3PL Delivery Manager

This role is remote job opportunity with some occasional Travel to Canary Wharf.

Job Overview The 3PL Delivery Manager is responsible for the day-to-day management and performance of UKHSA’s 3PL provider, ensuring the safe, compliant, and efficient storage and distribution of vaccines and countermeasures. The postholder will lead on contract performance monitoring, relationship management with 3PL partners, and operational issue resolution. This role will be part of a 24/7, 365 rota and will be expected to support on an on-call basis.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage the operational relationship with 3PL provider(s), acting as the primary point of contact for day-to-day logistics queries and escalations.
• Monitor and manage 3PL performance against contracted service levels and KPIs, identifying issues and driving corrective action plans where required.
• Line manage the 3PL Ops Support Team (HEO), providing direction, support, and professional development.
• Oversee the management of vaccine stock held by 3PL providers, including inventory accuracy, stock rotation, expiry monitoring, and cold-chain compliance.
• Coordinate and approve outbound distribution schedules, ensuring timely and compliant delivery of vaccines to NHS sites and other authorised recipients.
• Ensure all 3PL operations comply with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) and departmental standard operating procedures.
• Lead on operational risk management within the 3PL workstream, maintaining risk registers and escalating issues to the Operations and Deployment Lead.
• Manage the resolution and appropriate escalation of logistics incidents, including temperature excursions, delivery failures and stock discrepancies, ensuring appropriate reporting and lessons-learned processes are followed in conjunction with Quality teams.
• Support contract review meetings and contribute to supplier performance reporting for senior stakeholders.
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives and policy development within the logistics function.
• Provide expert knowledge of how NHS deploy vaccines and how the 3PL can influence and impact this
• From time to time, the role holder may be required to support UKHSA’s incident response activity by contributing appropriate expertise within the CVCD Incident response cell; during such periods, supported by the line manager, this work will take priority over normal day‑to‑day responsibilities, commensurate with their grade, skills and experience.

Essential role criteria

• Proven experience managing day-to-day operational delivery with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, including performance monitoring, issue resolution, contract management, and effective escalation of risks, incidents, and service failures.
• Demonstrable knowledge of logistics and supply chain operations in a regulated pharmaceutical environment, with experience ensuring compliance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) and the creation, maintenance, and application of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) covering storage, handling, distribution, and recall of medicinal products.
• Strong operational performance management capability, including KPI definition and monitoring, service-level assurance, root-cause analysis, and the development and delivery of corrective and preventive action plans.
• Experience managing stock and inventory including inventory accuracy, stock rotation, expiry management, temperature monitoring, deviation investigation, and assurance of cold-chain integrity.
• Proven experience leading teams in fast-paced, high-pressure operational or incident-driven environments, with the ability to maintain service delivery, make sound decisions at pace, and recognise when and how to escalate issues appropriately within governance frameworks.
• Experience of line management or team leadership, including setting clear objectives, conducting regular 1:1s, managing performance, supporting development, and ensuring team resilience and readiness during periods of operational pressure.
• Excellent stakeholder and relationship management skills, with the ability to work effectively with suppliers, internal teams, regulators, and NHS partners, communicating clearly and credibly in a dynamic, regulated operational setting.
• GCSE Maths and English or equivalent