Operations Manager in Leeds, West Yorkshire

We have been instructed to recruit an Operations Manager on behalf of a well-established manufacturer of assembled infrastructure products.

The opportunity has arisen from longstanding organic growth in the core business, coupled with significant incremental growth driven by an increasing number of high-value client contracts. With demand for factory output rising, the business needs an operations leader who can scale capacity, people and processes to match. 

This is also a strategic succession move. The current role holder is stepping up into a broader, more strategic role, so you'll take over an established and growing operation, with real scope to shape its next phase. 

The role 

You'll lead manufacturing operations at their World Class assembly facility. You'll own factory output, people, cost and quality, and keep the factory in step with site programmes so every project is delivered on time and in full.

What you'll do 

• Lead multi-disciplinary teams across production, engineering, quality and logistics. 

• Plan production, capacity and resources across several projects, and coordinate factory output with construction programmes. 

• Drive on-time-in-full (OTIF) delivery, factory throughput, right-first-time quality and OEE (overall equipment effectiveness), and report KPIs to senior leadership. 

• Run Lean and continuous improvement work, value engineering and cost reduction. 

• Manage factory budgets, labour costs and spending, alongside the supply chain, procurement and subcontractors. 

• Cut non-conformances, rework and warranty issues through root cause analysis and corrective and preventive actions. 

• Run Works Orders, bills of materials and MRP, and support bids and tenders from an operations view. 

• Lead health, safety and environmental improvement, working to CDM, RAMS, PUWER, LOLER and DSEAR. 

• Support growth, factory expansion and change, and develop the team and its succession plans. 

What you'll bring 

• Proven operations or production leadership in a technical assembly environment - those with experience of DfMA, Offsite/Modular manufacturing or M+E manufacturing would be a great fit.

• A strong grasp of production planning, MRP/ERP systems and advanced Excel. 

• A track record with Lean and continuous improvement tools such as 5S, Kaizen, Kanban and value stream mapping, plus factory and site acceptance testing. 

• Experience of ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 quality and safety systems. 

• Commercial sense, including P&L awareness, budget control and an understanding of contracts. 

• A hands-on leadership style with good stakeholder, client and supplier relationships. 

Qualifications

• An HNC, HND or degree in engineering, manufacturing or operations. 

• IOSH or NEBOSH. 

• Lean or Six Sigma Green Belt (ideal).

• Leadership training at ILM or CMI Level 5 (ideal).

• Project management training such as PRINCE2 or APM. 

Interested? Apply online or contact Jess at Cubed Talent in confidence.