Sales Office Manager

Location: Sittingbourne

Kite Packaging have a brilliant opportunity for a Sales Office Manager in Sittingbourne. Kite Packaging was founded in 2001 with a unique vision and a philosophy of employee-ownership. We were a true greenfield start up and have grown quickly to be the 2nd largest packaging distributor in the UK. In the past year Kite has been awarded ‘Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies in the Midlands’ and ‘The Sunday Times Track 100 Fastest Profit Growth in the UK’.

Our growth has consistently been the best in our sector, and we are continually investing in our business and our greatest asset is our ‘people’. Turnover in 2022 was £160m and our growth continues to accelerate.

You will have responsibility for the sales office and operational aspects and functions of the RDC (regional distribution centre), ensuring our customers an excellent customer experience. You will manage the teams delivering customer service; procurement; and logistics.

The role is predominantly internal with some supplier and customer interface and therefore requires a candidate with strong people skills and the ability to create a rapport.

The role of Sales Office Manager:

People:

• Team Motivation
• Responsibility for a team of approximately 10 members of staff, with direct reports
• Promoting and ensuring effective teamwork, leading by example, facilitating good communication and planning between business functions
• Managing personnel issues where required
• Developing direct reports and in turn the whole team through training, learning and continuous improvement
• The team is about getting the job done in a good humoured way to ensure work also has fun elements

Operations:

• A focus on the efficient processing of enquiries coming into the RDC
• Driving sales internally
• Warehousing and Logistics (Space management; 100% on time in full focus)
• Transaction management and data integrity
• Product quality
• Excellent communication within and between business functions
• Right first time approach

RDC Profitability:

• You must be proactive and drive improvements to process and efficiency
• Strong focus on operational costs and the ability to deliver value for money
• Driving Kite’s KPIs
• Margin expectations
• Inventory management (with the purchasing team)
• Debtors (with the credit controller)
• Maximising Kite’s USPs
• Generating, developing, and maximising supplier relationships

Reporting:

• Monthly reporting along with RDC performance figures
• Employee attendance records
• Customer and supplier performance reviews
• Other reports as required

Key Skills and Essential Experience:

The successful candidate will have the following:

• You must be outgoing, positive and have excellent communication skills
• A strong desire to improve the experience of our stakeholders
• Strong academic background
• Must be located within 30-40 minutes of the RDC (travel time in rush hour)
• A ‘doer’ that completes task quickly and to a high standard
• Keen to take responsibility and be accountable
• Be able to operate from a brief; strongly self-motivated and use initiative
• IT confident, be able to learn new systems quickly
• Proficient with Microsoft Office – particularly Excel
• Outstanding planning and organisation skills
• Ability to lead and delegate tasks
• Capable fault finder and deploying long term preventative actions

The successful candidate will also have the following:

• Gravitas that can gain respect whilst being likeable
• Natural team player and leader
• Ability to multi-task and keep calm under pressure
• A holistic approach with the ability to focus on specific detail where required

What you’ll get:

• Excellent competitive salary
• Good work life balance, 08:00am - 17:00pm Monday to Friday
• 20 days annual leave, rising to 25 after 5 years
• The option to become a shareholder in the business after 6 months employment
• After 6 months a range of benefits: life insurance, pension, cycle to work and an optional healthcare scheme

Covering letters and CV’s should be emailed to: Joey Turner, Recruitment Manager.  jturner@kitepackaging.co.uk