Head of Operations (Maternity Cover)
This role requires working closely with department managers and their teams while managing your own people and ensuring operational development.
Term: Maternity cover through out 2027 with room to grow with the company
Start date: November 2026, or as soon as possible
Must hold an EU passport and have at least 3-5 years of experience in a leadership role related to production operations.
The Role
We are looking for someone to lead and oversee the daily operations of Noma Projects with a particular focus on production ensuring that teams, resources and priorities are aligned with the company's business objectives and growth plans.
This is a proactive, hands-on management role that requires working closely with department managers and their teams, providing practical support, guiding decision-making and ensuring smooth daily operations.
The Head of Operations will maintain a clear overview of the business while staying actively involved in the different departments, identifying challenges early, taking initiative to resolve issues and ensuring decisions are followed through.
This role is significantly exposed to product development, production, commercial operations and business planning. The Head of Operations will play a central role in translating ideas and ambitions into practical execution, while developing the teams, processes and structures needed to support the business.
A key part of the role is connecting teams and business priorities - monitoring performance, adjusting plans as needs evolve and ensuring that operational targets are realistic and achieved.
As maternity cover, the Head of Operations will need to step into an established organisation and quickly build a strong understanding of existing teams, priorities, processes and ways of working, ensuring continuity while continuing to develop the operation where needed.
Key Responsibilities
1. Team Leadership & Development
Lead and support multiple operational teams, establishing clear priorities, responsibilities and accountability.
Work closely with department managers to review performance, resolve challenges and improve ways of working.
Ensure appropriate staffing, training and team development in collaboration with HR.
Foster effective communication and collaboration across departments.
Support department managers in taking ownership of their areas, while maintaining clear accountability and follow-through across the operation.
2. Hands-On Operational Management
Production: Monitor production targets and capacity, support problem-solving and ensure effective coordination with other departments.
Product Development & Scaling: Work closely with R&D, product and quality teams to bring new products from development into production.
Noma Kafe: Oversee production planning, sourcing strategy, cost control and operational performance.
Supplies & Fulfilment: Ensure stock availability, efficient deliveries and alignment between procurement, production and commercial demand.
B2B: Support the growth of B2B operations, establishing clear processes and ensuring effective coordination between Sales, Production and Fulfilment.
Shop Operations: Work closely with shop managers to review staffing, training, service standards, salary costs and commercial performance, supporting events, product launches and new shop openings.
Ensure operational challenges, including quality and food safety issues, are addressed effectively and followed through.
Set and continuously adjust operational priorities across departments, ensuring that resources and capacity are directed towards the most important business needs.
3. Business Planning & Cross-Functional Coordination
Monitor production performance against budgets and forecasts, adjusting targets, resources and priorities as demand evolves.
Own operational budget performance and work closely with Finance on forecasting, labour costs, production costs and resource allocation.
Work closely with Sales, Finance, Marketing and HR to ensure alignment between commercial ambitions and operational capabilities.
Support cross-functional decision-making, balancing growth opportunities with costs, capacity and available resources.
Ensure successful operational execution of existing growth plans, including new store openings, events, product launches and B2B expansion.
Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, cost management and collaboration.
Take ownership of operational challenges, ensuring clear decisions, accountability and follow-through.
Identify competing priorities or capacity constraints early and drive clear decisions on trade-offs where needed.
Who are you
We are looking for an experienced, commercially minded and hands-on operations leader who can manage multiple teams, maintain a strong overview of the business and actively support departments in achieving their goals.
Proven experience managing multiple teams or operational departments.
Strong people management skills, with the ability to develop managers and drive accountability.
Hands-on approach to problem-solving and operational improvement.
Experience with business planning, budgeting, forecasting and cost control.
Strong commercial understanding and ability to translate business needs into operational plans.
Strong judgement and the ability to prioritise effectively when several business needs compete for resources or capacity.
Excellent communication, collaboration and decision-making skills.
Experience in food production, production management, hospitality, retail or FMCG is an advantage.
Leadership & Decision-Making
This role requires the confidence to make day-to-day operational decisions independently, while recognising when decisions require alignment with senior leadership. Success in this role means keeping teams aligned, operations running smoothly, targets on track and ensuring the business adapts effectively to changing demands.
- We're looking forward to read your application!
- Location
- Noma Projects
