Ops Leadership: The Missing Link to Net-Zero Growth

Most agencies don’t fall over because their ideas get worse. They fall over because the machine behind the ideas can’t keep up.

That’s why a small “people move” in UK agency land is worth paying attention to. On 9 January 2026, Campaign reported that The Kite Factory appointed a managing partner of operations, with the role also bringing formal responsibility for ESG into the leadership team. Source: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/kite-factory-appoints-managing-partner-operations/1944659

For startups and scaleups building in the UK, this matters for one reason: net-zero commitments don’t get delivered by values statements; they get delivered by operational choices. Who owns those choices—budgeting, suppliers, production workflows, measurement—determines whether your sustainability marketing becomes credible, or becomes a risk.

Why an operations appointment is a growth strategy (not admin)

Answer first: When a company appoints senior operations leadership, it usually signals that growth is becoming constrained by delivery, not demand.

Early-stage marketing teams often treat operations as “support”: procurement, resourcing, traffic, project management, finance ops. Then the team grows, client needs diversify, and suddenly ops becomes the bottleneck that decides whether you can scale.

In agencies, the symptoms show up fast:

• Campaign delivery becomes inconsistent across channels and partners
• Teams burn time in handovers and rework
• Margins leak through poor scoping and change control
• Reporting gets messy, so optimisation decisions slow down

For startups, it’s the same pattern—just with different labels. “Ops” might be your growth lead’s spreadsheet, your founder approving every supplier, or one overworked project manager trying to keep launches on the rails.

A senior ops appointment says: we’re professionalising execution. And in 2026, execution includes ESG by default.

ESG ownership is shifting from comms to operations

Answer first: If ESG sits only with PR or marketing, net-zero plans stay vague; when ESG sits with operations, it becomes measurable.

The detail in the Campaign item that jumped out is the phrase “formal responsibility for ESG”. That’s not a headline-friendly flourish. It’s a governance change.

In the Climate Change & Net Zero Transition context, this is exactly what serious organisations are doing right now: moving from “we care about sustainability” to “we can prove what we’re doing”. That requires three unglamorous things:

1. Data (what you measure)
2. Process (how work gets done)
3. Accountability (who gets questioned when targets slip)

Operations is where those live.

The practical reason: Scope 3 is where the hard work is

For many service businesses (including agencies), direct emissions are often relatively small compared to Scope 3—supplier, travel, purchased services, cloud and IT, production, events, and client work dependencies.

You can’t reduce Scope 3 with a brand manifesto. You reduce it by changing:

• supplier onboarding criteria
• production defaults (e.g., virtual vs physical, shipping options)
• travel policies and approvals
• measurement cadence and tooling

Those are ops levers.

The reputational reason: green claims are now a liability if sloppy

Sustainability marketing is under more scrutiny than it was even two years ago. Regulators and platforms are paying closer attention to environmental claims, and consumers have become quick to call out vague promises.

The stance I take: if you market sustainability without operational control, you’re taking an avoidable risk. A managing partner of operations owning ESG is one way to reduce that risk—because it forces the organisation to connect messaging to delivery.

What UK startups can copy this week: the “Ops + ESG spine”

Answer first: You don’t need a managing partner to get the benefit; you need a clear owner, a simple operating rhythm, and a few non-negotiable standards.

Here’s a lightweight blueprint I’ve seen work for UK startups and scaleups that want growth and credible net-zero progress.

1) Name one accountable owner (even if it’s part-time)

If ESG is everyone’s job, it becomes nobody’s job.

Pick a single owner for the system, not the messaging. Common options:

• Head of Operations / COO (ideal)
• Finance lead (good for controls and procurement)
• Delivery lead / programme director (good for execution)

Their mandate should include:

• operational policy (travel, suppliers, tools)
• measurement and reporting
• ensuring sustainability marketing claims are substantiated

2) Create a monthly “net-zero operations review”

A 45-minute meeting once a month beats an annual sustainability deck no one reads.

