How To Become A Warehouse Manager

Plan and oversee super-smooth warehouse operations, from factory to warehouse to superstore.

Warehouse Management Careers: What’s Involved

What Is A Warehouse Manager?

Similar jobs: Storage and distribution manager

Ever wondered how large companies transport their products and keep track of their stock? Even if you haven’t, it’s a great question to ask because it could be your first step into the HUGE world of transport and logistics careers.

How large companies handle products and stock is largely down to their storage and distribution managers, who do exactly what it says on the tin – they organise the storage and distribution of goods for the company.

If you’re an organised person who gets a thrill from seeing a project from start to finish, stop for a moment and think about a career in distribution management. It can be a big earner, with a chance to work with all kinds of brands (including your favourites) across the UK.

What Does A Warehouse Manager Do?

Work in a warehouse or office to organise the safe storage and distribution of goods. This includes organising the shipment of goods, coordinating vehicles, drivers and routes. A storage and distribution manager will also agree and negotiate about contracts, and prepare any paperwork for regulatory bodies as well as making sure health and safety standards are reached, along with monitoring all stock. This is an extremely varied role, and would suit someone organised with a good eye for detail.

In your working day, you might:

  • work closely with clients, transporters and suppliers
  • plan product delivery
  • keep an eagle eye on storage space
  • track stock levels using modern technology
  • make sure stock is stored in a safe and smart way
  • manage, hire and organise training for warehouse staff

How Much Money Can You Earn As a Warehouse Manager?

These LMI Job Trends give you a sneak peek of how much you could earn starting out for this career, and how much your salary could grow with experience.



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Average Salary For Warehouse Manager Jobs

Recent labour market information says you can earn on average between £15,000 and £31,000 a year as a warehouse manager in the UK.

The starting salary can be around £15,000, increasing to £19,000.

When you develop managerial skills, your wage can increase to £25,000 and can go up to £31,000 depending on which company you are with.

This figure can go up to £45,000 when you reach senior management. In some instances, you can reach a wage of £60,000 at top senior management level.

Skills You Need To Become A Warehouse Manager

Useful Skills To Put On Your CV:

  • Fantastic teamwork skills, be it with colleagues or customers. Great interpersonal communication skills will always be needed.
  • Managerial skills; this is a role that involves managing others and having to consider not only what you want from your career, but managing other people’s careers too.
  • Time management is a key skill to have in any role but especially in a demanding role when you are under pressure to deliver a service. Good time-keeping is a sign you have good self-management skills.
  • Motivational skills – as a manager, you will need to be able to motivate your staff to do their best, so consider how you might go about doing this.
  • Problem solving skills – distribution doesn’t always run smoothly and you will need to solve issues and think on your feet.
  • Positive attitude – if others are looking to you for guidance, you need to stay upbeat and show them you are a reliable and great person who has their backs.
  • Good basic digital skills – you could be in charge of shifting millions of units around the UK.
  • Being able to adapt and change a plan if things go wrong.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

What Qualifications & Training Do You Need For Warehouse Management Careers?

School, College And Training

You can work your way up the career ladder straight out of school by applying for a transport and logistics job like being a transport clerk.

For a job like this, you’ll find that having five GCSEs or the equivalent with grades 9-4/A*-C is useful, especially if you have maths and English.

From there, you can seek promotion over time as you build skills and experience. You can also look into further training with your employers, or full/part-time courses you can do out of working hours.

You can study for an HNC or HND in a variety of fields include transport, logistics, supply chains or geography and they’ll all be relevant to this career.

Supply Chain Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship schemes are another way into a storage and distribution career. They are unlikely to include positions of management straight away, but that’s a good thing. An apprenticeship is a way to get trained and soak up on-the-job experience while getting paid for it, and never being given more responsibility than you can handle. You can build up to getting more responsibility (like a leadership role) when you feel ready for it.

Your employer of choice may be advertising apprenticeships on their career websites, or it’s always worth checking the find an apprenticeship website, please follow this link.

Graduates, University & Degrees

The world of transport and logistics is getting increasingly sophisticated. If you want to fast-track your way into warehousing careers at management level, you’ll find that many (but not all) companies look for graduates.

These example degrees would look good on your CV:

  • Business
  • Business with languages
  • Computing
  • Economics
  • Geography
  • Information systems
  • Management
  • Science
  • Transport, distribution or logistics.

