Transformation Manager - Operational Excellence
Highly successful, continuously expanding chilled food, ready meal company
Location: Ealing area
Salary: Up to £72,000 (40 hour week)
Benefits: Numerous benefits including 33 days holiday (including bank holidays back in lieu), pension, life assurance, income protection, extensive discounts for you & your family, discretionary bonus, career growth support, training & mental well-being support.
Hours: The ability to work flexible hours, including some weekends/holidays if necessary

**The role may require occasional travel to other manufacturing sites*

Background in leading transformation initiatives & strategies for continuous improvement within the FMCG/chilled & high care food/ food manufacturing/ready meals

The Company/Opportunity:
Highly successful, forward thinking chilled food group, focused on quality of service & products, supplying to leading food retailers throughout the UK & internationally are looking for an experienced Transformation Manager with a focus on operational excellence to join the business, due to their continued rapid expansion. The successful Transformation Manager will work with a skilled, passionate, diverse team & in a culture where employees are supported & can develop their career as the company continues to grow. Innovative & continuously looking at market trends, the company regularly develop new products for the chilled market & work with several high-profile retailers.
This is a great time to join the company to use your experience & skills to help the company change & evolve whilst benefitting from the company's growth opportunities.

The Role:
The successful Transformation Manager candidate will be responsible for driving continuous improvement initiatives, optimizing processes, without compromise to the required high standards of food safety and quality. We are looking for someone who is a strategic thinker with a strong background in food manufacturing, Lean/ Six Sigma, end-to-end cost savings (labour, material cost and overheads), project management, and change management.
The successful candidate will be competent in challenging ways of working and driving sustainable improvement across the supply chain, delivering real results.

Requirements:
• The successful candidate will be responsible for leading improvements in process, conducting lean training, and facilitating events to work with problems through to implementation to a solution - driving continuous improvement projects and activities.
• The successful candidate will also be responsible for leading & driving cross-functional teams in delivering cost outs (waste, yield, labour costs and overheads), delivering efficiency improvements, processes simplification, as well as standardising and facilitating efficiency for lean optimisation.
• The Transformation Manager will work closely with Engineering, coordinating cost reduction-based capital investment projects as well as training the teams to problem solve, giving them the tools and techniques to make continuous improvements., working with all key people in the business to grow & maintain a culture of Continuous Improvement.
• The successful candidate will also coordinate the activities at NPD/ EPD meetings and actions to deliver successful product launches.

The successful candidate will have strength & experience across:
-Strategic Planning: Developing and implementing transformation strategies, driving & managing cost savings, implementing technology solutions to support business transformation objectives
-Process Optimisation: Identifying opportunities & leading initiatives for process optimisation
-Change Management: Managing & supporting change initiatives, managing smooth transitions & ensuring minimal operational disruption.
-Project Management: Leading transformation projects within agreed timescales & within budget.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with teams across production, QA & supply chain to drive transformational initiatives and work closely with senior management.
-Food Safety and Quality: Ensure all transformational activities comply with food safety regulations and quality standards
-Performance Monitoring: Through KPIs to track & measure the success of any transformational activities
-Training and Development: Foster a culture of continuous improvement by training & support using workshops, training & coaching.

Required Experience & Skills:
• Proven experience as a Transformation Manager within a similar food manufacturing/FMCG environment, leading business transformation initiatives and Continuous Improvement strategies within a similar environment.
• Passionate and experienced with the ability to identify & drive continuous improvement, working closely with the manufacturing and site teams,
• A great communicator with strong interpersonal skills, able to engage and influence at all levels.
• In-depth knowledge of multiple Lean / CI / OPEX tools and methodologies.
• Experience of working within a fast moving, demanding operational environment & project managing an improvement in performance.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities - data-driven in decision-making and maximising performance.
• Highly skilled in technology integration and change management strategies.
• Experienced in end-to-end cost-out (value engineering and value analysis) initiatives.
• Experienced in coordinating and facilitating the NPD and EPD process with cross-functional teams to their successful launch.

Qualifications:
The successful candidate will ideally have the following qualifications:
• A minimum of a bachelor's degree in business administration, engineering, operations management, or a related field is desirable
• A project management/change management certification
• Certification in Lean Six Sigma or similar methodologies.

Salary & Benefits:
The starting salary for this role is up to £72,000, 33 days holiday (including bank holidays back in lieu), pension, life assurance, income protection, Medicash, extensive discounts for you & your family, discretionary bonus, career development support, mental health support & a fantastic team culture