage international order fulfilment from forecast through to delivered shipment, coordinating between manufacturing, 3PL partners, freight forwarders, and distributors
• Optimise cost-to-serve across international channels, identifying and resolving margin leakage
• Manage stock allocation and availability across international warehouses
• Regulatory & compliance
• Own market‑by‑market labelling and product compliance, including EU multilingual can artwork, functional claim conditions, and country‑specific recycling and packaging requirements
• Coordinate with designers and distributors to ensure artwork meets local regulatory standards before production
• Maintain a compliance framework and checklist for entering new markets
• Distributor & partner management
• Act as the operational point of contact for international distributors, managing ordering, forecasting, and service levels
• Support new market entry, from regulatory groundwork through to first shipment
• Negotiate and manage relationships with 3PLs, carriers, and freight partners
• Forecasting & reporting
• Align sales and forecasts with production schedules
• Report on international operational performance, cost‑to‑serve, and service metrics

Requirements

• 5+ years experience in operations, export logistics, or supply chain, within FMCG, food & beverage, or a regulated physical‑product category
• Strong working knowledge of Incoterms, customs and export documentation, and international freight
• Familiarity with food or beverage labelling compliance, ideally including EU regulatory frameworks
• Highly organised, detail‑oriented, and comfortable managing multiple markets and partners simultaneously
• Commercially minded, with the ability to analyse and improve cost‑to‑serve
• Confident communicator who can manage external partners and internal stakeholders

Benefits

• The chance to shape and own the international operations function of a high‑growth challenger brand
• Significant autonomy and direct impact on the business's expansion
• A collaborative, ambitious team
• Competitive salary and equity package