Operational Excellence Manager

Oliver Carol Recruitment; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment agency in the UK is seeking an Operational Excellence (OPEX) Manager for a European FMCG manufacturer. The role involves extensive travel (75-80%) across the UK and mainland Europe, leading improvement initiatives on site. Ideally, candidates will have strong OPEX and continuous improvement experience in fast-paced manufacturing and be fluent in English, plus either Italian, French, or German. The position offers a salary of £70,000 - £85,000 plus car allowance and additional perks.

Benefits

Car allowance

Private medical

Additional bonuses and allowances

Qualifications

• Strong OPEX experience in FMCG or high-volume manufacturing.
• Fluency in English plus either Italian, French, or German.
• Experience managing performance in multi-site operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational excellence across multiple factories in Europe.
• Travel extensively, visiting sites for on-site coaching and workshops.
• Use Lean and continuous improvement tools to enhance productivity.

Skills

OPEX experience

Continuous Improvement

Multilingual (English + Italian, French, or German)

Lean tools knowledge

Digital tools proficiency

Tools

ERP systems

MIS systems

MES systems

Job description

Multi-Site Operational Excellence (OPEX) Manager – FMCG Manufacturing (UK + Europe)

Travel : 75 / 80% travel (UK + regular trips to mainland Europe)

Location : UK (flexible, within an hour of a major airport), or potentially Italy, France, or Germany.

Salary : £70,000 - £85,000 plus car allowance, private medical, additional bonuses and allowances.

Prerequisite : Bi / Multi-lingual (English plus either Italian, French, or German).

If you’re an OPEX leader who wants real responsibility—not a corporate Lean museum, this one’s worth your time.

Being honest : this isn’t a role for someone who likes sitting in an office, “driving change” from behind a laptop.

This job is for the person who knows that real transformation happens when you’re on the factory floor, wearing steel-toe-capped boots and a hairnet, solving real problems with real people.

If that sounds like your idea of fun, keep reading. If not… probably best to scroll on.

A European FMCG manufacturer—with a sizeable number of production sites (and co-packing facilities) across mainland Europe and the UK—is looking for someone to lead Operational Excellence across multiple factories.

You’ll be the person who walks into a plant, spots the bottlenecks before anyone mentions them, and knows exactly which mix of Lean tools, data, coaching, and common sense will get the place running better.

You won’t be sitting in a CI function sending PowerPoints to people.

You’ll be coaching, challenging, fixing, facilitating, and—crucially—getting buy-in from people who’ve either been doing this job for a long time, and / or think that a kaizen event is when a Japanese energy drink gives away freebies!

What you’ll do

• Visit sites. A lot. (Around 70–80% travel. If that scares you, it’s not your role.)
• Spend time with Plant Managers, Supervisors, Engineers, and Frontline Operators.
• Run workshops that don’t put everyone to sleep.
• Find waste. Remove it. Find Opportunities. Explore them.
• Diagnose issues using Lean, continuous improvement, and… you know… logic.
• Lift OEE, improve yield, reduce downtime—basically make the numbers look better than they do today, and make them stick!
• Standardise what works and stop what doesn’t.
• Coach individuals and team leaders on how to manage performance properly.
• Introduce or improve digital tools—ERP, MES, MIS, and real-time performance systems—and make sure they actually get used by the people who need them.
• Help roll out digital and CI tools across multiple European and UK sites, not just one.

What we’re looking for

• You’ve done this before, and ideally within fast-paced manufacturing environments.
• Not “read about it”, not “supported someone who did it”—you’ve actually driven OPEX / CI improvements inside a factory that makes consumer products at scale.

You’ll need

• Strong OPEX / CI experience in FMCG, Food & Beverage, or similar high-volume manufacturing.
• Multiple language skills. English fluency is a must, as well as either Italian, French, or German at a professional level.
• Real multi-site experience across different countries or regions.
• Lean tools—properly understood, not just buzzwords.
• Comfort with MIS, ERP, MES systems, and choosing the right digital tools to make operations sharper.
• A track record of rolling digital / CI systems out across several plants.
• Enough resilience to influence people who didn’t ask for your help but will thank you six months later.

The person who’ll thrive here

• Likes factories more than video calls.
• Knows how to build trust with operators and challenge managers without leaving bruises.
• Comfortable travelling across the UK and mainland Europe most weeks.
• Pragmatic. Not a purist. Not a theorist.
• Able to get people excited about doing things differently—without posting inspirational quotes on the noticeboard.

Why bother applying?

Because this isn’t a “keep the lights on” CI job.

It’s a chance to shape how multiple European and UK sites operate, influence culture, embed long-term capability, and help modernise a significant FMCG manufacturing footprint.

You’ll be visible, you’ll be trusted, and you’ll directly impact how millions of units of product get made every week.

And you’ll never be bored. Ever.

If you want more information or would like a confidential conversation, showcase your interest by sending your most recent CV, and we’ll talk if we think your background and experience would be of interest to our client.