Hospitality & Events Channel Operations Manager

About us

At Exchange for Change, we are building something the UK has never had before. Working across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, we are designing and delivering a Deposit Return Scheme from the ground up, creating a system that helps reduce litter and waste by encouraging people to return their empty drinks bottles and cans for recycling.

We are not for profit, industry led, and driven by purpose. A national movement with a clear mission. No bottle unreturned. No can left behind.

This is not just another job. This is a rare opportunity to do meaningful work, shape a landmark national programme, and help deliver lasting positive impact for people, businesses and the planet alike.

Your role

This is a key role within the Operations & Scheme Performance function responsible for ensuring hospitality businesses and events operators are fully integrated into the Deposit Return Scheme, including registration where required, educated, operationally prepared, and meeting scheme requirements. Hospitality businesses (hotels, restaurants, cafés, bars, nightlife venues, and events operations) represent a large and diverse group with distinct operational models, high consumer footfall, and significant on-premises consumption volumes.

This channel presents some of the scheme's most complex and varied operational challenges. The diversity of business sizes, formats, and operating environments means that no single approach fits all, and the role requires the ability to design and deliver tailored solutions at scale. Effective participation by this channel is essential to scheme integrity, consumer awareness, and ensuring that containers consumed on-premises have a clear and practical route back into the circular economy.

The role works closely with Logistics, Finance, IT, Legal, and Marketing to ensure the hospitality and events channel is well-supported and that the scheme operates seamlessly across every touchpoint.

Key Responsibilities & Priorities

Registration & Onboarding

• Own the end-to-end onboarding process for hospitality operators and events venues, ensuring each is correctly registered depending on their role in the supply chain

• Act as the primary point of contact throughout onboarding, ensuring participants fully understand their obligations under the Deposit and Return Scheme Regulations and are set up for compliance from day one

• Support hospitality businesses in understanding and applying the regulatory distinctions specific to their channel

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records across the channel, flagging gaps, anomalies, or missing registrations promptly

Pre-Go-Live Preparation

• Work with hospitality operators and events venues to develop and implement transition plans ahead of scheme go-live, ensuring the channel is operationally ready to handle deposit-bearing containers and apply deposits correctly

• Identify and proactively address operational risks within the channel ahead of launch

• Coordinate with Marketing to ensure hospitality operators and events venues have access to the right scheme communications, signage, and materials ahead of go-live

Education & Commercial Awareness

• Develop and deliver education programmes tailored to the hospitality and events channel, covering scheme obligations, deposit flows, data reporting requirements where applicable, and the implications of participation

• Ensure hospitality operators understand the practical realities of operating within the scheme, including collection storage requirements and the specific rules across the nations involved

• Produce clear, accessible guidance materials in partnership with Marketing and Legal, tailored to the specific needs, scale, and complexity of the channel

• Keep the channel informed of scheme updates, regulatory changes, and operational developments on an ongoing basis

Events Engagement

• Own the relationship with events operators across festivals, sporting events, concerts, exhibitions, and other large-scale gatherings, ensuring they are registered where required, supported, and operating effectively within the scheme

• Develop practical return solutions suited to the temporary and high-volume nature of events environments, where conventional return infrastructure may not be feasible

• Work with Logistics and Procurement to develop collection solutions tailored to the operational constraints of events environments, including access requirements and high-frequency collection needs during events

• Monitor the performance of events return points, working with the Return Point team to ensure service standards are maintained in these high-profile, high-footfall locations

• Track and report on events channel performance, feeding insight into the scheme's broader network coverage and continuous improvement agenda

Logistics & Collections Coordination

• Work with hospitality operators and events venues to develop and optimise logistics arrangements

• Ensure collection and storage arrangements meet scheme requirements, reflecting the distinct physical and operational constraints of each environment and the nations operating within

• Work with providers to identify and develop logistics solutions for hard-to-reach or temporary venues, where conventional collection may be less viable

• Provide the Logistics function with insight on collection volumes, frequencies, and route opportunities across the channel to support collection planning and partner management

• Act as the operational intelligence link between the channel and the Logistics function, ensuring channel-specific collection challenges are well understood and planned for

Data Collection & Reporting

• Work with the Data & Analytics team to ensure data from the channel integrates correctly into scheme-wide reporting and reconciliation processes

• Monitor channel performance data, identifying and investigating anomalies or variances that may indicate compliance issues, data quality problems, or fraud risk

• Maintain audit-ready records of compliance and reporting across the channel, feeding into the scheme's regulatory evidence framework

Stakeholder Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with hospitality businesses and events operators of all sizes

• Engage with relevant trade associations and industry bodies across the channel to build scheme awareness and drive participation

• Collaborate with Finance, IT, Logistics, Legal, and Marketing colleagues to ensure the channel is well-served across all scheme functions

• Feed channel insight into the scheme's broader continuous improvement programme, ensuring the experience across the channel improves iteratively

About you

Experience

• Proven experience in a senior stakeholder engagement, account management, or commercial operations role, ideally with direct experience across hospitality, food service, or events sectors

• Demonstrable ability to build and sustain productive relationships with businesses of varying scale, complexity, and operational model

• Experience coordinating across multiple internal functions to deliver a joined-up stakeholder experience

• Knowledge of deposit return, extended producer responsibility, or regulated scheme environments is desirable

Skills & Capabilities

• Strong commercial awareness, understands the economics of the hospitality and events sector and how the scheme affects participants' businesses

• Creative problem-solver, able to design practical, workable solutions for the wide variety of operational environments across the channel

• Clear and confident communicator, able to explain complex scheme obligations in accessible, practical terms for operators of all sizes and types

• Organised and self-directed, with the ability to manage a large and diverse channel without losing focus or accuracy

• Collaborative, works effectively across internal functions and with external partners to deliver joined-up scheme outcomes

Interview process

We believe in a transparent and streamlined hiring process. Here’s what you can expect.

• Talent Screen – an initial video call with our Talent Manager.

• Hiring Manager interview – a deep dive over Teams into your experience and potential fit for this role.

• On site interview – meet the team, get a feel for our culture, and present a task.

• Leadership interview – a remote conversation with a leadership representative from your team.

• Offer – if successful, we’ll make a verbal offer followed by the details in writing.

The opportunity

Work that makes a difference - and a place where you can too.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help establish a scheme of national importance, working with purpose-driven colleagues and partners to deliver visible, real-world impact. You’ll contribute directly to meaningful environmental and social change and in return, we support and reward our team through a range of benefits and initiatives, including:

• Competitive base salary

• Bonus scheme

• 34 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays, additional holidays for length of service

• Flexibility with holidays. You may work on a local public holiday and take an alternative day off, giving you the freedom to celebrate the days that matter most to you.

• 5% employer pension contribution

• Life Insurance: Cover of 4 times base salary

• Private Medical Insurance: Includes GP access and an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for wellbeing support

• Income protection

• Family Leave: Maternity, adoption, parental, and paternity leave policies will be developed to be progressive and inclusive.

• Hybrid Working: 60% office or field-based and 40% home-based, with some flexibility according to business and personal needs.