What does it take to manage operations for one of the UK’s most iconic digital brands? For Chelsea Hall, it meant joining Gumtree UK at a time of massive strategic shift. As we cement our position as a leading transactional marketplace, Chelsea has been instrumental in ensuring our "customer-first" promise keeps pace with our tech. 

In this interview, Chelsea talks openly about her first year at Gumtree, the shift toward human-centric operations, and why she’s excited about the commercial impact of her team in the year ahead. 

When you looked at Gumtree a year ago, what was the specific challenge or opportunity in the Operations space that made you want to jump on board? 

“Gumtree has such a strong foundation, with 25 years of experience behind it. Like any business at this stage, there is a real need to evolve to keep pace with changing customer expectations and usage. 

The opportunity to help Gumtree evolve from a traditional classified ads platform into a transactional marketplace was incredibly exciting. From an Operations perspective, that meant building scalable, customer-first capabilities to support trust, safety, payments, and dispute resolution at a much deeper level, while still preserving the simplicity Gumtree is known for.” 

Coming in as a fresh set of eyes, what was your Day 1 assessment of the customer experience, and how has that perception evolved after 12 months? 

“On day one, it was clear that customers genuinely cared about Gumtree and wanted it to work, but their experience was not always consistent or intuitive. Behind the scenes, there was (and still is) a highly committed team who truly care about delivering good outcomes for users. 

After 12 months, I have developed a huge respect for the complexity involved in supporting a marketplace at this scale. What has changed most is the clarity we now have as a business, and a stronger focus on designing excellent end to end experiences rather than reacting to issues as they arise.” 

Transformation requires more than new software; it requires a shift in mindset. What are the top three skills, beyond traditional customer service, that are now essential for the New Gumtree? 

“A big shift for us has been bringing more humanity into the way we work, being less transactional and more focused on where we can add real value. 

The three skills that really stand out are: 

As we move from a classifieds site to a transactional marketplace, what has been the most significant change in day-to-day operations for your team? 

“The biggest change has been how closely Operations is now tied to what happens on the platform day to day. We have had to shift away from a traditional support model that focused mainly on resolving individual cases and instead take more ownership of customer outcomes across the full transaction. 

When transactions happen on platform, customers expect us to be more involved, and rightly so. That means being directly responsible for things like trust, payments, disputes, and resolutions, not just providing guidance. It has required faster decision making, clearer ownership, and much closer collaboration with Product, Tech, and Risk teams so issues are solved end to end, rather than in isolation.” 

How has the past year challenged you personally as a leader? 

“This year has challenged me to slow down to move faster. After spending five years in my previous role, the last 12 months have been a chance to go back to basics, which has been really refreshing. 

Having the space to assess what is in front of me and contribute experience, guidance, and perspective across the business has been incredibly fulfilling. Leading through change has reinforced how important it is to balance urgency with empathy, because sustainable transformation only happens when people feel supported and included in the journey.” 

Now that the foundation of your first year is built, what are you most excited to disrupt or innovate within the Customer Operations space in year two? 

“I am most excited about embedding Operations earlier into product and marketplace decisions. We launched our Pay and Ship feature last year, which we will be scaling into more categories across 2026. 

Being more proactive is a key focus, using data, insights, and customer feedback to prevent issues before they occur, while continuing to upskill the team for an increasingly complex, transactional future. 

There are also strong commercial opportunities ahead. We will be exploring how our service operation impacts Gumtree’s bottom line, and what initiatives we can introduce to help secure the long-term sustainability of the platform for our users. 

Overall a really successful and rewarding 12 months - joining Gumtree has been a significant change for me, both professionally and personally. It pushed me well outside my comfort zone, including commuting to London, which is something I never imagined would be part of my life. Looking back, taking that step has been one of the best decisions I’ve made for my career and my personal growth. It’s reinforced how important it is to take risks and say yes to opportunities that feel a little uncomfortable, because that’s often where the biggest learning and impact come from.” 

Looking Ahead to 2026 

With the foundations firmly in place, Chelsea and the Operations team are moving into a year of proactive innovation - using data and customer feedback to stop friction before it even starts. The evolution of our marketplace is an ongoing story, and we are just getting started. 

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