Our client is a leading international food group with a proud heritage and ambitious future.
Operating at significant scale, with a portfolio of recognised brands and trusted partnerships across retail, foodservice, and export markets.
With a network of modern facilities across the UK and Ireland, and a workforce of several thousand colleagues, the business has built a reputation for quality, innovation, and responsibility. Today, it is investing heavily in automation, digital transformation, and modernisation while continuing to deliver safe, affordable, high-quality food to millions of consumers.
We are seeking an exceptional leader to join the leadership team as Group Manufacturing Director (UK & Ireland).
Key Responsibilities:
* Lead a large and diverse manufacturing footprint, aligning operations seamlessly with commercial, supply chain, and innovation functions.
* Provide the strategic influence and board presence to drive change across a complex stakeholder landscape.
* Play a key role in M&A integration, ensuring newly acquired businesses are successfully absorbed, aligned, and optimised within the group structure.
* Deliver major transformation programmes, from digitalisation and automation to new ways of working, that future-proof capability and sharpen competitiveness.
* Inspire senior leaders across multiple sites, embedding a high-performance culture that balances accountability with empowerment.
* Shape and lead capital investment projects that strengthen operational resilience and unlock growth opportunities.
* Act as a visible and trusted partner to customers, regulators, and the wider market, reinforcing the organisation’s reputation as a leader in its field.
Required background:
We are looking for a proven board-level manufacturing leader who thrives in complexity and brings both authority and influence.
* Experience of integrating acquisitions, rationalising footprints, and delivering synergies.
* Expertise in leading transformation and cultural change across large, distributed organisations.
* Strong knowledge of lean and continuous improvement, with the ability to translate methods into lasting results.
* The credibility to operate with influence at board level, balancing detail with strategic clarity.
* A reputation as a people leader, able to inspire, stretch, and develop senior teams.
* The resilience and agility to navigate challenge, while keeping the long-term vision in sight.