Site Head of Production - Nenagh

Arrabawn Tipperary; Nenagh; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Hollybank Trustees Ltd in Nenagh seeks a Site Head of Production to deliver end-to-end production across multiple departments. You will lead a cross-functional team, uphold food safety and quality standards, and drive Lean initiatives to improve throughput and cost efficiency.

Reporting to the Site Manager, you will manage budgets, overtime and contingency plans, while ensuring compliance with HACCP, GMP and regulatory obligations at a busy site in Co. Tipperary.

Qualifications

• A relevant third-level qualification in food, dairy, engineering, manufacturing, operations management or a related discipline is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Maintain high standards of food safety, quality, hygiene, GMP, housekeeping and environmental compliance.
• Provide visible safety leadership across production and address unsafe conditions immediately.
• Lead daily production to deliver the milk plan safely and to customer specifications.
• Own performance against KPIs including safety, quality, yield, downtime and cost.
• Lead, coach and hold the production management team to standards and deadlines.
• Support maintenance, QA, environmental and supply chain to resolve issues.

Skills

Lean leadership

People management

Cost control

Quality & safety

Education

Third-level qualification in food/dairy/engineering/manufacturing/ops mgmt

Job description

Location: On site / Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
job type: Permanent / Full-time
Sector and subsector: FMCG | Production
Salary: Negotiable salary

Business Sector:Food Ingredients - Nenagh

Job title:Site Head of Production, Nenagh

Reporting to:Site Manager

Job purpose: Reporting to the Site Manager, the Site Head of Production, Nenaghhas end-to-end accountability for the safe, compliant and efficient delivery of production across Casein, Caseinate, Intake, Powder, Butter and Bagging. This role brings these departments together as one coordinated production function and owns day-to-day performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsibilities associated with this role include, but are not limited to the following:

• Maintain high standards of food safety, quality, hygiene, GMP, housekeeping and environmental compliance.
• Provide visible safety leadership across production, address unsafe conditions or behaviors immediately and deliver the agreed safety targets. Ensure all hazards, near misses and incidents are recorded, investigated, and closed on time, with safety reviewed first at Tier meetings and high-risk or overdue actions escalated without delay.
• Maintain environmental compliance and drive the reduction of process losses to the wastewater treatment plant. Ensure all high-COD and hydraulic-loading events are promptly identified, contained, investigated, and addressed through effective corrective and preventive actions.
• Ensure adherence to procedures, HACCP controls, customer requirements, permits, and legal obligations; lead the production response to deviations, complaints, and non-conformances; and maintain audit readiness.
• Own performance against agreed KPIs, including safety, food safety, quality, output, milk plan adherence, yield and loss, downtime, labour, waste, reliability, environmental performance and controllable cost.
• Lead daily production to deliver the agreed milk plan safely, compliantly and to the required customer specifications.
• ·Lead the production response to significant events, make timely decisions, and escape in line with site procedures. Ensure shift handovers accurately communicate plant status, immediate priorities, outstanding risks, and actions requiring follow-up.
• Consolidate issues from the production departments and coordinate the support required from Maintenance, Quality, Environmental and Supply Chain.
• Lead, coach, and hold the production management team accountable for results, behaviours, and standards.
• Lead by example and demonstrate a clear belief in Lean practices, structured problem-solving, standard work, 5S and waste elimination, using these techniques to improve throughput, yield, labour utilisation and reliability while reducing downtime, product loss and resource use.
• Manage production budgets, overtime and controllable costs within agreed limits.
• Work with Maintenance on asset performance, planned maintenance, shutdowns, handback and recovery, and coordinate production requirements with Supply Chain and approved capital projects.
• Hold production managers and shift production managers to agreed standards and deadlines, elevate issues to the Site Manager.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS ROLE:

• A relevant third-level qualification in food, dairy, engineering, manufacturing, operations management or a related discipline is preferred.

EXPERIENCE AND CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Production or operations management experience in a regulated, multi-department or multi-shift environment.
• Strong knowledge of health and safety, food safety, HACCP, quality systems, GMP and environmental compliance, with proven capability in Lean improvement, structured problem-solving, people management and cost control.
• A visible, credible and decisive leader with the drive, energy and personal ownership to set clear standards, challenge weak performance and follow issues through to completion. Communicates effectively, works well across functions and develops capable, high-performing teams while remaining fair and constructive.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across teams.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities
• High motivation, flexibility & the ability to work on own initiative.

Note:As with all positions, due to the nature of our business, key responsibilities will evolve and change over time.