Many large organisations run graduate transport and supply management schemes if that’s something you might be interested in looking into…

Postgraduate education is also an option, because Masters in logistics and supply chain management are available. Why not look at CILT UK? They can keep you up to date with the industry, and a student membership is also available.

What Work Experience Do You Need For Warehouse Management Jobs?

Work Experience Tips

Finding relevant work experience in areas such as storage, retail, admin and general warehousing could be something to explore. Have a think about what kind of company you’d like to work for, then get in touch with them and ask if you can do some shadowing and receive some mentoring.

Getting Experience

Examples of relevant work experience include:

  • Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
  • Work placements in a company
  • Work placements on a degree course

How To Find Warehouse Manager Jobs: Next Steps

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles with these words in the title:

  • warehousing apprenticeships
  • graduate warehouse manager
  • warehousing operative traineeships
  • supply chain and logistics degree apprenticeships
When thinking about work experience, summer jobs for the CV or early roles to get your foot in the door, you could consider developing skills in the following areas:

  • Packaging and goods
  • Order picking
  • Sorting
  • Warehousing
  • Admin

Apprenticeships and graduate schemes are another great way of getting started.

These Youth Friendly Employers Offer Great Opportunities

These Youth-Friendly Employers might be able to help you get great fantastic warehousing jobs, training or experience! Take a look.

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.
Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.

Catch22 Youth Services Want to overcome barriers in life, whatever your background? Want employers to give you a chance? We can help. EXPLORE Prezzo Restaurant Careers Prezzo offers so many early careers, from cooking great food and giving great customer service to managing like a boss! EXPLORE Martin Brower Careers Break into business, admin and supply careers with Martin Brower. Don't settle for the status quo. EXPLORE Royal Air Force There’s nothing like a career in the RAF, it’s not just a job but a way of living. EXPLORE Careers in Racing Horse racing is a great career choice! British Racing is the 2nd largest spectator sport after football. EXPLORE Generation: Free Skills Training Get FREE skills and careers training today! Generation gives you skills and connects you with employers to find a job fast. EXPLORE Surrey County Council Careers Thinking about rewarding apprenticeships and early careers in a diverse environment? Fire up your career with SCC! EXPLORE Aspiration Training Traineeships & Apprenticeships in childcare, dental nursing, teaching, health/social care, and business admin EXPLORE Essex Youth Service Aged 13-25 and live in Essex? Get involved in fun activities, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and online Plan B Traineeships. EXPLORE McDonald's Early Careers You probably knew you can get McDonald's Apprenticeships. Did you know you can also study for a FREE Management Degree? EXPLORE The British Library Work experience, internships and apprenticeships with The British Library open up a WORLD of possibilities. EXPLORE Get Into Teaching You can get a teaching degree for FREE with apprenticeships! EXPLORE NCFE Vocational Qualifications Young people get amazing perks when they work for the NCFE, with apprenticeships and more. The training is great, too. EXPLORE Pret Apprenticeships & Careers When you apply for a Pret Apprenticeship or junior role, you’ll belong to a community of achievers. Get support on your own unique career journey! EXPLORE Haven Joining Haven is more than just a job. Our early careers are a breath of fresh air! EXPLORE ABP Foods Apprenticeships, graduate schemes and an AMAZING early careers academy in the world of sustainable food EXPLORE Careers in Eyecare From healthcare lab to high street fashion - you don't need a degree to open your eyes to eyecare careers EXPLORE Coach Core Apprenticeships See how Coach Core Apprenticeships get you into sport careers EXPLORE Coca-Cola EuroPacific Want to work for one of the most well-known brands in the world? They work hard to develop their young people! EXPLORE Environment Agency Careers Our work helps to protect and improve the environment to make it a better place for people and wildlife. Join us! EXPLORE Historic England Discover early careers in heritage for all backgrounds, skills and interests. EXPLORE IHG Early Careers Discover how you can grow your career in hospitality! EXPLORE Working in local government Local government touches everyone's lives every day EXPLORE Severn Trent Careers Discover opportunities for apprentices, graduates and undergraduates in the office and beyond! EXPLORE VHR Technical Recruitment The VHR talent academy can help you get into a successful technical recruitment career - with NO experience! EXPLORE
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Prezzo Restaurants

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Resources And Links

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