Operations Manager

Recruit Mint Ltd; Mepal; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Statutory pension scheme

Health insurance

Employee assistance scheme

Whole-operation remit

Autonomy to shape your own approach

Job summary

Recruit Mint Ltd is seeking an experienced Operations Manager to oversee a large, complex anaerobic digestion operation. The role requires leading through influence across multiple divisions, ensuring safety, reliability and continuous improvement while aligning with blue-chip client expectations.

You will drive performance across plant uptime, maintenance and cost control, collaborating with site Production and Operations Managers, the Technical and Compliance teams, and reporting to the

Qualifications

• Significant operations experience in a complex industrial environment (energy, process, oil and gas, power generation, heavy industry or AD).
• Proven track record of improving operational performance, efficiency and cost across a site or multiple sites.
• Strong understanding of plant performance, maintenance and asset reliability.
• Ability to use operational data and KPIs to drive decisions and measurable improvement.
• Judgement and patience to understand an operation fully before changing it.
• Genuine influencing and communication skills to lead through relationships, not authority.
• Ability to work across many areas rather than a single remit.
• Solid grasp of health, safety and environmental compliance in a regulated, high-hazard environment; COMAH awareness an advantage.
• Drive to raise standards and build a mature, improved operation.
• Grounded, hands-on attitude, comfortable on a complex working plant.

Responsibilities

• Take a broad, cross-functional view across every part of the operation before driving change.
• Build trust with people at every level to get full, honest visibility of what is working and what is not.
• Review plant performance and identify opportunities to improve output, efficiency and uptime.
• Identify operational improvements across the various parts of the business.
• Improve maintenance regimes and asset reliability to reduce downtime and unplanned breakdowns.
• Use operational data and KPIs to pinpoint where performance and cost can be improved.
• Identify and deliver cost reduction and continuous improvement across the sites.
• Scope and support capital projects and operational investment where they add value.
• Strengthen health, safety and environmental performance, and support COMAH compliance alongside external consultants.
• Work closely with the Production and Operations Managers at each site, the Technical Manager and the Compliance Manager.
• Support the business on its journey towards a more mature, improved operation.
• Reporting to the Operations Director and the business owner.

Skills

Operations leadership

Influencing skills

Plant operations

Data-driven decisions

HSE compliance

COMAH awareness

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Operations Manager

The best operational leaders change things by understanding them first, not by charging in.

This is an Operations Manager role with a substantial, ambitious renewable energy business, for someone who leads through influence, not authority.

As an Operations Manager you will take a whole-operation view across one of the larger anaerobic digestion businesses in the country, a serious, substantial organisation with multiple ambitious divisions, significant backing and high-profile, blue-chip clients. Make no mistake about the scale here: this is a complex, high-value industrial operation. The brief is not to come in and tear things apart, but to understand the culture, people, processes and machinery first, earn the trust of everyone from operator to owner, and then drive the improvements that move the business forward.

Those improvements are real and measurable: plant performance and uptime, maintenance and asset reliability, cost control, and safety and environmental compliance. You will not have a team reporting to you, which leaves you free to work across every part of the operation and focus on where you can add the most value. For the right person, this is a rare chance to take genuine ownership and help the business on its journey towards a more mature, improved operation.

Job Responsibilities

• Taking a broad, cross-functional view across every part of the operation before driving change
• Building trust with people at every level to get full, honest visibility of what is working and what is not
• Reviewing plant performance and identifying opportunities to improve output, efficiency and uptime
• Identifying operational improvements across the various parts of the business
• Improving maintenance regimes and asset reliability to reduce downtime and unplanned breakdowns
• Using operational data and KPIs to pinpoint where performance and cost can be improved
• Identifying and delivering cost reduction and continuous improvement across the sites
• Scoping and supporting capital projects and operational investment where they add value
• Strengthening health, safety and environmental performance, and supporting COMAH compliance alongside external consultants
• Working closely with the Production and Operations Managers at each site, the Technical Manager and the Compliance Manager
• Supporting the business on its journey towards a more mature, improved operation
• Reporting to the Operations Director and the business owner

Skills and Experience

To succeed as an Operations Manager you will need:

• Significant operations experience within a complex industrial environment such as energy, process, oil and gas, power generation, heavy industrial or AD
• A proven track record of improving operational performance, efficiency and cost across a site or sites
• A strong understanding of plant performance, maintenance and asset reliability
• The ability to use operational data and KPIs to drive decisions and measurable improvement
• The judgement and patience to understand an operation fully before changing it
• Genuine influencing and communication skills, able to build credibility and lead through relationships rather than authority
• The ability to work across many areas rather than within a single remit
• A solid grasp of health, safety and environmental compliance in a regulated, high-hazard environment, with COMAH awareness an advantage
• A drive to raise standards and help build a more mature, improved operation
• A grounded, hands-on attitude, comfortable on a complex working plant

Pay and Benefits

As an Operations Manager you will receive:

• A competitive salary package
• Statutory pension scheme
• A comprehensive Employee Assistance Scheme through NatWest
• Health insurance, subject to a qualifying period
• A genuine whole-operation remit, with ownership across the business
• The autonomy to shape your own approach and build something lasting
• Exposure across every level of the business, reporting to the Operations Director and owner

This is a rare role, and it is not for everyone. It will not suit someone chasing the next rung on the ladder or looking to make their mark by tearing things down. But for the right person, someone who earns trust, sees the whole picture and knows how to turn that into real operational improvement, it is the chance to help build a more mature, improved operation within a substantial and ambitious business.