Lead Production Supervisor - Food Manufacturing & CI

Cranleigh STEM & Sustainability Recruitment; Barton Stacey; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 44,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Five extra days' holiday

Pension contributions up to 10%

Company bonus scheme

Life assurance 4x basic salary

Birthday leave

Job summary

Cranleigh STEM is recruiting a Production Team Leader for an established manufacturing supplier of specialist ingredients to food and beverage sectors. You will lead 4–9 Production Technicians, ensuring targets are met safely and to quality standards.

The role suits an experienced leader from regulated manufacturing (food/pharma). You will oversee daily operations, ensure strong health and safety practices, and drive continuous improvement across production processes.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in manufacturing or production.
• Proven track record leading and developing a production team.
• Experience managing absence, conduct and employee performance.
• Solid health and safety understanding within manufacturing.
• IOSH Managing Safely qualification or equivalent.
• Understanding of food safety or experience in a regulated industry.
• Demonstrable continuous improvement experience.
• Experience using KPIs to drive production performance.
• Technical understanding of production equipment and processes.
• Experience using ERP systems and strong planning/communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead, support and develop a team of Production Technicians.
• Allocate labour and prioritise production activities to meet demand.
• Manage holidays, absence, overtime, performance and discipline.
• Ensure compliance with health, safety, quality and hygiene standards.
• Maintain risk assessments, COSHH records and safe systems of work.
• Monitor KPIs and drive actions to improve team performance.
• Support compliance with BRCGS, HACCP and CCP requirements.
• Lead investigations using root-cause analysis for non-conformances.
• Maintain and improve SOPs and production documentation.
• Identify training needs and improve cross-skilling.
• Lead continuous improvement activities including 6S and meetings.
• Collaborate with Production, Quality, Engineering and other departments.

Skills

Leadership experience

Team development

Absence management

Health & safety knowledge

IOSH Managing Safely

Food safety knowledge

Continuous improvement

KPIs usage

Equipment & processes understanding

ERP systems

Planning

Communication

Problem-solving

Batch production experience

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Cranleigh STEM is recruiting a Production Team Leader for an established manufacturing supplier of specialist ingredients to food and beverage sectors. You will lead 4–9 Production Technicians, ensuring targets are met safely and to quality standards.

The role suits an experienced leader from regulated manufacturing (food/pharma). You will oversee daily operations, ensure strong health and safety practices, and drive continuous improvement across production processes.