Assistant Production Manager

Dale Farm Ltd; Mid-Ulster District Council; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Contributory pension

Life Assurance

Wellbeing programme

Job summary

Dale Farm Ltd is seeking an Assistant Cheese Production Manager to lead daily cheese production in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. You will support the Production Manager, guide teams, and drive safety, quality and efficiency to meet product specifications.

With a background in Applied Science/Chemical Engineering or Food Technology and at least 2 years of team leadership in dairy or similar production settings, you will foster continuous improvement and strong cross‑department

Qualifications

• Degree in Applied Science, Chemical Engineering or Food Technology.
• Minimum 2 years' experience managing and developing teams in manufacturing.
• Proficient in MS Office.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to lead, motivate and develop teams.
• Experience in Cheese/Whey processing.
• Level 3 Food Hygiene.
• Level 2 HACCP.

Responsibilities

• Assist Production Manager with daily production activities to ensure optimum performance.
• Ensure compliance with health & safety regulations and drive site safety culture.
• Manage product quality and GMP adherence through the production team.
• Oversee people management, development, and attendance issues within the team.
• Document and train SOPs; ensure SOPs are followed across shifts.
• Provide regular production status updates and reports highlighting KPIs and trends.
• Build strong cross‑department relationships with production, engineering and quality.
• Support lean manufacturing initiatives and apply problem solving, root cause analysis and standard work.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Communication

Problem solving

Lean manufacturing

Process improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Applied Science/Chemical Engineering or Food Technology

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Ready to shape the future of cheese production at Dale Farm?

Join Dale Farm as an Assistant Cheese Production Manager, helping to deliver high-quality cheese products in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. Lead and support production teams, drive performance and efficiency, and ensure the highest standards of food safety and quality. This is an exciting opportunity to develop your leadership career within one of the UK's leading dairy businesses.

About the Role

Your role will require you to support the day-to-day operational management. You will support the Production Manager in the continued development of a team of operators, operational accountability for the plant performance, supporting audits and key projects. In addition, you will role model a culture of compliance in quality, regulatory compliance, H&S and environmental standards.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist the Production Manager with the daily production activities of the plant to ensure optimum operational performance.
• Take ownership of compliance and health & safety regulations, ensuring consistent adherence to standards and playing a key role in driving and sustaining a robust site safety culture.
• Take responsibility for product quality and adherence to GMP through management of the production team and process to deliver agreed product specifications as defined in quality standards and policies
• Take accountability for people management within your team, supporting the Production Manager to develop and empower operatives to take full ownership of their roles, proactively managing and addressing performance and attendance issues, and ensuring clear, consistent, and effective communication across the team
• Assist the Production Manager in ensuring that site policies and procedures are documented, trained to Shift Managers, Team Leaders and Operatives and that SOPs are consistently followed.
• Prepare regular production status updates and reports on a daily, weekly basis for the Production Manager and General Manager highlighting key performance metrics, identify performance gaps, trends, potential challenges and improvements.
• Develop strong working relations with all internal departments including production, engineering, and quality.
• As part of a wider team engage with and facilitate with the delivery of site and Capital Projects that have an impact on Production
• Support the use of lean manufacturing techniques with particular emphasis on lean tools such as Problem‑Solving, Root Cause Analysis and Standard Work for the investigation and identification of preventative and corrective action
• A degree qualification in Applied Science/Chemical Engineering or Food Technology or related discipline
• A minimum 2 years' experience managing and developing teams across operator, team leader, and supervisory levels within a manufacturing or production environment
• Proficient in MS Office applications
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to build strong relationships and collaborate effectively across multiple departments.
• The ability to lead, motivate, and develop teams, creating a positive and high-performing working culture.
• A continuous improvement mindset, with a proven ability to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, optimise performance, and reduce costs.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic 24/7 operational environment.
• A hands‑on approach, coupled with the ability to make sound operational decisions and take ownership of challenges.
• The ambition and drive to develop as a future leader within a critical operational function.
• A minimum of 2 years’ recent relevant experience in Cheese/Whey processing
• Experience in lean manufacturing or process improvement techniques
• Level 3 Food Hygiene
• Level 2 HACCAP

Why Dale Farm?

We have a lot to offer at Dale Farm, not only to our farmer members that we support but also to our employees, and we are committed to a learning and development journey for all. In addition to a competitive salary commensurate with the role and our standard benefits such as 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and contributory company pension, we also offer benefits such as Life Assurance, full wellbeing support through our Employee Assistance Programme, and enhanced Maternity and Paternity leave.

We are proud to promote an open and supportive culture which is based on our core values:

Teamwork | Positivity | Resolve | Ambition | Curiosity | Accountability