Operations Manager

Lineage; Heywood; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free onsite parking

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EA

Job summary

Lineage Logistics in Heywood seeks an accomplished Operations Manager to lead a flagship automated cold storage site. You will drive safety, compliance, and performance across day and flexible shift patterns, steward budgets, and coordinate across functions including Finance, HR, Engineering and Continuous Improvement.

You will deputise for the General Manager, shape strategic direction, and develop a high-performance team while delivering service targets and 24/7 operational resilience.

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience in fast-paced warehousing or logistics.
• Experience deputising for senior site leadership and taking critical decisions.
• Proven track record managing large teams and budgets.
• Commercial awareness with budgets, labour costs and productivity targets.
• Experience in automated, food/FMCG or regulated logistics is advantageous.
• Advanced understanding of WMS, reporting, and KPI analysis.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior leadership across the Heywood site to deliver safe, compliant, and efficient warehouse activities.
• Deputise for the General Manager and set strategic direction when needed.
• Oversee multi-shift operations and multiple teams to ensure performance 24/7.
• Advise on safety, food safety, HACCP, and regulatory compliance.
• Drive continuous improvement to improve productivity, costs, quality, and service.
• Coach and develop managers and supervisors; manage workforce planning and budgets.
• Ensure governance, audits, and adherence to quality standards.
• Oversee maintenance, contractor relationships, and site infrastructure.
• Monitor KPIs and intervene to deliver improvements; manage stakeholders.

Skills

Leadership experience

Multi-shift operations

Stakeholder management

Budget management

WMS knowledge

Safety & compliance leadership

Tools

WMS

Job description

At Lineage, helping to feed the world is more than a job – it’s a purpose we live every day.

Lineage is the world’s largest and most innovative provider of temperature-controlled logistics solutions, with over 20,000 colleagues globally.

If you open your fridge freezer, up to 80% of the products you’ll see have passed through a Lineage facility. We support customers who supply schools, restaurants, and many of the UK’s leading retailers by ensuring a consistent and safe food supply.

Our Heywood facility is one of Lineage’s flagship automated cold storage operations in the UK, combining cutting-edge warehousing technology with 24/7 logistics capabilities to keep the nation’s food supply chain moving.

We are currently seeking an Operations Manager to lead this innovative site and play a key role in driving operational excellence, team engagement and the continued success of one of the UK’s most advanced cold chain facilities

Shift Pattern: Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 3:00pm (Day Shift).

Whilst this role is primarily based on the day shift, a high degree of flexibility is required to meet the needs of the business. As a senior operational leader, you will be expected to provide support across multiple shift patterns to maintain visibility across operations to ensure performance, service, and people leadership standards are consistently achieved.

Salary: Negotiable depending on experience

Key Responsibilities

• Provide senior operational leadership across the Heywood site, ensuring the safe, compliant, and efficient delivery of all warehouse activities whilst achieving agreed service, productivity, quality, and financial targets.

• Act as the deputy to the General Manager, assuming full site leadership responsibility in their absence and providing strategic direction across all operational functions.

• Lead and oversee multi-shift warehouse operations, managing multiple operational teams and shift patterns to ensure consistent performance, operational continuity, and customer satisfaction 24/7.

• Champion a world-class safety, food safety, and compliance culture, ensuring full adherence to Health & Safety legislation, food hygiene standards, HACCP requirements, and all associated regulatory obligations.

• Drive operational excellence through the development and execution of site-wide continuous improvement initiatives, delivering measurable improvements in productivity, cost control, efficiency, quality, and service performance.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of operational managers and supervisors, creating a high-performance culture focused on accountability, engagement, succession planning, and talent development.

• Take ownership of workforce planning, labour forecasting, resource allocation, and operational budgets, ensuring optimum utilisation of people, equipment, and facilities.

• Ensure full compliance with all quality, customer, and accreditation standards, including CMI, STS, EHO, and other relevant industry requirements, maintaining robust governance and audit readiness.

• Provide senior oversight of engineering and maintenance activities, managing contractor relationships, planned preventative maintenance programmes, and site infrastructure requirements to minimise operational disruption.

• Monitor and analyse operational KPIs, financial performance, customer metrics, and compliance indicators, identifying trends and implementing corrective actions to deliver continuous improvement.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including Finance, HR, Commercial, Customer Services, Engineering, and Continuous Improvement teams.

• Support the General Manager in delivering site strategy, business objectives, customer growth plans, and operational transformation initiatives.

What We’re Looking For

• Significant leadership experience within a fast-paced warehousing, logistics, distribution, or supply chain environment.
• Proven experience leading large-scale, multi-shift operations through teams of managers and supervisors, with accountability for operational performance across multiple shift patterns.
• Demonstrable experience operating at Senior Operations Manager, Operations Manager, Deputy General Manager, or equivalent leadership level.
• Strong track record of deputising for senior site leadership and making critical operational decisions in a complex logistics environment.
• Experience managing large teams and developing leadership capability through coaching, performance management, succession planning, and employee engagement initiatives.
• Strong commercial awareness with experience managing budgets, labour costs, productivity targets, and operational expenditure.
• Experience within automated, food, FMCG, temperature-controlled, or highly regulated logistics operations would be advantageous.
• Advanced understanding of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), operational reporting, labour management systems, and KPI performance analysis.
• Proven ability to identify operational challenges, analyse root causes, and implement sustainable solutions that improve service, efficiency, and profitability.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels from frontline teams to senior leadership.
• Strong knowledge of Health & Safety, food safety, compliance, and quality management systems within a warehouse environment.

What’s in it for me?

• A permanent opportunity with a direct employer; we will not employ you through an agency.
• Opportunity to develop a career within an industry leading global company.
• Free onsite parking.
• Access to a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), offering confidential counselling and professional advice to support emotional well‑being.
• Preferential loan and savings options available through exclusive access to a credit union.

Job Reference: INDUK

Why Lineage?

We are a global company with more than 22,000 employees spanning 20 countries and more than 400 locations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America.

At Lineage Logistics, we have a shared purpose; we are transforming the food supply chain to eliminate waste and help feed the world. This means working at Lineage is not just a job – it’s an opportunity to innovate and put your mark on how food moves from the farm to dinner tables around the world. As a member of our team, you will be a critical link in the food supply chain.

Our shared purpose drives everything we do in all parts of our organisation, from the warehouse floor to the office. Our team members are passionate about the impact they make every single day.

We are an equal opportunities employer and positively encourage applications from persons regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. At Lineage we also recognise that Ex-Military, veterans, and military families have great experience with transferable skills and core values that can add significant value to our organisation.

Benefits

As a Lineage team member, we aim to provide everything you and your family need to thrive. That’s why we offer competitive rates of pay, paid time off, skills training, and development opportunities to grow a long and fulfilling career with us. This is enhanced by recognition schemes (so that your hard work won’t go unnoticed), plus the chance to make your salary go even further with our cycle-to-work scheme and preferential rates for loans and savings courtesy of a leading credit union.

Your everyday wellbeing is also important to us, so we will provide you with all the protective equipment you need to be safe and comfortable at work, and you will have access to a free 24/7 employee assistance phone line, which offers confidential counselling and advice. With all of this offered against the backdrop of a fun and social environment in which you will be supported by a team who enjoy helping each other in achieving their goals, we are confident you will excel with us.