Agenda that stays useful:

• Top 5 operational emissions drivers (based on what you can measure)
• What changed since last month (suppliers, travel, production volume)
• 2 actions to reduce impact (small, controlled experiments)
• Risks (upcoming campaigns/events with heavy footprint)

The key is cadence. Sustainability becomes real when it’s routine.

3) Set three operational non-negotiables

Start with constraints you can actually enforce. Examples that fit many marketing organisations:

• Default to remote-first delivery unless a client value case is documented
• Preferred supplier list with minimum ESG standards (and a process to review them)
• Production checklist that covers waste, shipping, energy, and reuse options

Non-negotiables reduce decision fatigue and prevent “we forgot” moments.

Snippet-worthy rule: If a sustainability action depends on someone remembering, it won’t scale. Put it in the process.

Operations leadership improves marketing efficiency (and that helps climate goals)

Answer first: Better operations reduces waste—time waste, budget waste, and carbon waste—so you can run more effective campaigns with fewer resources.

There’s a tendency to treat ESG as a trade-off: more compliance, more cost, slower delivery. Sometimes there’s friction upfront, yes. But strong operations usually produces the opposite result after the initial setup.

Where the efficiency comes from

A senior ops leader tends to standardise four things that directly affect marketing performance:

1. Scoping and prioritisation (fewer pet projects, clearer impact)
2. Resourcing models (less thrash, more predictable delivery)
3. Supplier management (better rates, consistent quality, clearer data)
4. Measurement (faster learning loops)

Those improvements are not just good business—they align with climate outcomes because they reduce rework, unnecessary travel, redundant production, and overbuilt assets.

A simple example: “rework” is a hidden carbon cost

If a campaign asset gets produced twice because feedback cycles were unclear, you’ve doubled:

• creative time
• compute and tooling usage
• stakeholder meetings
• possibly production and shipping

Most companies track the money cost of rework. Almost none track the environmental cost. Operations leadership is how you start making that visible.

People also ask: what does a managing partner of operations actually do?

Answer first: They own the operating system—process, resourcing, governance, and increasingly the proof behind ESG claims.

In agency terms, that often covers:

• delivery frameworks and QA
• financial controls and margin protection
• supplier and production management
• data and reporting standards
• governance for ESG policies and compliance

For startups and scaleups, the equivalent role may look like “Head of Ops”, “COO”, or even a senior programme lead who has authority across teams.

People also ask: when should a startup hire senior ops?

Answer first: Hire (or appoint) senior ops when growth problems show up as delivery problems.

Typical triggers:

• launches repeatedly miss dates
• marketing spend rises but results become inconsistent
• founders are stuck approving everything
• you can’t answer basic ESG questions with evidence

If any two of those are true, you’re already paying an “ops tax”.

A practical checklist: does your marketing org have scale-ready ops?

Answer first: If you can’t measure delivery performance and ESG basics reliably, you’re not scale-ready.

Use this quick self-audit:

1. One owner: Is there a named person accountable for operational performance and ESG delivery?
2. Supplier visibility: Do you know which suppliers materially affect footprint and risk?
3. Process hygiene: Do projects follow a standard workflow with clear handoffs?
4. Claims control: Can you substantiate sustainability marketing claims with data or policy?
5. Review cadence: Do you review operational and sustainability metrics monthly?

Score yourself out of 5. If you’re at 2 or below, your next “growth hire” probably isn’t another channel specialist. It’s ops.

Where this fits in the net-zero transition story

The net-zero transition isn’t only about renewables, transport, and heavy industry. It’s also about how professional services run—because services shape demand, influence supply chains, and set the norms clients copy.

The Kite Factory’s move—putting operations leadership in place and giving that role formal ESG responsibility—signals a broader UK trend: sustainability is moving from a marketing narrative to an operating discipline. That’s where it needs to live if we’re serious about climate targets.

If you’re building a startup or scaling a marketing team this year, take the hint. Your net-zero ambitions will rise or fall on operational ownership.

What would change in your business if one person had the authority to say: “We’re not doing it that way anymore—here’s the process, here’s the data, and here’s the lower-impact default”?