Head of Operations

Who We Are

Bloon Toys is a design-led D2C children’s brand with a strong focus on innovation in play. As a brand, we are deeply invested in redefining how play fits into modern homes and childhoods, combining principles from design, child development, and everyday usability. 

Bloon Toys is currently at an important stage of growth — making the transition from niche to mainstream — which makes this an exciting time to join. The role will work closely with the founder and the larger operations team to help scale growth while staying true to the brand’s intent and values. Over the last year, the team has grown from 15 to 35, and expect to scale a lot more in the coming years. 

Role Description

At Bloon Toys, our unique approach to operations has always formed a core part of our backbone and who we are. Since we design our own products, it only makes sense to own parts of the supply chain - leading to our model of operations being a hybrid of outsourced and completely insourced. 

We’re looking for an Operations Head to join our management team to streamline our operations, getting it ready for scale, and scaling it as the company grows. 

Operations includes end to end management of the whole supply chain including procurement, processing, storage, warehousing and dispatch. 

As part of an early stage start up team, you would be expected to have high agency, think in systems and have a clear bias to action - with an ability to plan, implement, learn and refine.

Key Responsibilities

1) Operations strategy + planning

• Translate company goals into an operations plan
• Set goals, cost targets, and quality standards
• Build annual/quarterly operating plans and headcount plans

2) Supply chain + procurement

• Supplier selection, relationship management, onboarding, contracts, pricing, and negotiation, creating supplier partners for life
• Ensure supply continuity (dual sourcing, safety stock logic, critical component mapping)
• Lead purchase planning based on demand forecasts and inventory policy
• Periodic stock audits - planning, implementation, addressing any discrepancies

4) Inventory + demand planning

• Set and maintain inventory norms (min/max, reorder points, safety stock)
• Reduce stockouts and dead stock; improve turns and working capital
• Demand forecast → supply plan → weekly execution
• Troubleshooting processes

3) Production

• Manage production scheduling, capacity utilization, order, scheduling and throughput
• Improve yield, reduce wastage, control rework, and remove bottlenecks
• Drive standardization (SOPs), line balancing, and preventive maintenance
• Manage teams, training, motivation and performance 
• Manage outsourced production and job work teams - ensuring equivalent quality levels

5) Warehousing + fulfillment + logistics

• Own warehouse operations: receiving, putaway, picking/packing, dispatch readiness
• Manage shipping partners, freight costs, delivery timelines, and exceptions
• Improve order accuracy, delivery times, and reverse logistics (returns/exchanges).

6) Quality assurance + compliance

• Define quality checkpoints, process and acceptance criteria across the supply chain
• Handle audits, certifications, safety standards, packaging compliance, etc
• Run corrective/preventive actions for defects with feedback loop for customer complaints

7) Process improvement + systems

• Map processes end-to-end and remove friction 
• Implement/own ops tools: ERP, WMS, inventory systems, barcoding, dashboards (as and when required) 
• Ensure data discipline: master data, BOMs, SKU accuracy, batch tracking

8) Cost control + unit economics

• Own COGS levers: material cost, conversion cost, freight, packaging, wastage
• Create visibility on unit economics by SKU/channel; drive margin improvement
• Build vendor scorecards and continuous cost reduction plans

9) Customer experience (ops side)

• Own operational CX metrics: delivery promise accuracy, damaged shipments, returns TAT
• Coordinate with support teams on shipping timeline adherance and recurring issue elimination
• Create playbooks for peak periods and crisis handling

10) Team leadership + performance management

• Hire, train, and lead ops teams (factory/warehouse/procurement/logistics)
• Set KPIs, review rhythms, incentives, and accountability systems
• Build a culture of safety, discipline, and continuous improvement
• Manage cross functional teams

11) Risk management + business continuity

• Identify operational risks (single points of failure, vendor dependency, capacity crunch)
• Create contingency plans (alternate suppliers, backup carriers, surge capacity)
• Run incident management for major delays/quality issues

12) Operations as a Brand

• We envision the operations facility to be transparent and open so that even customers can visit (think Mapro factory / open kitchens) 
• This requires a commitment to excellence across the board - and training people and creating systems beyond standard protocols 

Who You Are

• Bachelor's degree or higher Engineering, Operations, Management or related fields
• 5+ years of experience in handling operations and supply chain (D2C experience preferred)
• Experience handling people, experience scaling teams
• Bonus: Experience working in lean team / startup environment