3PL Delivery Manager at NHS Professionals, Canary Wharf

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.