Line Leader

Danish Crown; Milnrow; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Danish Crown UK is seeking a Line Leader to oversee a production line on the shift, ensuring safety, quality, yield and output targets are met hour by hour. You will own built-in quality on the line, start-ups on time, and deploy labour to match planned manning while maintaining line balance.

You will lead operatives, ensure training and competency, engage with the Area Supervisor, and escalate issues promptly.

Qualifications

• Experience in food production or manufacturing environment.
• Strong people leadership capability.
• Clear communicator with strong on-the-line presence.

Responsibilities

• Lead and run the production line throughout the shift.
• Ensure the line starts on time and operates to plan.
• Deploy labour in line with agreed manning standards.
• Maintain line balance and flow to achieve output targets.
• Escalate issues promptly to Area Supervisor and Deputy PM.
• Own quality at source - defects are prevented, not passed on.
• Lead, coach and motivate production operatives.
• Monitor pace, output, waste and downtime in real time.

Skills

People leadership

Quality & food safety

Data-driven

Communication on-line

Job description

The Line Leader is responsible for the end-to-end performance of a single production line, ensuring that safety, quality, yield, labour, and output targets are achieved hour by hour. The Line Leader is present on the line 100% of the time and acts as the owner of built-in quality, ensuring issues are prevented at source rather than corrected later. This role is the foundation of daily operational performance.

Line Performance & Labour Control

• Lead and run the production line throughout the shift.
• Ensure the line starts on time and operates to plan.
• Deploy labour in line with agreed manning standards.
• Maintain line balance and flow to achieve output targets.
• Escalate issues promptly to Area Supervisor and Deputy PM.

Built-in Quality & Yield Ownership

• Own quality at source - defects are prevented, not passed on.
• Ensure correct settings, specifications and standards are followed at all times.
• Act immediately on quality deviations, yield losses or rework generation.
• Work closely with Optimisers to control yield and minimise giveaway.
• Ensure by-products and rework are correctly sorted at the point of creation.

Team Leadership & Engagement

• Lead, coach and motivate production operatives.
• Responsible for ensuring all operatives are trained and competent for their tasks.
• Work with Area Supervisor to maintain skills matrix accuracy and highlight gaps.
• Promote safe behaviours and food safety compliance.
• Reinforce standardised work and disciplined ways of working.

Operational Execution

• Run daily start-up checks, handovers and lead performance centre delivery
• Ensure SOPs and standard work are followed.
• Monitor pace, output, waste and downtime in real time.
• Support effective changeovers and minimise disruption.
• Raise maintenance, technical or quality issues without delay.

Quality & Food Safety (Built-In)

• Ensure quality is embedded in every step of the process.
• Complete CCP, quality, and food safety checks at required frequency
• Ensure products meet the standards within the QAS
• Stop the line when required to protect food safety or quality.
• Ensure traceability, hygiene and audit standards are upheld.

Reporting & Communication

• Communicate line status clearly to Area Supervisor.
• Participate in short interval control (SIC) discussions.
• Share issues, risks and improvement opportunities openly.
• Support continuous improvement by feeding back ideas and problems.

Success Measures

• Line output vs plan achieved
• Labour deployed within plan
• Yield targets met
• Rework and waste reduced
• Quality right-first-time
• Minimal downtime and disruption

High attendance and engagement on the line

Experience in food production or manufacturing environment

• Strong people leadership capability
• Good understanding of quality and food safety standards
• Ability to make decisions under pressure
• Clear communicator with strong on-the-line presence
• Comfortable working with data and performance targets

Key Behaviours

• Ownership mindset
• Detail-focused
• Calm under pressure
• Proactive problem solver
• Strong role model for safety and quality
• Respect's structure and escalation routes

Danish Crown UK

Danish Crown UK is a business built on trust, teamwork and ambition. We exist to deliver food that people believe in, and we know that takes strong leadership and collaborative cultures. Our leadership principles guide us. We act for the good of the whole organisation. We hire brilliant people and help them grow. We are ambitious, curious and open to new ideas. We build trust by accepting mistakes as part of development. We believe real leadership is earned through example, not title. Whoever joins us will help create a workplace where people feel safe to speak up, share ideas, challenge old ways of working and stretch themselves to achieve more. If that sounds like the environment where you thrive, we would love to hear from you.