Manufacturing Cluster Lead Taste

JR United Kingdom; Runcorn; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in taste and nutrition seeks a Manufacturing Cluster Lead for their Runcorn site. This role involves leading operations across Europe, focusing on manufacturing excellence and collaboration with diverse teams. The ideal candidate will hold a relevant degree and bring substantial manufacturing experience along with leadership skills. The position offers travel opportunities and the chance to shape the future of food production within a dynamic company.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Comprehensive benefits package

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Proven experience in progressive manufacturing operational/management.
• Good appreciation of taste and flavour ingredient manufacturing processes.
• Experience in setting and executing strategy to achieve KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a multi-year Integrated Operations strategy.
• Lead a high-performing team by attracting and developing diverse talent.
• Collaborate with commercial organization for growth plans.

Skills

Leadership

Interpersonal Communication

Strategic Mindset

Change Management

Customer-Centric Solutions

Education

Bachelor's degree in food science, business management, or engineering discipline

MBA or higher degree

Job description

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Manufacturing Cluster Lead Taste, runcorn

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Client:

Kerry

Location:

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Views:

5

Posted:

14.06.2025

Expiry Date:

29.07.2025

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Job Description:

Requisition ID: 57522
Position Type: FT Permanent
Workplace Arrangement: #LI-Hybrid

Requisition ID: 57522
Position Type: FT Permanent
Workplace Arrangement: #LI-Hybrid

About the role

We are seeking a Manufacturing Lead to join our high-performing team and lead our Taste sites across Europe. This role is pivotal in connecting regional operational performance within our global footprint and ensuring flawless execution for our customers. Through close partnership with our commercial and RDA colleagues and executing against a globally connected Taste strategy, this role will be accountable for driving a forward-looking manufacturing excellence programme and delivering flawless execution for our customers through focusing on our balanced scorecard performance across Safety, Quality, Service, Cost & Sustainability.

Travel will be required 40% + of the time, to regularly be onsite in the UK, France and Italy.

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

What you'll be doing

• Develop and execute a multi-year Integrated Operations strategy to meet current demand and future business growth
• Lead a high-performing team by attracting, developing, and retaining diverse talent, and providing growth opportunities across our network.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, continuous improvement and pride across our manufacturing footprint at all levels, focusing on Safety, Quality, Service, Cost, and Sustainability.
• Collaborate closely with our commercial organization to ensure growth plans and innovation pipelines are met by an effective and connected supply network.
• Leverage industry knowledge to identify value delivery levers and best practices, enabling sustainable growth and efficient capacity creation and asset utilisation.
• Partner with Engineering, Sustainability, and QSHE teams to drive our Sustainability 2030 ambition across all sites
• Ensure that the master schedule programme of work for the region incorporates action plans across reliability, debottlenecking and optimised capital spend planning
• Lead Taste manufacturing excellence programmes and initiatives, building continuous improvement capability through our organisation and ensuring that best practices are embedded in all manufacturing plans and programmes.
• Work proactively with our commercial teams in defining our connected business strategies and global capacity development plans for key Taste focus areas, leveraging our end-to-end global Taste network as applicable.
• Ensure that strong peer-to-peer functional relationships are in place with key customers strengthening our customer collaboration through sharing best practices and demonstrating value across innovation and delivery
• Lead risk management and business continuity planning for the overall manufacturing footprint; accountable for effective financial oversight and performance management across all IO costs

What you can bring to the role

• Bachelor's degree in food science, business management, or engineering discipline. An MBA or higher degree is highly beneficial.
• Proven experience of progressive manufacturing operational/management experience within the taste and flavour ingredient industry. Business unit, regional, or multi-site experience is essential.
• Good appreciation of taste and flavour ingredient manufacturing processes, methods and process technologies.
• Significant experience in setting and executing strategy to achieve KPIs and sustainable growth, focusing on Safety, Quality, Service, Cost, and Sustainability.
• Robust financial and budgetary management.
• Delivery of capital projects and people led improvement programmes.
• Excellent interpersonal communication, relationship management, and exceptional influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Change agent, energized by making a difference and comfortable dealing with ambiguity.
• Executive presence, demonstrating gravitas, credibility, and winning trust.
• Strong evidence of talent management within a global organization and development of winning teams.
• Strategic mindset, seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies.
• Customer-centric, building strong relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Willing to travel upwards of 40% of the time to our sites across Europe.

With our growing reputation and unrivalled knowledge in clean label preservation, masking and taste capabilities this is an exciting opportunity for a senior operator who’s a passionate about driving customer led manufacturing excellence.

What we can offer

In return we can offer a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package as well as the opportunity for self-growth and career development within one of the world’s leading manufacturers of food and nutrition technology.

In Kerry we benefit from the knowledge of our colleagues who bring a diverse range of cultures, backgrounds, lifestyles, and experiences. One team fostering an inclusive culture that, above all, inspires food and nourishes life. One culture where everyone brings their unique perspectives and experiences to help make us better, together. We are committed to nurturing an environment of positivity and inclusiveness, where everyone can be at their best, both personally and professionally.

Our recruitment, selection and assessment process are based on the skills and competencies of the specific roles and based entirely on merit. We are committed to and value Diversity and Inclusion in all recruitment processes within Kerry and do not discriminate based on gender, race, class, economic status, ethnic background, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, veteran status, marital status, or any other protected characteristic.

Beware of scams online or from individuals claiming to represent us. A Kerry employee will not solicit candidates through a non-Kerry email address or phone number. In addition, Kerry does not currently utilise video chat rooms (e.g., Google Hangouts) to conduct interviews. Refuse any request that asks you to provide payment to participate in the hiring process (e.g., purchasing a “starter kit,” investing in training, or something similar). Kerry will not ask you to pay any money at any point in the hiring process with the exception of reimbursable travel expenses. In addition, any payments made by Kerry will be from official firm accounts bearing the Kerry name.

Recruiter: #LI-JP2
Posting Type: LI