Supply Chain Director Recruitment

Supply Chain Director Recruitment

Exec Capital provides senior Supply Chain Director recruitment for UK firms across manufacturing, retail, FMCG, food and beverage, healthcare, e-commerce, and broader supply chain-intensive businesses. The Supply Chain Director role typically reports to the COO or directly to the CEO depending on firm structure, and carries substantive accountability for end-to-end supply chain strategy, logistics and distribution operations, demand planning and inventory management, and (often) supply chain transformation programmes. UK senior Supply Chain Director hiring is shaped by the substantial supply chain disruption of recent years, the increasingly material sustainability and resilience dimensions, the growth of e-commerce-driven distribution requirements, and a candidate market with deep specialisation by sub-sector.

Our practice covers UK senior Supply Chain Director appointments across firms with substantial physical supply chain operations, transformation programmes, and broader supply-chain-led commercial improvement agendas. Every mandate is led personally by Adrian Lawrence FCA.

What the Supply Chain Director role covers

The substantive Supply Chain Director role typically covers four dimensions.

End-to-end supply chain strategy. The substantive design of the firm’s supply chain — sourcing footprint, manufacturing or distribution network, logistics architecture, and the broader strategic choices about where the firm operates and at what scale.

Logistics, distribution and warehousing operations. The substantive operational delivery of the supply chain — third-party logistics partnerships, warehouse network management, transport operations, and (for retail and e-commerce contexts specifically) last-mile and customer-facing distribution.

Demand planning, inventory and S&OP. The substantive analytical work underpinning supply chain effectiveness — forecasting accuracy, inventory positioning, sales and operations planning frameworks, and (for working capital management specifically) the substantive financial dimensions of inventory.

Supply chain transformation and resilience. Major transformation programmes including digital supply chain initiatives, near-shoring and supply base diversification, sustainability and ethical sourcing programmes, and broader resilience-building work.

The candidate pool

Five pools recur. Sitting Supply Chain Directors at peer firms. Most direct pool, with substantial sub-sector specialisation. Step-up candidates from Senior Supply Chain Manager or Head of Logistics roles at larger firms. Natural growth pool. Senior consulting partners from supply chain practices. Common pool, particularly for transformation-led versions of the role. Senior operations leaders transitioning from broader COO scope to supply chain specialism. Less common but meaningful for some specific firm contexts. Senior CILT-credentialed supply chain leaders with substantive strategic scope. Particularly relevant for firms with substantial logistics complexity.

Further reading

For Procurement Director recruitment specifically, see our Procurement Director recruitment service. For role-specific senior hiring guides, see our COO hiring guide and the rest in our Knowledge Centre. For UK supply chain professional standards, see the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.