Sourcing & Production Manager

🌍 Create Joy. Protect Wildlife. Build for Growth.

At Elizabeth Scarlett , we believe work should feel meaningful. We exist to create joyful living while raising funds to protect the world’s most precious wildlife. By 2030, our goal is to contribute £2 million to conservation.

As our next Sourcing & Production Manager, you will join a team that leads with kindness, dreams big and takes action together. You will be helping to scale a creative, purpose-led brand while shaping the impact we make in the world.

💰 Salary: £50–£60k DOE + 10% performance bonus
🙋‍♀️ Reporting to: Head of Production
📍 Location: Potters Bar (24mins from Kings Cross)
🏙️ Hybrid: 4 days in the office, 1 day wfh
📝 Employment type: Permanent, full-time

Why this role matters ✨

At ES, your role is not just about tasks. It is about making sure the work you do supports our growth, delights our customers and helps us reach our conservation goals.

This is your chance to:

Build partnerships that fuel growth: Develop strategic supplier relationships and optimise production processes that reduce costs, improve efficiency, and expand manufacturing capabilities - directly enabling the business to scale while maintaining the quality and values customers trust.

Deliver exceptional quality that delights customers: Oversee the manufacturing of products to the highest standards, driving continuous quality improvements across all suppliers and ensuring every run meets brand expectations and arrives on time, to create outstanding customer experiences.

Drive sustainable impact at scale: Embed production practices that directly support conservation goals, ensuring every product manufactured meets ethical and sustainability standards while reducing waste and improving supply chain transparency across the entire network.

What you will be doing 🚀

Quality & Production Improvement

• Oversee the end-to-end production lifecycle, from product development handover to final manufacturing, ensuring the highest quality standards.
• Maintain and track all quality KPIs, ensuring robust reporting systems are in place and sharing insights with key stakeholders.
• Proactively identify production risks and inefficiencies, implementing preventative measures and process improvements.
• Enforce clear QC expectations, standards, and tolerances across all suppliers.
• Ensure all POs are quality checked on time, aligned with marketing launch dates, and that any QC issues are escalated, resolved, and credited where necessary.
• Serve as the point of escalation for QC issues, approving major QC checks and advising on corrective actions.

Commercial & Cost Management

• Manage and maintain our gross margin goals, leading cost negotiations with new and existing suppliers.
• Ensure all cost prices are requested, received, approved, and documented in a timely manner.
• Support Merchandising by analysing past PO costs and evaluating the cost of upcoming forecasts.
• Maintain accuracy in pricing and product information for all Purchase Orders.
• Act as the point of escalation for supplier invoice queries, liaising with the Finance team and suppliers to resolve discrepancies.

Scale & Supplier Management

• Support the Head of Production to identify and onboard new suppliers to expand and strengthen the production network, ensuring they meet quality, ethical, and sustainability standards.
• Lead negotiations on pricing, lead times, MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities), and contract terms to secure the best costs and lead times, while maintaining high product standards.
• Develop strong, long-term relationships with suppliers to drive reliability, innovation, and continuous improvements in production.
• Work closely with suppliers to optimise production timelines, reduce costs, and increase operational efficiency.
• Work closely with the Design team, key stakeholders and suppliers, so that new products align with brand values, market trends, and consumer demand.

Sustainability, Impact and Compliance

• Ensure all production processes align with ethical and sustainable sourcing practices set out by the Head of Production and Brand.
• Stay up to date on industry regulations and compliance requirements for manufacturing and product materials.
• Support the Head of Production to lead initiatives to reduce waste, improve sustainability efforts, and enhance supply chain transparency.
• Ensure the strategic supplier initiative contracts, supplier manual and animal welfare policy are being followed by all suppliers.

Production Planning & Critical Path Management

• Collaborate with internal teams to align supplier capabilities with business needs, ensuring smooth product launches and sustained production excellence.
• Track production schedules and coordinate with suppliers to mitigate delays and ensure OTIF (On-Time In-Full) delivery, keeping key stakeholders updated on any impacts to launch
• Ensure adherence to the critical path for Design, Development, and Production, keeping all stakeholders aligned and on schedule.
• Provide regular updates to key stakeholders, ensuring that feedback is gathered and shared.
• Ensuring that the Production, Development and Design teams are aligned, prioritising projects effectively and meeting deadlines.
• Work closely with the Operations Manager and Merchandising to ensure timely placement of all POs, including seasonal orders, top-ups, and trade exclusives.
• Work closely with the Suppliers and Ops team to ensure all shipments are booked on time and all paperwork is accurate.
• Manage and develop a Production co-ordinator, ensuring that admin tasks and PO management are completed as efficiently as possible in a timely manner.

Who we are looking for 🧳

Mindset

• Targets oriented, highly motivated, organised and driven for success.
• Problem solver, seeing the opportunity to learn and improve

Must-have skills

• Excellent negotiation skills and ability to build strong supplier relationships
• Strong prioritisation skills with absolute attention to detail
• Confident in data analysis and Excel/Google Sheets
• Fluency in English required; additional languages advantageous

Nice-to-have skills

• Experience implementing sustainability initiatives and managing ethical compliance programs
• Knowledge and understanding of Netsuite or similar ERP systems
• Team management

Experience and requirements

• Minimum 5 years of production management experience in bags, accessories, or luxury goods manufacturing
• Proven track record managing international production operations with extensive factory relationships in Asia, Europe, or other key manufacturing regions
• Understanding of bags and accessories manufacturing processes, materials, and quality standards
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally to visit suppliers

Culture fit

• Kind, collaborative and uplifting
• Entrepreneurial and action-oriented
• Excited to join a brand with purpose

What we offer 💡

1. Flexibility and time
   • 1 day work from home
   • 24 days holiday plus bank holidays
2. Personal development
   • Annual L&D budget (3% of salary)
   • Annual summer retreat (e.g. 42 Acres in Somerset)
3. Team perks
   • £500 ES products per year plus 60% team discount
   • 25% friends and family discount code
4. Impact and ownership
   • A pivotal role, partnering with our Growth Director to grow eCommerce revenue globally
   • Direct contribution to our £2M conservation mission

Our hiring process 👟

1. Intro call with our People and Culture Manager
2. Interview with Head of Production: Leila
3. Cultural interview
4. Take-home task or case study
5. Final round: presentation and final interview

🌿 Ready to join a purpose-driven brand and help us scale joy and conservation impact?

Apply now and bring your talent to Elizabeth Scarlett.