Site Excellence Lead

Finsbury Food Group; Salisbury; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Finsbury Food Group is seeking a Site Excellence Lead to shape and embed our Excellence strategy across the site, driving continuous improvement. You will coach leaders, build capability, and deliver sustainable improvements that impact safety, quality, service, cost, people, and sustainability.

You will lead MARA deployment, develop Lean and PPI training, and collaborate with Engineering and Operations to ensure improvements are embedded and owned by teams.

Qualifications

• Proven CI/Lean or Process Improvement experience in manufacturing.
• Experience delivering sustainable operational improvements.
• Experience leading cross-functional improvement activities.
• Strong coaching and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Analytical and structured problem-solving abilities.
• Adaptable in fast-paced change environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and deploy MARA across the site and build internal CI capability.
• Identify opportunities and deliver improvements in labour, materials, overheads, and performance.
• Coach leaders to strengthen problem-solving, accountability, and ownership.
• Support Asset Care/TPM implementation and sustainability.
• Share learning and progress updates with the Excellence community.
• Act as change leader to embed continuous improvement in leadership decision making.

Skills

Continuous Improvement

Lean

Process Improvement

Coaching & mentoring

Data-driven problem solving

Tools

MARA

TRACC

CI tools

Job description

About the Role!

As our Site Excellence Lead, you’ll shape and embed our Excellence strategy across the site, working closely with the Site Leadership Team and leaders across Manufacturing, Engineering, Technical and our wider support functions.

A key focus will be building capability within our leaders and teams; coaching, challenging, and supporting others to identify opportunities, solve problems and take ownership for sustainable improvement.

Bringing together people, processes, and data, you’ll help drive improvements across safety, quality, service, cost, people, and sustainability, ensuring activity delivers tangible and lasting business value.

This is What You’ll Actually Do!

You’ll lead and facilitate the deployment of MARA, Finsbury’s management system, while building in-house Continuous Improvement capability through Lean, Excellence and Practical Process Improvement (PPI) training, coaching and structured problem solving. Working cross-functionally, you’ll use data and insight to identify and deliver improvement opportunities across labour, materials, overheads, and wider operational performance.

You’ll coach and influence leaders at all levels, strengthening problem-solving capability, accountability, and ownership across the site. Working closely with Engineering and Operations, you’ll also support the implementation and sustainability of Asset Care (TPM), Process Blueprint and Leader Standard Work, ensuring improvements are embedded, sustained, and owned by the relevant teams.

You’ll share learning and best practice across the wider Finsbury Food Group Excellence community and provide clear updates on progress and business impact. Above all, you’ll act as a change leader and coach, helping make continuous improvement part of everyday leadership and decision making across the site.

Ideally This is You!

Essential:

• Proven Continuous Improvement, Lean or Process Improvement experience within manufacturing.
• Strong track record of delivering sustainable change and measurable operational improvement.
• Experience leading and facilitating cross-functional improvement activity.
• Strong coaching, influencing and communication skills, with confidence engaging stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving capability.
• Proactive, resilient, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment undergoing change.

Desirable:

• CI experience within food manufacturing or FMCG.
• Experience implementing Lean management systems and tools.
• Knowledge of MARA, TRACC or an equivalent CI framework.
• Experience of Asset Care / TPM and / or Six Sigma methodologies.
• Relevant CI / Lean qualification.
• Experience developing CI capability in others.