Area Manager

Kinmel | Full Time | Onsite

We're excited to be recruiting for an Area Manager to join our Production team at Kinmel. This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced manufacturing leader who is passionate about people leadership, operational excellence, and driving performance within a fast-paced food manufacturing environment.

You'll be responsible for leading and developing production teams, ensuring safe and efficient operations, and delivering production plans in line with quality, safety, and performance standards.

About us

INSPIRED Pet Nutrition is an innovative, well-established, and award-winning pet food manufacturer employing over 1,200 colleagues across the UK and Europe. Our family of brands includes Harringtons, Wagg, Barking Heads & Meowing Heads, AATU, Blink, Butcher's, Classic, Pro-Nutrition, and Ultra Premium Direct, along with a number of partner brands that trust us to produce food on their behalf. Our kitchens in Thirsk, Kinmel, and Crick produce a wide range of dry, wet, and baked foods enjoyed by dogs and cats all over the world. Our ambition is simple: to become a global leader in pet nutrition.

Our Purpose: To create happiness

We're on a mission to set a new standard of workplace happiness within the pet nutrition industry-one that looks like no other and feels like no other. Our culture is built on INSPIRED's unique behaviours and colleague experience, creating an environment that excites, empowers, and puts people and pets at the heart of everything we do.

Responsibilities

Lead and manage production colleagues within the area to deliver production plans safely, efficiently, and to agreed standards

Drive area productivity, efficiency, and performance targets in line with operational KPIs and budget expectations

Monitor operational processes, raw materials, and the production environment to ensure compliance with food safety and manufacturing standards

Ensure product quality standards are consistently achieved through effective monitoring and control processes

Manage labour deployment and manpower planning to align with operational and production requirements

Communicate effectively with the wider operations team, escalating risks and issues in a timely manner

Monitor machinery and equipment effectiveness through OEE analysis and downtime reporting

Promote and maintain a strong people-safe culture, ensuring compliance with health and safety procedures and encouraging near miss reporting

Identify opportunities for continuous improvement across quality, waste, downtime, performance, and cost efficiency

Lead, coach, and develop colleagues through regular one-to-ones, performance management, and engagement activities

Support disciplinary, absence management, and people processes in line with company policies

Drive a culture of accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement within the production environment

About you

Previous leadership experience within a manufacturing or food production environment

Experience managing teams within a fast-paced and complex operational setting

Strong understanding of production processes, labour management, and operational performance metrics

Good communication and leadership skills with the ability to motivate and engage teams

Experience driving continuous improvement initiatives and operational efficiencies

Understanding of food safety and quality standards within manufacturing

Confident using Microsoft Office and production reporting systems

A proactive and hands-on leadership approach

Advanced Food Hygiene Accreditation desirable

HACCP Level 2 and IOSH Level 2 qualifications desirable

Good literacy and numerical skills with the ability to communicate clearly in English

At INSPIRED, we want to inspire colleagues to join, stay, develop, and achieve, creating an inclusive and sustainable business fit for growth. One of the enablers of achieving this, is to offer competitive pay and benefits to all colleagues.

Our Total Reward Benefits include:

Enhanced pension, life assurance, and enhanced maternity, paternity, sick pay, and holiday buy options

People and Pets First benefits, including paw-reavement and paw-ternity leave and bring your dog to work

Healthcare cashback plan and Hertility at-home fertility testing

Heavily discounted pet food and lifestyle benefits (Netflix, Spotify, or breakdown cover)

Retail and gym discounts, electric car scheme, and free onsite parking and electric car charging

Onsite canteen, free hot drinks, and modern facilities

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

INSPIRED Pet Nutrition is committed to building an inclusive workplace that reflects the diversity of the colleagues and communities we serve. We believe everyone should feel valued, respected and able to be themselves at work. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We make hiring decisions based on talent, potential and the experience you bring.

We are also committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and in the workplace, ensuring equitable access and opportunity for all. If you need any adjustments or support to take part in our recruitment process, please let us know by emailing View email address on api.occupop.com

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