Operations and Strategy Manager

Company mission

In the future, commerce will be instant, local, and seamless. What we now call "e-commerce" will simply be how we shop. But if we continue on the current path, its growth will come at a cost: more emissions, disconnected communities, and mounting pressure on small businesses.

Relay is building the logistics network that e-commerce should have had from the start. We're designed from the ground up for sustainability—environmental, social, and economic. By rethinking both the middle and last mile, we cut miles driven, reduce carbon emissions, lower costs, and return value to local communities.

We're also fixing the delivery experience itself. With Relay, shoppers can reschedule deliveries anytime and return items with a tap—we make it as easy to return something as it is to buy it.

Behind the scenes, we orchestrate this with cutting-edge tech: from smart routing and real-time planning to seamless tools that empower our ground teams.

About the role

We are looking for a talented Operations and Strategy Manager to lead our Middle Mile Operations team. We will grow our network 10x this year, and in this role you will have the opportunity to scale our middle mile while meeting exceeding standards of service and performance. Working closely with our Middle Mile partners, you will evolve processes and policies that ensure that we scale with efficiency. You will get your hands dirty and engage agencies and drivers we work with, and bring them along on our journey. You will also be thinking big, and work with our engineering teams to develop tech driven solutions to business problems at 100x the scale. We are a tech led business, and you will be a key asset in developing the right solutions. 

An ideal Operations and Strategy Manager will:

• Lead day-to-day operations of the Middle Mile in Relay’s value chain

• Drive process improvements and build mechanisms to sustain the process improvements for Middle Mile partners

• Work closely with the Last Mile, Middle Mile, and Pitstop partners to understand their needs and behavioural drivers

• Own the design, development, and deploy mechanisms that encourage target behaviors and discourage deviations

• Deep dive issues and build narratives for wider org to attack most pressing issues as a team

• Bridge gap when performance drops below target, and create glide path to achieve targets

• Design and deploy policy changes (e.g. updating pay structures) for Middle Mile partners

• Spend time in the field to design, implement, and continuously refine processes to enhance the operational efficiency and reliability of our delivery network

We are looking for someone with…

• Overall minimum 5 years of work experience, across any industry

• Minimum of 2+ years of work experience in operational contexts, ideally in a fast paced business environment 

• Experience in stakeholder management, dealing with multiple stakeholders at varied levels of the organization

• Experience building processes, project management, and schedules

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret data and identify actionable insights

• Excellent communication (both written and verbal) skills 

• Quick learner, proactive, and resilient, with the ability to cope well under pressure in a fast paced environment

• Highly motivated and willing to take on multiple responsibilities at once

• Preferred: Experience with SQL, data visualization using Tableau, or similar tools

The qualifications and experiences above act as a loose guide to what we’re looking for. We’d still love to hear from you if you have more or less experience, so long as the core skills can be demonstrated.

Relay is offering

• 25 days annual leave per year (plus bank holidays).

• Equity package.

• Bupa Global: Business Premier Health Plan - Comprehensive global health insurance with direct access to specialists, dental care, mental health support and more.

• Contributory pension scheme.

• Hybrid working

• Free membership of the gym in our co-working space in London.

• Cycle-to-work scheme

• A culture of learning and growth, where you're encouraged to take ownership from day one.

• Plenty of team socials and events - from pottery painting to life-size Monopoly and escape rooms