Great Bear (Part of the Culina Group) provides distribution services to FMCG clients. Customer centric service focus is delivered through a site-level empowered culture.
At Culina we have a winning culture, we believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive… A place where you're valued, challenged, and inspired!
Job DescriptionWe are looking for 3 commercially focused Business Directors to lead operational and commercial performance across a multi-site division. This senior leadership role will be responsible for delivering safe, high-quality and commercially sustainable operations, while ensuring activity is aligned to wider Group strategy.
As Business Director, you will take ownership of full P&L delivery, driving profitability through cost optimisation, productivity improvement and effective asset utilisation across warehouse, fleet and labour. You will act as an executive sponsor for key customers, developing strong strategic partnerships that support retention, growth and service excellence.
You will provide visible, values-led leadership across geographically dispersed teams, developing General Managers and senior site leadership teams while building robust succession and talent pipelines. A key part of the role will be embedding a culture where safety, quality, compliance and continuous improvement are integral to everyday operations.
Key responsibilities will include translating Group strategy into practical operational delivery plans, holding accountability for multi-site productivity, cost and service performance, leading performance improvement initiatives, managing budgets and capital investment, and acting as a senior escalation point for major operational incidents or service risks.
Qualifications- Extensive operational leadership experience within UK logistics, warehousing, transport or a comparable large-scale operational environment.
- Proven experience managing multi-site or large-scale operations, with accountability for productivity, cost, service and compliance performance.
- Strong financial and commercial acumen, including budget ownership, cost control and full P&L responsibility.
- Experience developing customer relationships at a senior level, with the ability to drive retention, growth and service excellence.
- Confident leadership capability, with experience leading large, geographically dispersed teams and developing senior operational leaders.
- Strong understanding of health and safety, transport compliance, operational governance and continuous improvement.
- Ability to translate business strategy into clear operational plans and deliver performance improvement across complex operations.
- A values-led leadership style, with the ability to support employee engagement, succession planning and long-term capability development.
As part of our drive to make Great Bear a great place to work. We are proud to be an inclusive and diverse organisation where we are committed to employee development and recognising success for hard working performers.
Our dedicated learning and development programmes are open to every employee to give you the opportunity to shape your own future within logistics and continue to work in an environment where team culture thrives.
Our People are the driving force behind our success, which is why we offer a wide range of benefits which include:
- Annual Leave – Competitive holiday entitlement of 25 days holiday plus the bank holidays.
- Company car or car allowance
- Company Bonus – We do our best work to succeed together. When we achieve our goals you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme.
- Private Medical Cover – This gives you peace of mind, you have choice, flexibility and speed of access to the most clinically appropriate care via Bupa.
- Pension scheme – we want colleagues to enjoy a comfortable retirements so we offer a great contribution of 5% employee and 8% employer.
- Life Assurance - 4x your annual salary.
- Wellness – Via our Employee Assistance Programme we offer immediate access to a confidential telephone counselling and legal information service that operates 24 hours a days, 365 days a year.
- Eye Care Vouchers – We can provide you with substantial savings with free eye tests and discounts on prescription glasses.
- Reward & Recognition – We recognise that employees have gone the extra mile via Employee of the month and year, special recognition and long service awards.
- Everyday discounts - via our benefit platform you will have access to over 50 retailer discounts for everyday savings!
If you meet the requirements for the above role and are looking for your next career opportunity please apply now and become a part of our #WinningTeam!
#LI-DNI
Skills Required
- Extensive operational leadership experience within UK logistics, warehousing, transport, or a comparable large-scale operational environment.
- Experience managing multi-site or large-scale operations with accountability for productivity, cost, service, and compliance performance.
- Strong financial and commercial acumen, including budget ownership, cost control, and full P&L responsibility.
- Experience developing senior-level customer relationships to drive retention, growth, and service excellence.
- Leadership experience managing large, geographically dispersed teams and developing senior operational leaders.
- Strong understanding of health and safety, transport compliance, operational governance, and continuous improvement.
- Ability to translate business strategy into clear operational plans and deliver performance improvement across complex operations.
- Values-led leadership style with the ability to support employee engagement, succession planning, and long-term capability development.
What We Do
Culina Group is a market leading provider of high quality logistics services for food and drink companies in the UK and Ireland. We serve a sizeable portfolio of customers - ranging from niche operators to major multinational companies - across our vast depot network, comprised of over 100 strategically located sites. We work with over 22,000 fantastic people at peak and specialise in the development and implementation of total supply chain solutions for ambient and chilled brand manufacturers and distributors. We are totally customer focused and always seek to add real value to our clients, providing a holistic solution to meet the challenges faced by manufacturers and the changing demands of the retail sector.
