Site Operations Manager

Salary: Competitive + Benefits
Contract: Permanent, Full-Time

An established UK manufacturer with a strong reputation for innovation, engineering excellence and product quality is seeking an experienced Manufacturing Site Manager to lead operations at its Kent-based manufacturing facility.

This is a key leadership opportunity for an ambitious manufacturing professional who enjoys working in a fast-paced, quality-focused environment and has a passion for developing people, improving processes and delivering operational excellence.

The successful candidate will take responsibility for driving performance across the site, ensuring the delivery of safe, efficient and high-quality manufacturing operations while supporting the organisation’s continued growth and improvement journey.

Reporting into the senior leadership team, you will have overall responsibility for the day-to-day performance of the manufacturing site, leading production teams and working collaboratively with engineering, quality, supply chain, procurement and other key business functions.

You will provide visible leadership across the operation, creating a culture where safety, quality, accountability and continuous improvement are embedded into everyday working practices.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading all manufacturing activities to achieve agreed targets across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and People performance.
• Developing and delivering site improvement plans to increase productivity, efficiency and operational capability.
• Leading, coaching and developing manufacturing teams, managers and future leaders.
• Driving Lean manufacturing principles and continuous improvement methodologies to eliminate waste and improve performance.
• Establishing and monitoring operational KPIs, using data to identify opportunities and deliver measurable improvements.
• Ensuring manufacturing processes consistently achieve required quality and customer standards.
• Working closely with engineering teams to support process improvements, equipment upgrades and new product introductions.
• Collaborating with supply chain and planning functions to improve flow, capacity and delivery performance.
• Championing a proactive health and safety culture and ensuring compliance with relevant standards and procedures.
• Supporting change initiatives and helping shape the future development of the manufacturing operation.

You will be an experienced manufacturing leader with a strong track record of managing teams and improving performance within a manufacturing environment.

You will bring a practical, hands-on leadership style combined with the ability to think strategically, influence stakeholders and deliver sustainable operational improvements.

Ideally, you will have:

• Significant experience leading manufacturing, production or site operations.
• Experience managing a manufacturing facility or a substantial production operation.
• A strong understanding of Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement and operational excellence principles.
• A proven record of improving performance across safety, quality, delivery and cost measures.
• Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to motivate, coach and develop teams.
• Experience within an engineering, assembly, consumer products or similarly quality-driven manufacturing environment.
• The ability to analyse data, identify root causes and implement effective solutions.
• Excellent communication skills with the confidence to work across all levels of an organisation.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an established and innovative manufacturing organisation where you will have the autonomy and responsibility to make a real impact.

You will play a key role in developing site capability, improving operational performance and supporting a culture of excellence across the manufacturing operation.

The organisation is committed to investing in its people, processes and future capabilities, offering the successful candidate the opportunity to influence meaningful change and contribute to long-term success.

drop me your cv on (url removed) or call (phone number removed) to discuss.