VP of Operations in Brighton

Location: Berlin

Department: Operations

Position type: Full time, hybrid (2 days per week from the office)

The role

We’re looking for a visionary and commercially driven VP of Operations to join us at our Berlin HQ and take MPB’s global operations to the next level. This is a newly created, high‑impact leadership role where you’ll shape and lead the execution of our global operations strategy—building the backbone of a business that is redefining circular commerce at scale. You’ll be the driving force behind operational excellence across our global Circular Commerce Centres (CCCs), delivering scalable growth, world‑class customer experiences, and strong financial performance. This role offers the rare opportunity to combine strategic influence with hands‑on leadership—partnering closely with our COO and senior leaders across regions and functions to make bold ideas a reality. If you’re a dynamic, data‑led operator who thrives on complexity, sees opportunity in every challenge, and is passionate about growing people, performance, and purpose—this is your next move.

What you will be doing

• Strategic Leadership & Innovation
  • Drive the development of and own the execution of our global operational strategy in close partnership with senior management to achieve key targets.
  • Champion a long‑term vision for operational excellence and innovation, exploring and implementing emerging technologies such as AI and automation to secure a long‑term competitive advantage.
  • Work closely in a matrixed environment with global and local leaders across finance, data, revenue, marketing, and customer experience to deliver strategy and drive execution.
  • Be instrumental in supporting large strategic projects, including warehouse and courier optimisation.
  • Utilize operational data and customer feedback to influence broader business strategy, providing actionable insights to the executive team to aid prioritisation.
• Performance, Finance & Continuous Improvement
  • Take full ownership of the Operations costs performance, including contribution margin and driving forward a pathway of unit economics efficiencies.
  • Define, own, and report on all key Operational KPIs, explicitly linking internal efficiency metrics to customer‑facing outcomes like Order‑to‑Delivery time and Net Promoter Score.
  • Drive a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging advanced analytics and AI‑powered insights to identify non‑optimized processes and develop scalable solutions.
• Customer & People Focus
  • Own the end‑to‑end operational customer experience, partnering with global heads to design and implement processes that create a competitive moat based on speed, quality, and reliability.
  • Architect and implement a global employee engagement and retention strategy for the Operations function, focusing on career pathing, skill development, and creating robust feedback channels.
  • Champion a culture of operational excellence by empowering on‑the‑ground teams, fostering leadership development, and ensuring our CCCs are benchmarked as world‑class working environments.

What we are looking for

• Proven leadership experience at a senior level, working as part of or close to senior leadership teams.
• Significant growth experience within a high‑growth eCommerce, consumer marketplace, or platform business.
• Excellent analytical and numerical skills, with experience of P&L ownership.
• Demonstrated experience building and scaling large, diverse operational teams with a focus on employee engagement, retention, and development.
• A strong customer‑first mindset, with proven experience in designing operational processes that directly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Good business acumen coupled with an understanding of how eCommerce, consumer marketplace, or platform businesses operate.
• Ability to problem‑solve, adapt, and grow quickly in fast‑moving organisations with rapidly changing priorities.
• Strong networking and relationship‑building skills to foster collaboration with stakeholders at all levels, with experience in matrix management.

Even better if

• You have global team experience, particularly with the US Market.
• You possess German language skills (not essential).
• You are comfortable with revenue forecasting and planning, including concepts such as Contribution Margin (CM1) and unit economics.
• You have familiarity with the application of AI and machine learning in operational contexts, such as demand forecasting, process optimization, or fraud detection.

Our Values; applied

• Better, Connected: You’ll align global teams and foster collaboration between Operations and other departments to scale with consistency and purpose.
• Empowering and Empowered: You’ll champion a people‑first strategy—developing future leaders, driving accountability, and promoting ownership at every level.
• Insight‑driven: You’ll lead with data—linking KPIs to strategic outcomes, using analytics to inform decisions, and delivering measurable impact.
• Agents of Change: You’ll embed innovation into every layer of operations—from introducing automation to reimagining core processes.
• Focussed on Excellence: You’ll set the bar for performance, quality, and consistency—making MPB’s CCCs a global benchmark for operational excellence.
• Passionately Ambitious: You’ll push boundaries to unlock scalable growth, elevate the customer experience, and help shape MPB’s future.

About MPB

We are MPB, the largest global platform for used photography and videography equipment. Our platform transforms the way that people buy, sell and trade in photo and video kit. MPB is a destination for everyone, whether you’ve just discovered your passion for visual storytelling or you’re already a pro. We recognise the benefit of inclusive practices to better build a diverse community here at MPB. Our commitment to ensuring inclusion fuels and connects us as one with the diverse community of visual storytellers that we serve. MPB customers come from all walks of life, and so do we. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of family makeup, race, sexuality, religion, gender identity, disability or age. At MPB, every employee has the opportunity to make an impact and grow.

Benefits

• You’ll get 20 days of statutory holiday, plus 8 additional days from us—with the option to buy up to 5 more each year + 2 days of volunteering leave + 1 day a year to focus on your well‑being.
• Urban Sports Membership discount.
• Retirement & pension plans.
• BVG ticket discount (50%).
• MPB Employee discount and uplifts.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
• Learning Management System (the "MPB Learning Lab")- You'll have access to thousands of free courses to up‑skill in any areas you’d like, personal or professional.
• Enhanced paid parental leave.
• Summer and winter employee events.
• Financial assistance scheme.
• Milestone Gifts - €150 Amazon voucher to celebrate the arrival of your new baby; €150 Amazon voucher for you and your partner when you tie the knot or enter into a civil partnership.
• Dog friendly office.