Operations Manager - Nights

2 Sisters Food Group; Tetford; On-site; GBP 34,000 - 37,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discounts

Job summary

2 Sisters Food Group is seeking an Operations Manager to lead night shift production at Thetford, overseeing preparation, frying and packing, and ensuring targets and quality standards are met. You will be a visible leader across functions and a key point of escalation outside hours.

Manage labour, drive OEE improvements, and uphold HACCP/BRC standards while promoting accountability and teamwork. A strong safety culture and continuous improvement mindset are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience within the food industry, preferably chilled / high-risk products at a Management level.
• Strong people management, leadership & coaching skills. Being able to motivate, engage and develop a team.
• Experience in delivering production plans within a fast-moving environment.
• Effective communicator across all levels with a flexible attitude & approach.

Responsibilities

• Lead night shift operations across preparation, frying, and packing departments, ensuring production targets, quality standards, and customer specifications.
• Act as a visible and approachable leader on nights, supporting all functions across the site to maintain operational continuity.
• Serve as a key escalation point for senior stakeholders, providing rapid decision-making and clear communication outside core hours.
• Drive a culture of accountability, engagement, and teamwork, ensuring colleagues understand customer expectations and site priorities.
• Accurately track and manage labour hours across shift, ensuring compliance with ETI standards, working time regulations and site policies.
• Monitor production performance in real-time, working cross-functionally to remove bottlenecks, minimise downtime, and improve OEE.
• Ensure full compliance with food safety, quality, and legal standards (e.g. HACCP, BRC, H&S), addressing risks and stopping unsafe practices.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to drive gains in yield, efficiency, and right-first-time production through data-led decisions.
• Build strong working relationships across departments, enabling seamless communication between day and night operations.
• Coach and develop supervisors and team leaders, strengthening capability and succession planning.
• Support site KPIs including cost control, waste reduction, labour efficiency, and service levels.
• Manage incident response on shift, including technical, engineering, or staffing challenges.
• Champion a positive safety culture, lead and chair the monthly Health and Safety Meeting, embedding best practice.

Skills

People management

Leadership

Coaching

Communication

Production planning

Flexibility

Job description

• Compensation: GBP 25.38 - GBP 27.92 - hourly

Company Description

Our Thetford operation is a breaded/coated product centre of excellence. As a value added, non-kill site we have no live animals or butchery onsite. It uses best in class equipment, which enables the site to deliver significant environmental benefits. The low-energy building is the flagship development within the 2 Sisters group.

With 18 sites in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. We employ over 13,500 staff, all of whom have the opportunity to progress as we focus on promoting from within and you can be part of that too.

Knowing that our business is only as good as the people we employ, we ensure that we invest in people like you to enhance skills and professional development.

Job Description

Operations manager Key Responsibilities

• Lead night shift operations across preparation, frying, and packing departments, ensuring consistent delivery of production targets, quality standards, and customer specifications.
• Act as avisible and approachable leader on nights, supporting all functions across the site (production, engineering, technical, hygiene, and logistics) to maintain operational continuity.
• Serve as akey escalation point for senior stakeholders, providing clear communication, rapid decision-making, and effective resolution of operational issues outside core business hours.
• Drive a culture ofaccountability, engagement, and teamwork, ensuring all colleagues understand customer expectations, site priorities, and performance targets.
• Accurately track and manage labour hours across shift, ensuring full compliance withETI (Ethical Trading Initiative) standards, working time regulations, and site policies, proactively identifying and addressing any potential breaches.
• Monitor production performance in real-time, working cross-functionally to remove bottlenecks, minimise downtime, and improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Ensure full compliance withfood safety, quality, and legal standards(e.g. HACCP, BRC, H&S), proactively addressing risks and stopping unsafe practices where necessary.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives, driving gains in yield, efficiency, and right-first-time production through data-led decision-making.
• Build strong working relationships across departments, enabling seamless communication between day and night operations and supporting site-wide objectives.
• Coach and develop supervisors and team leaders, strengthening capability, succession planning, and overall team performance.
• Support site KPIs includingcost control, waste reduction, labour efficiency, and service levels, contributing to overall business profitability.
• Manage incident response on shift, including technical, engineering, or staffing challenges, ensuring minimal disruption to production schedules.
• Champion a positive safety culture, Lead and chair the monthly Health and Safety Meeting, while also embedding best practice and ensuring all team members operate in a safe and compliant manner.

Qualifications

• Experience within the food industry, preferably chilled / high-risk products at a Management level.
• Strong people management, leadership & coaching skills. Being able to motivate, engage and develop a team.
• Experience in delivering production plans within a fast-moving environment.
• Effective communicator across all levels with a flexible attitude & approach.

Additional Information

• Company Bus Service from Norwich, Attleborough, Wymondham and Thetford Centre
• Exclusive 2 Sisters employee discount - offering savings of up to 60% with brands including Asda, Morrisons, Marks and Spencer and Tesco.
• 50% off your total bill in all of our group restaurant brands
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Free onsite parking
• Employee of the Month awards
• Fantastic development opportunities available for promotion and career development
• In-house training