Lean Operations Manager

<p><strong><em>A growth opportunity — early-career talent ready to step into a mature operations role is strongly encouraged to apply.</em></strong></p> <p>The Bike Club, we're on a mission to make sustainable, high-quality cycling accessible to every family. Our subscription model lets kids always ride the right-sized bike — and when they grow, we swap it out, refurbish it, and pass it on. With 80,000+ bikes on the road, $50M+ in funding, and rapid expansion across Europe, we're just getting started.</p> <p>We're looking for a Lean Operations Manager to drive continuous improvement across our warehouse, refurbishment, and fulfilment operations in Rainham, London. This is a hands-on, gemba-first role for someone who thrives on the warehouse floor, loves solving operational puzzles, and turns observation and data into measurable change.</p> <p>We've intentionally designed this as a single, broad role with real scope — and we're open to candidates at very different career stages. If you're early in your career but ambitious, structured, and hungry to step up, this is a rare chance to grow into a senior-style operations. If you're more experienced, you'll find plenty of room to take ownership from day one.</p> <p>You'll partner closely with our warehouse leads, mechanics, customer service, and last-mile partners to remove waste, increase throughput, and make every refurbished bike move faster and more reliably from intake to family. Your work will directly shape how we scale a circular operation across Europe.</p> <h2>Tasks</h2> <ul> <li>Drive the continuous improvement roadmap across intake, refurbishment, dispatch, and returns — set priorities, run the program, and report progress to leadership</li> <li>Map value streams end-to-end (bike intake → refurb → QC → outbound → courier → customer → return) and identify the bottlenecks, waste, and rework slowing us down</li> <li>Run kaizen workshops, A3 problem-solving sessions, and structured root-cause analyses with mechanics, warehouse operators, and team leads</li> <li>Define, track, and improve operational KPIs (cycle time, refurb throughput, first-time-right rate, on-time dispatch, returns turnaround, OEE on key stations)</li> <li>Roll out standard work, 5S, visual management, and pull-based flow across the warehouse and refurb workshop</li> <li>Spend significant time on the floor — observing, coaching, and validating that improvements stick after rollout</li> <li>Lead capacity and layout planning as we scale: workstation design, station balancing, tool placement, and bike flow</li> <li>Partner with last-mile and courier providers to reduce failed deliveries, returns leakage, and customer waiting time</li> <li>Build the data and reporting backbone we need to manage operations by fact (Excel, WMS, Salesforce, BI tools)</li> <li>Coach team leads and operators in lean thinking, building improvement capability across the organisation</li> </ul> <h2>Requirements</h2> <ul> <li>A genuine gemba mindset — you'd rather be on the warehouse floor than behind a desk</li> <li>Structured, analytical problem-solving — you can break a messy operational problem down and use data (Excel at minimum) to point at the answer</li> <li>Strong communication and collaboration skills — comfortable working with mechanics and operators just as easily as with senior stakeholders</li> <li>Pragmatic, organised, and biased to action — you thrive in a fast-moving scale-up where things change weekly</li> <li>A relevant degree (industrial engineering, logistics, supply chain, business engineering, or similar)</li> <li>Some real exposure to operations — through internships, working student roles, a first full-time job, a thesis project, or a few years of hands-on experience</li> <li>Real curiosity about lean / continuous improvement — bonus points for a Lean Six Sigma certification (Yellow, Green, or Black Belt) or demonstrated kaizen / value stream experience</li> <li>Confidence with operational systems (WMS, ERP, Salesforce, ticketing tools); SQL or BI tooling is a plus, not a requirement</li> <li>Fluent English (working language); German is a strong plus</li> <li>Bonus: interest or experience in circular economy, refurbishment, subscription business models, or sustainable mobility</li> </ul> <h2>Benefits</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Holidays</strong> – 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays</li> <li><strong>Private medical insurance</strong></li> <li><strong>Salary sacrifice pension scheme</strong></li> <li><strong>Parental leave</strong> – enhanced maternity and paternity leave</li> <li><strong>Bike subscription</strong> – £30 on Bike Club subscriptions</li> <li><strong>Sustainability impact</strong> – you will be working for a B Corp Certified company that actively contributes to environmental and social good</li> </ul> <p><em>If you're earlier in your career and not sure you tick every box: please apply anyway. Drive, structure, and a willingness to learn matter more to us than years on a CV.</em></p> <p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.co.uk">Jobs in United Kingdom</a> on Arbeitnow</a>