Operations Director

About HIVED 📦

At HIVED, we’re steamrolling forward as one of Europe’s fastest growing startups, and our momentum shows no signs of slowing.

Based in London, we are a climate and logistics start-up building the first sustainable parcel delivery network at scale, powered by a 100% electric fleet. In an ever-growing industry where unreliable service has long been the norm, HIVED has been built from the ground-up to meet the demands of modern consumers and disrupt parcel delivery.

A tech company at heart, our talent and technology is laser-focused on delivering the best possible delivery experience for end-customers and meeting the needs of our retail partners. From our drivers to our data engineers, we are constantly working to improve this customer experience that makes us deliver better.

Already trusted by leading international brands such as John Lewis, Nespresso, Uniqlo, H&M brands and more, we are solidifying our position as the leaders in Europe to tackle this growing market.

Our tight-knit team is made up of ex-Revolut, Bain, HelloFresh, ASOS, Apple and Google employees, and we are backed by some of Europe’s leading investors and VCs in climate-tech, logistics and mobility including Planet A Ventures , Maersk Growth , Pale Blue Dot VC , Eka Ventures , NordicNinja VC and the British government. We’re passionate about driving innovation and redefining the future of delivery.

Role Overview 📝

The Operations Director (East) is fully responsible for end-to-end performance of HIVED's East London depot — currently based in Silvertown, relocating to Rainham.

This role combines the hands-on, day-to-day site leadership of a General Manager with director-level seniority. This is a hands-on leadership role — leading from the floor, owning local P&L levers, and acting as the primary link between central planning/tech and real operational execution. This includes:

Full P&L ownership for the site

Hiring and org-design authority for the site's team

A seat at the Ops Leadership table

The Operations Director (East) reports directly into the COO. A mirrored Operations Director (West) role owns HIVED's West London site on the same basis. This role includes leading the depot's relocation from Silvertown to Rainham.

Accountabilities

Accountable for end-to-end and day-to-day site performance, including:

All on-road activities & KPIs, including driver capacity, driver compliance, overall site performance (SLA, Delivery Success)

All in-depot day and night activities & KPIs, including people (labour pool, engagement, leadership succession planning), safety (auditing and near miss/incident reporting), quality (SLA, set-off/on-time dispatch), and cost (labour planning D+1/W+1/TPH)

Health and Safety on-site

Full site P&L ownership

Org design, headcount planning, and hiring decisions for the site's team

Successful delivery of the Silvertown → Rainham depot relocation: site readiness, continuity of operations through the move, and team transition

Responsibilities

On-the-road

Own DSP management and HIVED Partner Driver capacity & performance management

Handle driver issues, escalations & approvals

Own legal compliance (hours on road, breaks, safety checks) and driver incident support

Drive OTR KPIs: DPR, cost per route, vehicle utilisation, driver attendance, punctuality & reliability

Under-the-roof

Own labour planning for week-ahead & night

Own Sortation Handler hiring & performance management

Own inbound, processing, sortation, and dispatch performance, including set-off/on-time dispatch

Drive UTR KPIs: TPH and cost per parcel

Team

Lead and oversee all site operations, directly managing the site's Ops Managers and Senior Ops Managers (currently 4x, with the team growing to include more senior operations managers)

Hours must be flexible to manage Day and Night teams — may sometimes come in for set-off, or stay late to meet Night teams, to fully understand E2E performance and areas for improvement

Build a high-performing depot team — lead & inspire, develop and performance manage the team; ensure all levels receive training and are motivated; coach Managers to develop into company leaders

Own org design, staffing structure, and hiring for the site, including growing the Ops Manager layer into Senior Ops Manager roles; ensure absence cover arrangements are in place

Responsible for Health and Safety on site; work with the H&S Manager to drive continuous improvement and embed company processes

Overheads

Own full site P&L (CM2 & CM3), including budget vs. actuals; fully understand site performance and its cost drivers, contributing to central reporting as required

Drive continuous site improvement by proactively understanding levers, prioritising and embedding on an ongoing basis; identify CAPEX opportunities and pitch business cases

Own facilities, asset utilisation, and maintenance costs for the site

Lead the Silvertown → Rainham transition: site readiness planning, driving continuity of service and safety standards through the move, managing team communication and transition, and coordinating with central/Facilities/Property teams on the physical move

Requirements

6+ years' experience leading operations teams. Direct last-mile experience is not required.

Proven ability to manage large frontline teams via managers, including managing managers of managers as the team grows more senior

Experience owning P&L

Experience with org design and hiring decisions, ideally including growing/restructuring a frontline management layer

Hands-on operator with a strong understanding of unit economics and cost drivers

Track record of high impact — able to ideate and implement new initiatives to drive impactful change

Track record of running safe, reliable, high-throughput operations

Experience leading a site move or major operational transition with minimal service disruption is highly valued, given the planned Silvertown → Rainham relocation

Comfortable working in fast-changing, high-growth environments

Strong people leader: clear, fair, and direct

Excellent cross-functional stakeholder management skills

How we reward our team 🎁

Dynamic working environment with a diverse and driven team

Huge opportunity for learning in a high growth environment, with progression opportunities based on success in the role

25 days of holiday allowance plus public holidays

1 Birthday Day Off + 2 Tenure-Based Additional Days Off

Subsidised Private Medical Insurance including dental, vision & mental health therapy

Bi-annual performance reviews and tailored development plans

Annual compensation review

Team lunch provided once a week

Quarterly team socials and annual sports day (HIVED Olympics)

Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption policy as day 1 right

Community volunteer days

Cycle to work scheme

Dog friendly office and depots

MacBook Air or Windows Laptop (depending on your preference)

Our Values

😊 We Are Kind - Kind to the planet, our team and our partners. We listen with purpose, leave our egos at the door and aren't afraid to make difficult decisions. We must never confuse kindness with being "nice" - it requires us to be fair, consistent, honest, thoughtful and compassionate.

🤝 We Are Tenacious - We fight every day to keep the customer promise, for every parcel entrusted to us. No matter how hard it gets or whatever stands in our way, we are relentless in our pursuit of excellence.

💡 We Are Curious - We never settle, constantly challenge convention and are never afraid to ask why. We believe there is always more to learn, always a better way, and that we're always only just getting started. We never fight the urge to be inquisitive, to understand the world around us and to explore where others might not.

🌍 We Are Resourceful - Our planet's resources are scarce and our future depends on our ability to use them wisely.