Operations Manager in Slough

YEW is a sparkling water brand made by people who care about taste. Delicious drinks with zero sugar, zero sweetener, no calories and only natural ingredients: Green Apple, Pink Rhubarb, Yuzu Grapefruit and, most recently, the world's first Pickle flavoured sparkling water. Launching in October 2024, we started from selling to one cafe on Brick Lane to being stocked in Holland & Barrett, Ocado, Planet Organic, Selfridges, Whole Foods, Farmer J, Amazon and hundreds of independent cafés, restaurants and retailers across the UK. This summer the business reached a new level. Our new Pickle Sparkling Water became an overnight hit, demand accelerated well beyond our forecasts and we're now launching into major national retail and foodservice accounts while bringing production forward to keep up.

It's an exciting moment to join because we're still early, there are currently only five of us. The systems, processes and ways of working that get built over the next year will shape the business for years to come. We aren't looking for someone to inherit a finished operation. We're looking for someone who wants to help build it. If you enjoy solving complex problems and seeing the direct impact of your work on a growing consumer brand, you'll love it here!

The role

This is a new position created to build and lead the operational engine of YEW as we scale. You'll report to our Commercial Director and work closely with our founding team. You'll own the end to end delivery of our supply chain: from production planning and procurement through to logistics and fulfilment, making sure that when we make a commercial commitment we can actually deliver on it. That requires someone who is organised, proactive and commercially aware, not just operationally competent.

We're at a pivotal moment. We're looking for someone who wants to build the operational foundations of a brand at exactly this stage, when every improvement you make has an immediate impact.

What you'll own

• Production planning and scheduling: building and maintaining production schedules with our co-manufacturers, managing capacity conversations, and making sure the plan reflects what the sales team is actually selling.
• Procurement: managing ingredient and packaging suppliers on a day to day basis, placing orders against agreed lead times and MOQs, tracking price movements and flagging cost risks early.
• Logistics and fulfilment: coordinating inbound and outbound logistics, managing our 3PL relationships, overseeing retailer and wholesale fulfilment and keeping delivery performance to a standard that protects our listings.
• Retailer onboarding and compliance: owning the operational side of new account setup including EDI, portal management, product content and labelling compliance. You'll be the person who makes sure we are ready before we go live, not scrambling after.
• NPD coordination: managing the operational delivery of new product launches from co-manufacturer briefing through to first production run, including artwork timelines, regulatory requirements and packaging sign-off.
• Stock management and reporting: maintaining accurate stock records across all locations, building visibility of cover and risk, and feeding reliable data into our financial planning.

What we're looking for

Two to four years of operations experience in a drinks or FMCG business, ideally where you've had to work across the full supply chain rather than a single function. You'll have worked with co-manufacturers, managed supplier relationships, and understood what it takes to keep a small but growing brand on shelf. You're the kind of person who documents things, spots problems before they land, and brings order to environments that don't naturally create it. You can hold a conversation with a co-manufacturer about a production shortfall in the morning and sit in a commercial planning meeting in the afternoon and add value in both.

Experience with 3PL management, DTC, production planning tools, EDI and retailer compliance processes would all be genuinely useful. Familiarity with drinks specifically, co-packing relationships and the transition from indie distribution to grocery would set you apart.

We're building our operational systems with efficiency and scalability in mind, and we're open to using AI tools where they add value. You don't need to be a technical expert but you should be curious about how emerging tools can make operations smarter, and willing to help us figure that out as we go.

What we offer

Competitive salary depending on experience. 25 days holiday plus bank holidays. Four days in our East London office with flexibility on the fifth. The opportunity to build and own an operational function in a brand that is growing fast and has serious ambition. As the business scales, so does this role.