Fashion & Lifestyle – Operations & Support
Fashion and lifestyle businesses ask Encore Recruitment to help them hire operations and support professionals.
Fashion and lifestyle professionals ask us to help them find operations and support opportunities.
We find, assess and recommend people they’d want to work with.
Key Takeaways
- Operations and support recruitment across fashion and lifestyle: We recruit Administrators, Coordinators, Executive Assistants, Office Managers, Operations Managers, Finance Managers and other supporting roles for brands, retailers, suppliers and importers across fashion, accessories, footwear, beauty and homeware.
- Understand, find and filter: We understand what you’re trying to achieve, find people who could help, and filter what we find through that understanding.
- Assess, qualify and recommend: We assess and qualify who remains before deciding who we’re prepared to recommend. We make the recommendation. You decide what happens next.
Operations & Support Recruitment Starts for Different Reasons
Operations and support professionals help coordinate the administration, operations and finance activities that keep fashion and lifestyle businesses moving.
Businesses may recruit because someone is leaving, growth is increasing pressure across departments or operational complexity is becoming harder to manage.
Professionals may be looking for broader responsibility, greater exposure or new career possibilities.
The title may be the same. The expectations behind it may not.
What if Information is Starting to Get Lost Between Teams?
An operations and support hire can bring organisation, visibility and coordination across departments, suppliers and customers as a business grows.
What if Growth Has Created More Moving Parts Than the Team Can Support?
An operations and support hire can coordinate priorities and stakeholders when new customers, product categories, e-commerce activity or larger order volumes increase pressure on the team.
What if You're Supporting More Than Your Job Title Suggests?
People in support and operations positions can become trusted by teams because they understand how work moves through a business.
Responsibilities can expand into customer communication, reporting, leadership support, project coordination or finance administration.
The next move may be about finding a position that recognises the contribution you're already making.
What if You're Looking for Wider Exposure Across a Fashion and Lifestyle Business?
Operations and support roles can provide exposure across buying, merchandising, e-commerce, wholesale, production, customer operations, finance and leadership teams, creating routes towards wider operational, commercial or management responsibilities.
Operations & Support Careers, Responsibilities and Salaries
The Same Operations & Support Title Can Mean Different Things
Operations and support positions cover a broad range of activities within fashion and lifestyle retailers, brands, suppliers and importers.
An Operations Coordinator may support production, logistics and suppliers in one organisation, and customer operations or reporting in another. An Office Manager may support a small leadership team or coordinate multiple departments.
A growing SME may need someone supporting several departments. A larger organisation may require someone focused on one area.
The title tells only part of the story. What the organisation expects the position to deliver provides a clearer picture.
Operations & Support Careers Can Develop in Different Directions
Careers in support, operations and business coordination rarely follow a single path.
Some people develop through Executive Assistant and Office Manager positions. Others move into operations, customer support, e-commerce, wholesale support, finance administration or wider business coordination.
Early career positions may include:
- Administrator, Sales Administrator, Wholesale Administrator, Customer Service Administrator, Finance Assistant.
As responsibility expands, careers may develop towards:
- Coordinator, Executive Assistant, Office Manager, Operations Manager, Finance Manager.
Career progression depends on the opportunities available within the business.
Operations & Support Salaries Reflect Responsibility, Experience and Market Demand
Salary expectations vary across operations and support positions. Responsibilities, business size, department, location and commercial ownership all influence salary levels.
Typical salary ranges across parts of the UK fashion and lifestyle sector include:
- Administrator/Finance Assistant: £24,000–£30,000
- Coordinator/Sales Support/Wholesale Support: £28,000–£38,000
- Executive Assistant/Office Manager: £35,000–£55,000
- Operations Manager/Finance Manager: £45,000–£75,000+
Salary ranges updated August 2026
Salary ranges are indicative. Any salary offered must reflect contracted hours, the applicable age band and UK National Minimum Wage requirements.
How We Approach Operations & Support Recruitment
Understanding What You're Looking For
For a business, we start with why you're recruiting and what the person needs to contribute: Responsibilities, reporting lines, team structure, operational priorities and how the position connects with other parts of the business.
For a professional, we explore what you're doing now and what you want next: Current responsibilities, career ambitions, the areas of a business you want exposure to and the environment in which you want to contribute.
A job title or CV gives us information. The conversation gives us the context to use it.
Finding People and Opportunities Worth Exploring
For clients, what we learn helps us identify people whose experience gives us a reason to have a conversation.
Because operations and support responsibilities differ between businesses, we consider experience in the context of the responsibilities, business function and breadth of the position rather than relying on title alone.
For professionals, it helps us identify opportunities that may support what you're looking for next.
Not every person identified leads to a conversation. Not every opportunity discussed leads to representation.
Discover how we approach our Process.
Before We Make a Recommendation
Finding someone is not the same as recommending them.
Every recommendation is shaped by conversations, questions and assessment throughout our process. Recommendations reflect what we learn about the position, organisation, individual and circumstances surrounding the decision.
The opportunity is discussed with the candidate first. We don't represent someone until they have agreed they want us to do so.
Read the guidelines behind our Recommendation Standard.
Clients and Candidates Decide What Happens Next
We don't decide who gets hired or who accepts an offer. We make a recommendation. Clients and candidates decide what happens next.
A client may want to interview, ask questions or not proceed. A candidate may continue, need more information or decide the opportunity isn't for them.
Where both sides continue, we support interviews, feedback and offer discussions through to the start. If either side doesn't proceed, we understand why and agree what happens next.
FAQ
What Types of Operations & Support Roles Do You Recruit?
We recruit across administration, office support, executive support, operations coordination, wholesale support, customer operations and finance support positions within fashion and lifestyle businesses.
Do Operations & Support Responsibilities Vary Between Businesses?
Yes. The same title can involve different responsibilities depending on the organisation's scale, structure, and priorities.
What Should a Business Define Before Recruiting an Operations & Support Professional?
Start with the responsibilities, reporting line, team structure and operational priorities. Similar job titles can carry different expectations, so understanding what the position needs to contribute matters.
Hiring for an Operations or Support Position?
Start a conversation about what you’re looking for. You can either Submit a Vacancy→ or Contact Us→
Considering Your Next Operations or Support Opportunity?
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