Manufacturing Leader

Job Title: Manufacturing Leader Location: Newcastle Salary: £50,000–£60,000 Benefits: 25 days holiday + bank holidays Company pension matched up to 6% Annual bonus of up to 5% of salary The Company: An established engineering and manufacturing business operating across markets including space, aviation, defence, medical and engineered products. Working Hours: Monday–Thursday: 08:30–17:00 Friday: 08:30–13:00 Job Description: This is a newly created Manufacturing Leader position with the opportunity to take genuine ownership across a varied manufacturing environment. With new products being developed and increasing activity in areas including space, the business wants someone who can strengthen day-to-day manufacturing leadership while bringing fresh ideas and new ways of working. The Manufacturing Leader will sit between manufacturing strategy and daily execution, taking responsibility for operational control and coordination across manufacturing. You will translate direction into clear priorities, coordinate people and resources, resolve operational issues and maintain consistent delivery performance. Working across a broad range of manufacturing processes, the Manufacturing Leader will lead daily manufacturing activity, support Supervisors, manage labour and scheduling priorities, monitor KPIs and work closely with Engineering, Quality, Purchasing, Planning and Stores. You will also take responsibility for people-management activity including performance reviews, objectives and attendance, while helping drive standardisation, continuous improvement, process discipline and safe working practices. Skills & Experience: The successful Manufacturing Leader will need strong manufacturing leadership experience within a heavy industrial, engineering or metal manufacturing environment. Experience across machining and fabrication environments would be particularly relevant. This is a varied, fast-moving operation rather than a high-volume production-line environment, so versatility and sound operational judgement are important. To succeed as Manufacturing Leader, you should be comfortable managing changing priorities, labour and resource conflicts while building credibility with experienced shop-floor teams. A hands-on engineering background with progression into leadership would be advantageous. A degree in business, engineering or manufacturing is preferred, or equivalent experience. Experience of structured quality management systems is required, with AS9100 or aerospace/defence manufacturing experience advantageous. Why Should You Apply? The Manufacturing Leader joins a business where the manufacturing environment offers significant variety, with established and new products moving through a broad range of engineering processes. For an experienced Manufacturing Leader who enjoys being close to manufacturing while improving how an operation performs, this offers the opportunity to bring outside experience and fresh thinking into a newly created role. There is also potential over time to develop towards broader Manufacturing Manager responsibilities