Senior Florist and Operations Manager

New Covent Garden Market; London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000

Job description

Location: North Oxfordshire (with frequent travel to London required).

Overview

Naum Flower is a certified organic cut flower & floristry business. Our flower farm & studio is in North Oxfordshire and we have another studio space in London.

At Naum Flower, we grow the most ravishing cut flowers as the foundational elements of our creative and innovative floral design, with the goal of connecting our audience to the rhythms and beauty of nature. We grow our own flowers using methodology of the regenerative agriculture movement. Our goal is to change the way people view flowers, from just decoration to a powerful way to connect with the life-giving power of nature.

Our work includes arrangements in a range of scales, from bouquets to installation work, with an expanding clientele list - from private clients, luxury brands, to retail environments and restaurants. Our clients are between Oxfordshire and London. We are committed to a holistic approach in floral design with soil health & sustainability underpinning the work that we do.

We are looking for a highly organised lover of operations and management, with a background in floristry and comprehensive professional experience, who shares our values, to join our team as Senior Florist & Operations Manager.

The position is full-time with a three-month trial period.

Job Description

The Senior Florist & Operations Manager will be responsible for the day-to-day management of Naum Flower based in our studio in North Oxfordshire including:

1. Managing our routine commitments for contract clients, including floristry, delivery, client-liaison, budgeting. Acting as client liaison for contract clients. Making sure that the standard of floristry and quota meets our agreement.
2. Managing our event flowers onboarding, production and sales - including project-management, liaising with clients, quoting, costing & budgeting, moodboards & proposals, managing freelancers and ensuring all is executed to a high standard.
3. Managing and maintaining a great network of freelance florists for contract flowers, event flower jobs or complex installations as well as cover for when you are away or pulled into another larger job. Interviewing freelancers or subcontractors related to the business as needed. Managing and maintaining a great network of freelance or part-time delivery drivers and couriers to be able to respond quickly to requests.
4. Oversee and execute all elements of operations in the North Oxfordshire studio and farm including office management, staff management, etc. Administration.
5. Ensure all arrangements and work are following our style of floristry under our founder’s creative direction.
6. Coming up with creative and constructive solutions to make the business run more smoothly, more profitably and helping to grow the business whilst adhering to our sustainability and seasonal ethos.
7. Reporting directly to the Creative Director/Founder & working closely with Head Grower.
8. Managing foraging outings as needed with the team, resourcing freelancer foragers.
9. Planning and producing floristry related workshops as needed.
10. Develop proposals for clients with input from the team as needed.
11. When event flower or one-off arrangement requests come through, helping to estimate quantities and logistics to be able to quote accurately and ensure that the work is executed efficiently.
12. Preparing quotations, actioning invoices and keeping an eye on all outgoings and incomings to provide effective business planning.
13. Helping to maintain and keep our workspaces, vases, vehicles and tools all organised and in great condition as needed.
14. Keeping diligent records of expenses, freelancer time etc liaising with bookkeeper to ensure all accounts are fully up to date and impeccably organised.
15. Ensure all staff (including you) tracks each half hour of work so we are allocating and billing for time accurately.
16. Occasionally stepping in to do some floristry work when contract freelancers/part-timers are not available.
17. Onboarding new members of the team, keeping them motivated and focused. Training team members and freelancers, making sure all freelancer agreements are in order etc.
18. Ordering in flowers, receiving, keeping on quantities, liaising with suppliers, sending flowers back if not up to scratch etc.
19. Day to day management of all members of the team in North Oxfordshire including managing a weekly meeting with agenda.
20. Managing the inventory of vases and equipment across both studios, including our van.
21. Ensuring that our jobs are documented for use on our website and social media.
22. Creating and maintaining handbooks and internal company documents for easy reference.

Person Description

1. You should have experience on your CV that shows you understand the inner workings of a floristry business.
2. You should be an unflappable, positive, ambitious, highly responsible and well-organised person who can manage their own time and others, with a clear career path in floristry.
3. You will be efficient, professional and have a great work ethic.
4. Equally you will enjoy collaborating on projects and sharing leadership where a team approach is required, as well as being able to take clear direction from visual briefs from our creative director and other team members. This role also includes hiring and managing freelancers as needed for larger jobs.
5. The role would suit someone who would thrive working in a small team, who has the get-go to work independently and is a strong leader within a team of passionate florists and gardeners.
6. Due to the nature of the industry, you will need to have a flexible approach to working hours – weekend and evening working could be required as demanded by floristry events and orders; occasional early mornings are part of the role.
7. This person needs to be IT proficient, extremely organised and able to work with a professional team including bookkeeper, accountant etc.
8. Occasional travel to London, travel expenses to London covered by us.
9. Drive a van.