Production Team Lead

Gapp Search; Droitwich Spa; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Gapp Search is seeking an experienced Production Team Leader in Droitwich Spa to lead an hourly paid manufacturing team, deliver production plans safely and efficiently, and drive continuous improvement in a busy operation.

You will manage daily output, labour, attendance and performance, while coordinating with Planning to adjust schedules and ensuring KPI targets are met. This hands-on leadership role emphasizes safety, quality and cost control.

Qualifications

• Experience leading production teams in heavy manufacturing or similar.
• Strong supervisory experience of hourly paid production employees.
• Experience planning and executing production work with labour allocation.
• Solid understanding of production processes, quality control and KPIs.
• Familiar with ERP data usage to drive corrective action.

Responsibilities

• Execute daily production plans to meet safety, quality, cost and delivery targets.
• Allocate labour and prioritise work to maintain output.
• Lead daily production meetings and shift handovers.
• Coach and performance-manage team members.
• Manage attendance, overtime and day-to-day issues.
• Coordinate with Planning to adjust schedules and communicate changes.
• Monitor KPIs, output, and variances; take corrective actions.
• Oversee production orders and ERP transactions.
• Support new product launches and continuous improvement.
• Ensure safe working practices and compliance with standards.

Skills

Production leadership

People management

Continuous improvement

Lean manufacturing

Safety leadership

Education

NVQ Level 3 or equivalent

Tools

ERP systems (LN advantageous)

Job description

Droitwich Spa | Full-time | On-site

Gapp Search is working with a growing engineering and manufacturing business in Droitwich Spa that is looking to appoint an experienced Production Team Leader.

This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for delivering production plans safely, efficiently and to the required quality standard. You'll lead an hourly paid manufacturing team, manage daily output, labour and performance, and drive continuous improvement across a busy production environment.

What you'll be doing

• Execute daily production plans and ensure safety, quality, cost and delivery targets are achieved.
• Allocate labour and prioritise work to maintain output and meet changing production demands.
• Lead daily production meetings and effective shift handovers.
• Coach, develop and performance-manage production team members.
• Manage staffing levels, overtime, attendance and day-to-day team issues.
• Work closely with Planning to adjust and communicate production schedules.
• Monitor production efficiency, labour utilisation and manufacturing variances.
• Analyse production KPIs and implement corrective actions where performance is off target.
• Manage production orders and ensure accurate ERP transactions.
• Support new product launches, process changes and continuous improvement activity.
• Monitor quality performance and support root-cause analysis of operational and quality issues.
• Ensure discrepancies between planned and actual BOM quantities and costs are identified and resolved.
• Champion safe working practices and ensure standards are consistently followed.
• Support waste reduction, energy efficiency and other sustainability initiatives.

What we're looking for

• Proven experience leading production teams within heavy manufacturing, engineering, assembly or a similar environment.
• Strong supervisory experience managing hourly paid production employees, including coaching, feedback and accountability.
• Practical experience planning and executing production work, including labour allocation and task prioritisation.
• Strong understanding of production processes, quality control and operational KPIs.
• Experience working with ERP systems; LN would be advantageous.
• Confident using production data to identify issues and drive corrective action.
• Good understanding of Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles.
• Strong safety-first leadership and experience enforcing production and HSE standards.
• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent in Electrical, Mechanical or a related engineering discipline is advantageous.
• Strong communication, problem-solving and organisational skills.

The opportunity

This is a strong opportunity for an experienced manufacturing leader who enjoys being close to the operation and wants real responsibility for people, output, quality and continuous improvement.

You'll have direct influence over daily production performance while helping develop the team and improve how the operation runs.