Role Purpose
As the Production Readiness Lead (Rate Readiness), you will play a critical role in ensuring ESCO Maritime Solutions is fully prepared to deliver a significant increase in production rate and scale in line with new and existing programme commitments. You will lead and coordinate a structured, cross‑functional approach to production readiness, integrating activities across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, test, facilities and IT. The role is accountable for translating ongoing transformation and improvement initiatives into a coherent, deliverable programme that ensures the business can safely, reliably, and sustainably achieve required production output. Working closely with functional leads and programme teams, you will identify gaps, define solutions, and establish the frameworks, plans and governance required to evidence readiness to both internal stakeholders and external customers.
Key Responsibilities
* Define and lead the production readiness strategy required to support increased production rates and programme growth
* Integrate activities across transformation, engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, test and facilities into a single, coordinated readiness programme
* Develop and maintain structured plans covering scope, schedule, cost and dependencies to deliver production readiness outcomes
* Lead the application and coordination of manufacturing readiness methodologies, including APQP, process mapping and value stream mapping, ensuring consistent and effective use across the business
* Coordinate cross‑functional readiness activities including design maturity, process definition, tooling readiness, supplier capability, test capacity and logistics
* Plan and oversee pre‑production builds, pilot runs and production trials, ensuring production capability is evidenced prior to customer commitment
* Lead readiness reviews and gates, ensuring that production systems, processes and supply chains are proven capable of delivering at required rate
* Identify gaps in production capability, capacity, processes and systems, and work with functional teams to define and implement appropriate solutions
* Act as a central point of coordination for production readiness risks, issues and dependencies, ensuring mitigation plans are defined, owned and tracked
* Establish and maintain production readiness metrics, dashboards and reporting aligned to business and customer requirements
* Provide clear, structured and evidence‑based reporting to senior leadership and support customer‑facing reviews relating to production readiness and delivery confidence
* Work closely with programme teams to ensure alignment between production readiness plans and project delivery milestones
* Support the development of the overall production, assembly, storage and logistics strategy in line with future demand and facility expansion
* Collaborate with IT and systems teams to ensure appropriate tools and data are available to support planning, tracking and reporting
Qualifications / Skills Required
* Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Business or related field preferred
* Demonstrated experience in programme delivery, manufacturing readiness, industrialisation or production ramp‑up in a complex engineering environment
* Strong understanding of production processes, supply chain integration and engineering‑to‑manufacturing transitions
* Experience of structured methodologies such as APQP, Lean, Six Sigma or equivalent
* Experience of production trials, validation activities or run‑at‑rate environments is desirable
* Strong planning, organisational and analytical skills, with the ability to manage complex, cross‑functional activities
* Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence across multiple functions
* Ability to operate effectively at both strategic and operational levels
* Experience of working in regulated or high‑reliability industries (e.g. defence, aerospace, marine) is desirable
Note: All candidates must meet the security vetting requirements relevant to the role. For reasons of national security, applicants must be British nationals. Dual nationals may be permitted in exceptional circumstances.
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