Overview
The Operations Manager is responsible for taking full day-to-day operational control of the nursery site and ensuring that work is planned, instructed, allocated, completed, checked, recorded and reported.
This is a hands-on operational leadership role for a site that requires strong structure, clear direction and measurable accountability. The postholder must be highly organised, visible on site, confident giving clear and reasonable instructions, and prepared to hold employees and supervisors accountable where standards are not met.
The Operations Manager must not operate as a passive message-passer between Directors and staff. They are expected to take ownership of daily site delivery, identify problems quickly, issue clear instructions, check compliance, record non-compliance, and escalate matters appropriately with evidence and recommendations.
The purpose of the role is to create clarity, discipline, accountability and measurable improvement across production, dispatch, labour use, staff conduct, health and safety, stock control, housekeeping and site standards.
Main Duties
Daily site planning and control
· Prepare and communicate the daily site plan before work starts, covering production, dispatch, labour, stock priorities, H&S matters and urgent corrective work.
· Hold a daily morning briefing with managers, team leaders and relevant staff so priorities, outputs and standards are understood.
· Ensure every available employee, seasonal worker and agency worker is allocated to a named task, area or supervisor.
· Carry out regular site walks, including at least one morning and one afternoon check, to confirm progress, quality, safe working and compliance.
· Complete an end-of-day review of completed work, unfinished work, reasons for slippage and next actions.
Giving instructions and managing compliance
· Give instructions that clearly state the task, person responsible, location, required standard, deadline and follow-up check.
· Confirm that instructions are understood, particularly where previous misunderstanding, avoidance or non-compliance has occurred.
· Challenge failure to follow reasonable instructions, refusal, delay, time wasting, disruption or undermining behaviour promptly and professionally.
· Record significant or repeated non-compliance, including the instruction given, employee response, impact on the business and action taken.
· Escalate serious or repeated failure to follow reasonable instructions to Directors with supporting evidence and recommended next steps.
Labour planning and allocation
· Create and maintain a daily labour allocation plan based on orders, crop priorities, production windows, dispatch deadlines, absence, weather, skills and site conditions.
· Reallocate labour during the day where priorities change or where productivity, absence, weather or dispatch pressure requires adjustment.
· Identify labour shortages, surplus labour, poor productivity, inappropriate task allocation and skills gaps.
· Monitor seasonal, agency and temporary labour for productivity, conduct, safety and suitability.
· Report recurring labour inefficiencies and recommended corrective action in the weekly site report.
Production and nursery operations
· Oversee daily bareroot and cell-grown production activity including sowing/planting support, bed preparation and maintenance, weeding, irrigation support, spraying support where authorised, lifting, plant handling, grading, counting, bundling, labelling, cold store, stock movement and preparation for sale or dispatch.
· Ensure production priorities are understood before work begins and are checked throughout the day.
· Identify delays, crop quality issues, labour gaps, equipment problems or operational bottlenecks early.
· Ensure incomplete or missed production tasks are recorded with cause, action, owner and deadline.
· Measure and challenge operational efficiency in bareroot production, including labour use against planned tasks, lifting/grading throughput, dispatch readiness, accuracy of counts/bundles/labels, downtime, rework and avoidable delays.
· Ensure staff understand that bareroot tree handling standards must be followed, including protection of roots, correct grading, accurate counting, correct bundling, appropriate storage/holding and timely movement to dispatch.
· Ensure work is completed to the required horticultural, quality, presentation and housekeeping standard.
Dispatch and order fulfilment
· Coordinate labour and priorities for picking, grading, labelling, checking, loading and dispatch preparation.
· Ensure dispatch deadlines are known, planned for and communicated to relevant teams.
· Check that customer orders are picked accurately and presented to the required standard.
· Conduct quality checks.
· Investigate dispatch errors, delays, shortages or poor presentation and record corrective action.
· Escalate customer-impacting risks promptly to Directors and relevant internal contacts.
People management, conduct and performance ownership
· Set clear expectations for productivity, behaviour, timekeeping, attendance, cooperation, safe working, housekeeping and following reasonable instructions.
· Address poor performance, poor attitude, conflict, refusal of work, disruption, unsafe behaviour or lack of ownership promptly.
· Keep factual records of performance conversations, instructions given, concerns raised, employee responses and agreed actions.
· Support Performance Improvement Plans, conduct management plans, expectation-setting meetings and evidence gathering where required.
· Distinguish between genuine capability issues, lack of training, misunderstanding, unwillingness and misconduct, and escalate appropriately.
Attendance, absence and timekeeping
· Know the daily attendance position before labour is allocated, including who is present, absent, late or leaving early.
· Record absence, lateness and early finish information accurately and report operational impact.
· Reallocate work promptly where absence affects production, dispatch or site priorities.
· Identify patterns of absence, lateness or unreliability and escalate with evidence.
· Conduct or support return-to-work discussions where required by company procedure.
Supervisor and team leader accountability
· Allocate clear daily responsibilities to supervisors and team leaders.
· Ensure managers and team leads know who they are managing, what must be achieved, what standard is required and when progress must be reported.
· Challenge supervisors who fail to manage output, behaviour, safe working, housekeeping or staff compliance in their areas.
· Coach supervisors where support is needed while still holding them accountable for repeated failures.
· Ensure supervisors escalate genuine issues promptly but do not avoid basic management responsibility.
Stock, crop and site standards
· Maintain operational visibility of stock location, availability, condition, shortages, surplus, losses and urgent crop actions.
· Ensure stock movements are controlled, communicated and traceable where required.
· Identify at-risk, poor-quality, damaged or commercially important stock requiring action.
· Ensure the site, yards, loading areas, stock areas, tools, equipment and access routes are organised, tidy and safe.
· Challenge staff who leave work areas unsafe, untidy, disorganised or below agreed standard.
Monthly Director reporting
· Produce a weekly written site report by the agreed deadline.
· Ensure the report covers production, dispatch, people issues, absence, H&S, stock, labour, operational risks and decisions required from Directors.
· Write reports factually, avoiding vague or emotive wording.
· For each significant issue, state the problem, cause where known, impact, action taken, owner, deadline and decision required.
· Track recurring issues until they are resolved or formally accepted by Directors.
Pay: From £38,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- On-site parking
Experience:
- Management: 5 years (required)
Licence/Certification:
- UK Driving Licence (required)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
