Manufacturing Team Leader – Nights – £42,500 + Overtime + Bonus | Food Manufacturing | Bolton
Let’s cut the fluff.
If you're reading job adverts at midnight while pretending not to… something has already snapped.
Maybe it's the same old safety issues that never get fixed.
Maybe it's KPI boards that might as well be written in disappearing ink.
Maybe it's being called a Team Leader while spending most of your shift rewriting SOPs nobody actually follows.
Or maybe — and this is the big one — you’re tired of being the most competent person on the night shift, with nothing to show for it except more work.
If any of that rings true, good. Because this role will either be exactly what you need… or it’ll make you realise you’ve been settling for far too long.
What this Manufacturing Team Leader role actually is
Not a babysitting job.
Not a “keep the line running at all costs” job.
Not a “sign for this audit and pray” job.
This is leadership. Proper leadership.
The kind where your decisions matter — not just your presence.
You’ll oversee end-to-end manufacturing for your area — people, performance, safety, standards.
You’ll be the one setting expectations, not inheriting everyone else’s issues.
And you’ll be the person who looks at a KPI dip and asks why — not “what excuse can we get away with this time?”
This site is investing in performance, people and culture — not patching holes and hoping the problems go away.
You’ll have both the freedom and the expectation to make things better, not just keep things alive.
What you’ll fix, improve and influence
As the Manufacturing Team Leader, you will:
• Own Food Safety and H&S — no shortcuts
• Keep your area audit-ready (BRC, Tesco, SML, ERM)
• Drive OEE, GMP, yield, PRN, usage variance and labour efficiency
• Cut NPT waste and turn it into training and improvement
• Run Daily Team Reviews that mean something
• Build future talent, not future headaches
• Deliver hygiene and housekeeping standards that don’t rely on crossed fingers
• Work with Engineering, Planning, Technical and Finance like a leader, not a messenger
If you like hiding in an office, this will exhaust you.
If you like actually leading… you’ll thrive.
Who you need to be
A realistic leader.
Not a cheerleader.
Not a dictator.
Someone confident enough to challenge nonsense, and skilled enough to bring people with them.
If you’ve been a Manufacturing Team Leader, Production Team Leader, Area Leader or similar — and you’ve driven CI, improved OEE, built teams and sorted out messy operations — you’ll fit perfectly.
IOSH and Food Safety qualifications? Great.
Common sense, backbone and influence? Essential.
What you get back
• £42,500 salary
• Overtime available
• Up to 7% bonus
• Night-shift consistency
• 10% pension
• 22 days holiday + 8 bank holidays
• Cycle-to-work scheme + onsite product shop
• Actual development — leadership programmes, coaching, progression
This isn’t a “keep things ticking” role.
It’s a help us build a top-performing manufacturing department role.
If you’re tired of carrying your current shift while everyone else coasts… maybe it’s time to lead somewhere that won’t let you do everything alone.
Apply now. Your nights could be a lot better than this