Join the team

Operations & Customer Experience Coordinator

Job location: You would be working at the Soap Folk workshop at Inchbrook
between Stroud and Nailsworth. No remote working.
Full time position 37.5 hours. Can be flexible with start and finish time within
reason.
Starting salary £30,000 depending on experience.
Deadline for applications: Tuesday 14th July 
Start date: ASAP

About Soap Folk
Soap Folk design, make and dispatch a collection of handmade soaps, skincare,
textiles and ceramic products from our workshop in the Stroud Valleys. We supply
customers through our own online shop and over 100 independent retailers, visitor
attractions and National Trust shops across the UK.

As we continue to grow, we're looking for someone to take ownership of our
customer orders, helping to keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes
from the moment an order is placed to the moment it leaves our workshop.

About the Role
This is a varied, workshop-based role combining customer service, order
fulfilment, stock coordination and day-to-day operations.

You'll help keep information, orders and priorities flowing smoothly across the
business, ensuring customers receive an excellent experience while supporting
whichever part of the workshop needs you most. You will work closely with our
Production Manager, helping track sales trends so we have the right amount of
stock at the right time. You will also help support our Retail Account Manager,
making sure our orders reach our trade accounts exactly when they need them.
It’s a varied role: At 9am you might be replying to customer emails. By 11am you'll be packing wholesale orders. After lunch you could be updating Shopify stock
levels before working with the entire workshop team to wrap soaps for a large National
Trust order.

In a small business, priorities change quickly. We're looking for someone who
naturally thinks ahead, enjoys solving problems in a fast paced environment and is always asking themselves:
"What does the business need from me today?"
We don't expect you to know everything from day one, but we do hope you'll;become someone the team can rely on to spot problems, suggest improvements
and help make tomorrow run even more smoothly than today.

As the business grows, you'll also have the opportunity to take increasing
responsibility for coordinating workflow and supporting the wider workshop team.

About You

You'll probably enjoy this role if you are:

• Naturally organised and enjoy bringing order to busy days.
• Curious and always looking for better ways of doing things.
• Someone who notices what needs doing without waiting to be asked.
• Calm under pressure and comfortable juggling changing priorities.
• Practical and happy to roll your sleeves up.
• A genuine team player who enjoys helping wherever you're needed.

Skills & Experience

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Able to resolve customer queries confidently, calmly and professionally.
• Comfortable using computer systems and happy learning new ones.
• Strong organisational skills with excellent attention to detail.
• Takes pride in presentation and understands that every order leaving the
  workshop is an important part of the customer experience.
• Able to prioritise competing tasks and think ahead.
• Uses initiative, takes ownership and enjoys finding practical solutions.
• Commercially aware and interested in how a small business operates.
• Experience with Shopify or e-commerce systems would be an advantage, but isn't
  essential. We're much more interested in finding someone with initiative, curiosity and a willingness to learn.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Experience

• Respond promptly to enquiries from online and wholesale customers.
• Resolve customer queries and delivery issues.
• Deliver a consistently high standard of customer service.
• Identify recurring customer questions or issues and suggest improvements.

Customer Orders & Fulfilment

• Process wholesale and online orders.
• Maintain the wholesale order tracker.
• Prioritise dispatch according to customer deadlines.
• Coordinate with the Retail Account Manager regarding customer orders and
  delivery requirements.
• Prepare shipping labels and book carrier collections.
• Pick and pack direct-to-consumer orders.
• Support the workshop with wholesale order preparation when required.

Stock & Inventory

• Maintain accurate stock records across both Shopify websites.
• Liaise closely with the Production Manager to monitor stock levels and
  anticipate future requirements.
• Update website stock availability.
• Operational Planning
• Review upcoming customer orders and identify priorities.
• Highlight potential stock shortages or bottlenecks.
• Work with the Production Manager and Retail Account Manager to plan
  product launches and seasonal demands.
• Website & Product Management
• Maintain product information across both the wholesale and retail websites.
• Update photography and product descriptions.
• Ensure website content remains accurate and up to date.

Direct Sales

• Keep the workshop shop stocked, welcoming and well presented.
• Ensure products are available for visitors.
• Help create an enjoyable customer experience in the shop.
• Occasional support at Pop-up-shops, trade and consumer shows.

Commercial Insight & Continuous Improvement

• Use customer feedback and ordering patterns to identify opportunities for
  product bundles, merchandising and promotional ideas.
• Share observations from customer orders to help improve the website and
  customer experience.
• Suggest improvements to systems, processes and workshop organisation.
• Contribute ideas for seasonal campaigns and new product launches.

Supporting the Workshop

At Soap Folk, we're one team.

When priorities change, everyone helps where they're needed. That might mean
wrapping soaps, assembling gift sets, helping with production or preparing large
wholesale orders. We value people who enjoy variety, take pride in making the whole business run smoothly and are happy to step into whichever area needs support.

Growing with Soap Folk
We're looking for someone who wants to grow with the business.
As Soap Folk develops, there will be opportunities to take increasing ownership of
systems, stock management, customer experience and operational projects. As
our workshop team grows, this role is expected to develop into one that helps
coordinate day-to-day workflow and supports, mentors and supervises workshop
assistants.

As you'll be closely involved with customer orders, you'll often be the first to spot
buying patterns, recurring questions and opportunities to improve our products,
website and customer experience. We welcome people who enjoy sharing ideas
and helping the business evolve.
If you enjoy improving processes, taking responsibility and becoming a key part of a
growing independent business, we'd love to hear from you.

Please send CV and covering letter to: jenny@soapfolk.com