Shift Manager - Backend Zone

Agratas – A Tata Enterprise; Bridgwater; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private healthcare

Company bonus

Enhanced parental leave policy

Cash allowance to boost benefits

Wellbeing support with Yulife

Job summary

Agratas – A Tata Enterprise is seeking a Production Shift Lead to drive end-to-end production on a high-volume, automated manufacturing line in the UK. You will oversee shift operations, coach leaders, and ensure safety, quality and output targets are met through data-driven decisions.

You will champion lean practices, solve problems using 5-Why/8D methods, and coordinate with Production, Engineering, Maintenance and Quality to maintain throughput and uptime in a fast-scaling environment.

Qualifications

• Strong experience leading teams in high-volume, automated manufacturing environments.
• Experience in battery, automotive, semiconductor or related industries is a plus.
• Solid understanding of lean manufacturing, problem-solving tools, and key systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end production delivery on shift, ensuring safety, quality and output targets.
• Manage daily shift operations, handovers, performance reviews and incident responses.
• Coach Area Leads and embed lean practices, driving structured problem solving to improve OEE and reduce scrap.
• Act as the link between shop floor activity and site leadership to maintain pace.

Skills

Leadership

Lean manufacturing

Data-driven decisions

Coaching & development

Decision making under pressure

Problem solving (5-Why, 8D)

People management

KPIs & performance review

Tools

MES

ERP

SPC

Job description

What you’ll do…

Lead the end-to-end delivery of production across your shift in the backend zone of the operation, ensuring safety, quality and output targets are consistently achieved. You’ll oversee a full value stream, driving performance through real-time decision making, strong leadership and a relentless focus on continuous improvement.

You’ll manage daily operations on shift, balancing people, materials and equipment to maintain flow, uptime and yield. From leading shift handovers and performance reviews to responding to breakdowns, quality issues and safety incidents, you’ll be accountable for keeping production on track and performing at pace.

Alongside this, you’ll champion a high-performance culture coaching your Area Leads, embedding lean practices and driving structured problem solving to improve OEE, reduce scrap and enhance overall efficiency

The team you'll join...

You’ll join a fast-paced, high-tech manufacturing operation at a critical stage of scale-up. Working closely with Production, Engineering, Maintenance and Quality teams, you’ll act as the key link between shop floor activity and site leadership.

What you’ll bring…

You’ll bring strong experience leading teams in high-volume, automated manufacturing environments, ideally within battery, automotive, semiconductor or similar advanced industries. You’ll be comfortable managing shift operations, making decisions under pressure and driving performance through data and KPIs.

You’ll have a solid understanding of lean manufacturing, problem-solving tools (e.g. 5-Why, 8D), and systems such as MES, ERP or SPC. Just as importantly, you’ll be a strong people leader—able to coach, develop and motivate teams within a demanding operational environment

What you’ll get…

As a new company, our reward scheme is constantly evolving. We continue to review the market to deliver a competitive benefits package, which currently includes private healthcare, company bonus, enhanced parental leave policy and a cash allowance to boost your benefits. We are a flexible business that is committed to promoting work-life balance, partnering with Yulife to provide our team members with total wellbeing support.

You’ll work in a rapidly scaling-up environment as a subsidiary of the multinational corporation, Tata Sons, to help build the UK’s biggest battery manufacturing facility and make your mark in a new organisation.

Agratas is a place to be authentically you.

At Agratas we strongly believe that people are at their best when they feel supported and happy in their workplace. To that end we continue to cultivate a diverse workforce which protects the individuality of each team member. We therefore warmly welcome applicants from any race, gender, sexuality, and ability. Should you have a preference in how your suitability is assessed for this role or require any reasonable adjustments please let the Talent Acquisition team know.