General Manager

We're looking for an experienced General Manager / Plant Director / Senior Operations Leader who knows how to take ownership of an engineering operation, lead from the front and make it perform.

You'll take full responsibility for a well-established manufacturing site in Walsall, leading a team of circa 50 and owning the operation from P&L and people through to safety, quality, delivery and continuous improvement.

The business supplies engineered industrial products into demanding sectors including automotive, aerospace and general manufacturing. It needs a leader who is equally comfortable on the shop floor, around the management table and in front of senior stakeholders.

You'll have genuine ownership of the site, including:

• Full P&L and operational responsibility
• Leadership and development of the site team
• Driving safety, quality, delivery, cost and productivity
• Improving operational performance through Lean / continuous improvement
• Building stronger processes, accountability and KPI discipline
• Identifying opportunities around capacity, efficiency, waste and cost
• Working cross-functionally across engineering, production, quality and supply chain
• Creating a culture where people take ownership and performance improves

The important bit.

We need an established senior manufacturing leader from a heavy engineering or technically demanding manufacturing environment.

You'll ideally already be operating as a:

General Manager | Plant Manager | Plant Director | Operations Director | Head of Operations

You must bring:

• Significant senior operational leadership within heavy engineering / industrial manufacturing
• Experience leading a complete manufacturing or engineering operation
• P&L / budget accountability
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes and operational KPIs
• A demonstrable record of improving productivity, cost, quality, delivery and safety
• Strong Lean / CI / operational excellence credentials
• The ability to lead managers as well as shop-floor teams
• An Engineering or relevant technical degree

Experience within automotive, aerospace, metals, machining, fabrication, engineered components or similarly demanding manufacturing would be particularly relevant.

This is a proper operational leadership role.

You'll have the autonomy to shape the site, develop the team and make tangible improvements to the performance of the business.

It should appeal to someone who enjoys being close enough to operations to understand what's really happening, but senior enough to change it.

Salary: up to £80,000 + package
Location: Walsall, West Midlands

If you've built your career leading engineering and manufacturing operations and you're ready to take full ownership of a site, we'd like to hear from you.