Production Manager

Macstaff; East Leake; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 57,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private healthcare

Excellent pension

Wellbeing and health benefits

Training and progression

Shift allowance

Annual bonus

Job summary

Macstaff is recruiting for a Production Manager role at a large Leicester manufacturing site. You will lead a sizeable frontline team on Continental shifts, driving safety, quality and performance in a high-volume operation.

Ideal candidates bring strong leadership, coaching skills and a track record of delivering manufacturing excellence in FMCG or related environments.

Qualifications

• Strong manufacturing or production management experience.
• Leadership of sizeable frontline teams.
• Coaching and people-development capability.
• Confidence managing performance and difficult conversations.
• Strong safety, quality and operational awareness.
• Structured problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Experience with production data, KPIs and performance measures.
• Ownership, accountability and sound judgement under pressure.
• Clear communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Leading, coaching and developing a sizeable frontline production team.
• Owning production performance, safety, quality and people.
• Creating a strong safety culture and safe working practices.
• Protecting product quality and maintaining high manufacturing standards.
• Managing attendance, conduct, performance and development.
• Delivering meaningful 1-to-1s and coaching team members.
• Using production data and KPIs to understand and improve performance.
• Solving operational problems and making confident decisions.
• Balancing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Collaborating with engineering, operations and other stakeholders.
• Taking accountability for decisions, including when senior management is not available.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Coaching

Performance management

Data analysis

Decision making

Communication

Safety awareness

Stakeholder management

Job description

Production Manager – Manufacturing

Leicester | £55,575–£56,810 + 7.5% Bonus + Excellent Benefits | Continental Shifts

You will like

Leading production and people for a world-class manufacturer at one of the UK's largest and most heavily invested manufacturing facilities.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Production Manager, Production Shift Manager, Manufacturing Manager or Shift Manager to join a major, highly successful organisation offering impressive facilities, significant ongoing investment and genuine career progression.

Based at a large manufacturing site in Leicester, Leicestershire, you will take ownership of a production area and lead approximately 40–60 people, ensuring the safe, efficient and high-quality delivery of production.

The role works a 12-hour continental shift pattern: 4 days on, 4 days off, 4 nights on, 4 nights off.

You will like

The Production Manager job itself, where you will take responsibility for people and operational performance across your production area. This is first and foremost a leadership position: setting direction, developing people, solving problems and making effective decisions in a complex, fast-moving manufacturing environment.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading, coaching and developing a sizeable frontline production team
• Taking ownership of production performance, safety, quality and people
• Creating a strong safety culture and maintaining safe working practices
• Protecting product quality and maintaining high manufacturing standards
• Managing attendance, conduct, performance and development
• Delivering meaningful 1-to-1s and coaching team members
• Using production data and KPIs to understand and improve performance
• Solving operational problems and making confident decisions
• Balancing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Working collaboratively with engineering, operations and other stakeholders
• Taking accountability for decisions, including when senior management is not immediately available

You will have

To succeed as Production Manager / Production Shift Manager, you will be an established people leader with experience gained within a sizeable, complex manufacturing, engineering or operational environment.

You will ideally demonstrate:

• Strong manufacturing or production management experience
• Leadership of sizeable frontline, shop-floor or operational teams
• Excellent coaching and people-development capability
• Confidence managing performance and difficult conversations
• Strong safety, quality and operational awareness
• Structured problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Experience working with production data, KPIs and performance measures
• The confidence to make decisions with incomplete information
• Ownership, accountability and sound judgement under pressure
• Clear communication and strong stakeholder-management skills

Food or FMCG experience is not essential. Relevant backgrounds could include FMCG, food manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, engineering, process manufacturing, heavy manufacturing or other high-volume/complex production environments. Strong military operations and leadership experience may also transfer well.

You will get

As Production Manager, you will enjoy a highly competitive package including:

• £45,000–£46,000 basic salary
• 23.5% shift allowance
• £55,575–£56,810 total salary
• 7.5% annual bonus
• Private healthcare
• Excellent pension – up to 10% company contribution
• Comprehensive health, wellbeing and employee benefits
• Genuine training, development and internal career progression

The Leicester operation employs around 1,000 people and is benefiting from approximately £60m of investment in 2026, providing an impressive environment in which to build your manufacturing leadership career.