Bakery Operations Lead — KPI-Driven & Continuous Improvement

Finsbury Food Group; East Kilbride; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave

Enhanced Pension Scheme

Free Employee Assistance Programme

Retail discounts via Benefits Hub

Company shop at sites

Refer a Friend Scheme

Employee Recognition Awards

Learning & Development opportunities

Death in Service Benefit

Job summary

Johnstone's Food Service in East Kilbride is seeking an Advanced Team Lead to support safe, high-quality production and drive KPI performance across safety, quality, and efficiency. You will lead from the front, build a capable team, and help shape a stronger operating model for the future.

This hands-on role demands coaching, discipline, and a proactive approach to continuous improvement within a fast-paced bakery environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in a fast-paced manufacturing or production environment.
• Experience leading or supervising teams on the shop floor.
• Strong ability to coach, motivate, and develop people.
• Good understanding of Health & Safety, Food Safety, and GMP standards.
• Experience working to KPIs such as waste, yield, throughput, and quality.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of process adherence on shift, leading and supporting your team to deliver high-quality products safely, efficiently, and consistently.
• Lead by example, ensuring standards are maintained and behaviours always reflect company values and culture.
• Drive performance against KPIs, including waste reduction, throughput, yield, and quality.
• Motivate and engage your team to meet and exceed targets while ensuring strong operational discipline across all activities.
• Actively support continuous improvement initiatives to reduce process variation, embed best practice, and improve Health, Safety, and Environmental performance, using tools such as A3 methodology and action teams to support structured improvement activity.
• Use Leader Standard Work to ensure daily and weekly routines are consistently followed and contribute to Short Interval Control meetings to help drive hourly and daily performance improvements.
• Maintain compliance with GMP, Food Safety, Health & Safety, and site standards, championing a 'Clean as You Go' and safety-first culture.
• Review workforce planning requirements in line with labour budgets, ensuring optimum staffing levels while considering seasonal demand.
• Support production planning and effective changeovers to meet operational requirements.
• Oversee time and attendance monitoring and address performance or attendance issues in line with company processes.
• Monitor training for new starters, ensuring all development requirements are completed within required timeframes and supporting ongoing skills development and succession planning through the team skills matrix.
• Clear and proactive communication using shift handovers, briefings, notices, and digital platforms to keep teams informed and aligned.
• Elevate and support resolution of people issues as required.
• Champion Health & Safety, Food Safety, and Quality standards while flexibly supporting changing production needs.

Skills

Team leadership

Coaching & development

Health & Safety knowledge

Communication skills

Problem solving

Tools

A3 methodology

Leader Standard Work

Job description

Johnstone's Food Service in East Kilbride is seeking an Advanced Team Lead to support safe, high-quality production and drive KPI performance across safety, quality, and efficiency. You will lead from the front, build a capable team, and help shape a stronger operating model for the future.

This hands-on role demands coaching, discipline, and a proactive approach to continuous improvement within a fast-paced bakery environment.