Artemis Human Capital are recruiting for an Operations Manager on behalf of a growing Manufacturing firm based in just outside the North West. You will be responsible for leading people, performance, and the end-to-end management of coating, kitting, assembly, and despatch operations across multiple operational facilities.
This is a senior leadership role accountable for driving operational performance across key value streams while delivering continuous improvement initiatives. The focus is to maximise efficiency, improve productivity, reduce waste, and embed a culture of operational excellence.
Responsibilities
- Lead day-to-day operations across coating, assembly, kitting, and despatch functions
- Take full accountability for operational performance, ensuring safety, quality, delivery, and cost targets are achieved
- Lead, develop, and engage teams to build a high-performance culture
- Act as a visible and proactive leader on the shop floor, setting standards and driving consistency
- Ensure effective planning of resources, workflow, and capacity across all operational areas
- Ensure the kitting process delivers right-first-time output in an efficient and controlled manner
- Maintain appropriate buffers to support internal and external customer requirements
- Collaborate with planning and scheduling functions to optimise production and on-time delivery
- Lead coating operations to consistently achieve production targets while maintaining quality and compliance
- Ensure adherence to all quality control systems and production standards
- Lead and embed continuous improvement initiatives across all operational areas
- Apply Lean manufacturing principles to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and control costs
- Identify root causes of operational and quality issues and implement sustainable corrective actions
- Improve process flow and reduce lead times across production
- Promote a culture of standardisation, best practice, and operational excellence
- Lead the operations function, ensuring strong day-to-day performance aligned with business objectives
- Foster a positive and inclusive working environment focused on engagement, wellbeing, and development
- Develop team capability through coaching, training, and structured performance management
- Support recruitment, succession planning, and workforce development
- Manage employee relations in line with policies and best practice, ensuring fairness and consistency
- Champion a strong health and safety culture across all operational areas
- Ensure compliance with statutory requirements, internal policies, and industry standards
- Lead incident investigations and implement effective corrective and preventative actions
- Promote safe working practices and proactive risk management
- Maintain consistently high standards of quality across all processes
- Drive Lean and continuous improvement initiatives across the site
- Identify and implement opportunities for process optimisation and waste reduction
- Communicate performance, priorities, and updates clearly across teams
- Ensure operational issues are escalated and resolved effectively
- Maintain accurate reporting and performance tracking
Skills & Experience Required
- Significant experience in a senior operations or manufacturing leadership role
- Proven experience within a fast-paced engineering or manufacturing environment
- Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams
- Strong track record of delivering improvements across safety, quality, delivery, and cost
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems
- Strong knowledge of Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement methodologies
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities
- Ability to lead effectively in a fast-paced environment
- Hands-on, visible, and people-focused leadership style
- Strong sense of accountability and commitment to high standards
- Driven by continuous improvement and operational excellence
- Flexible approach to meet business needs
Contact
Nicky Strutt
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