Manufacturing Site Leader

At Warburtons, family is at the heart of our business. Five generations'​ worth of expertise that goes into making our bakery products allows us to continue a tradition of baking inherited over the past 150 years.

Warburtons is the largest bakery brand in the UK, but that doesn't allow us to rest on our laurels. We are pioneers of the industry and ambitious market leaders, always seeking to challenge ourselves and convention. It is part of our philosophy to provide honest good sense on issues of health and well-being, helping the whole family to enjoy our products as part of a healthy, balanced diet, through a range of products to suit all meal occasions, lifestyles and tastes.

Manufacturing Site Leader

Job Title: Manufacturing Site Leader

Location: Bellshill

Full Time / Permanent

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Manufacturing Site Leader to oversee our Bellshill site’s Manufacturing operations. This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for driving operational excellence, ensuring compliance with safety and quality standards, and delivering outstanding performance across all key metrics. You will lead a high-performing team, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and collaborate cross-functionally to support business growth and transformation.

To lead and engage the Manufacturing teams at the site to deliver daily customer service targets with effective resource planning, whilst managing HSE, Quality, Food Safety and cost. To drive a Manufacturing Excellence continuous improvement culture to deliver sustained performance improvements. The role has full responsibility for the site facilities and services across both Manufacturing and Distribution functions.

Established in 1998, Bellshill is one of Warburtons’ most established and strategically important manufacturing sites. It operates two production plants and is the exclusive producer of our milk roll, delivering nearly one million units weekly. With over 150 full-time colleagues and a dedicated temporary workforce, the site plays a central role in our five-year growth strategy, which includes significant investment in automation, modernisation, and innovation to support increased capacity and future expansion.

Your Leadership in Action

As the Manufacturing Site Leader, you’ll take full ownership of site operations, leading a high-performing team to deliver on safety, quality, service, and efficiency.

You’ll embed a strong health and safety culture, ensuring compliance and proactive risk management. Food safety and product quality will be non-negotiable, with robust systems in place to meet internal and external standards.

Your leadership will drive operational performance, managing budgets, improving reliability, and collaborating across functions to meet customer expectations. You’ll champion continuous improvement, using lean principles to enhance processes and embed a culture of excellence.

People development will be central to your approach. You’ll coach, support, and grow talent, ensuring your team is engaged, accountable, and future ready.

This is a role for a strategic thinker and someone who can deliver results today while shaping the site for tomorrow.

• Knowledge and experience of management in an FMCG environment – in particular, knowledge and experience of Lean manufacturing tools & techniques.
• Knowledge of TPM philosophies desirable.  
• Experience or knowledge of working within an ‘Enterprise Leadership’ culture or matrix organisation desirable.
• Knowledge and experience of bread or OWB making processes, plant & technology desirable.
• Knowledge of legislation relating to a manufacturing/distribution environment (including employment law).
• H&S/Food Safety/food hygiene systems & legislation knowledge e.g. COSHH, IOSH.
• Quality systems & knowledge of HACCP – able to ensure the factory’s output meet required quality standards.
• IT and PC knowledge – able to use widespread functions within relevant software (inc Office and SAP).
• Business & market knowledge – uses knowledge of customers/market to improve processes & products.
• Knowledge of auditing processes.
• Knowledge of procedures for dealing with emergencies. 
• Communicating skills – articulate/develops effective, long-term relationships with key people.
• Coaching and mentoring skills – takes responsibility for the training and coaching of others.
• Influencing & negotiating skills – maintains attention when speaking to groups of people/negotiates successful deals and purchases/develops persuasive arguments/demonstrates flexibility in influencing style. 
• Analysing and problem-solving skills – anticipates problems before they occur and takes steps to deal with them/correctly & swiftly identifies the underlying problem & finds appropriate solutions.
• Time & project management skills – uses project management techniques to create effective plans with milestones/identifies areas of risk & plan contingency/monitors and communicates work & project progress. 
• Decision making skills – makes timely decisions/takes account of the wider risks & implications.
• Commercial acumen– uses an understanding of the cost base to improve profitability
• Financial acumen - experience of creating full site budgets.
• Strategic thinking skills – develops strategy and long-term plans and objectives for the factory/re-designs processes & ways of working to meet long-term objectives.
• Management & leadership skills – develops an exciting vision which inspires others to perform/uses a range of management styles/deals effectively with performance issues/creates a sense of trust in the team.
• Innovating skills – identifies improvements to systems and processes and develops a culture within the factory where creativity and innovation are valued and rewarded.

At last and by no means least you will want to know what your breads worth:

• Car allowance
• A personal bonus opportunity and a slice of the annual profits (discretionary profit share)
• Family time is important to us and we know it will be to you, so you will have 5 weeks holiday and bank hols. Plus the opportunity to purchase up to an extra weeks annual leave.
• Award winning pension scheme with company contributions up to 7%
• Private medical insurance, health screening and life assurance
• Products you will love along with deals and discounts for you and the family through our Extra Dough website
• Support for your health and wellbeing, including access to free physiotherapy, 24/7 access to a confidential helpline for practical advice and a comprehensive occupational health service

We respect and value difference. We look to create an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. Companies that are diverse in age, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, or any other aspect which makes them unique, are proven to be better companies. More importantly, creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work, is the right thing to do.