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Head of Operations - Manufacturing Bridgend (Fully site based) - No travel! Salary – £80k - £100k pa OTE Permanent Monday to Friday – Mon-Thurs: 07:00–16:30 & Fri: 07:30–16:00 If you’re a Head of Operations / Manufacturing leader who thrives on ownership, real accountability, and building something from the ground up, this is a rare opportunity to shape the operational backbone of a small UK business with big European ambitions. The company is growing fast, and we need someone who will roll up their sleeves, lead from the front, and set up the uk production operation from scratch - then evolve it into a lean, scalable system that can support rapid growth. This is a senior leadership role with genuine impact, influence, and visibility. About You You’re already operating at a senior level in operations within manufacturing and are comfortable owning outcomes end-to-end. You combine strategic thinking with a hands-on leadership style and get a thrill from building capability through people, systems, and structure. You’ll bring… • Proven experience in a Head of Operations role, • Experience bringing production in-house and scaling manufacturing operations, • Strong exposure to machinery-led or production environments, • Experience with UK and European distribution and supply chains, • Practical Lean / Continuous Improvement capability, • A commercial mindset – balancing cost, quality, service, and scalability, • Confidence leading through change, ambiguity, and growth, • A data-driven, structured approach with strong decision-making skills, • The ability to communicate effectively across shop floor, suppliers, and senior leadership What You’ll Be Doing (and the impact you’ll make) • Lead the transition of production from outsourced manufacture to in-house UK production, • Own manufacturing performance: output, quality, cost, labour efficiency, and machinery uptime, • Specify, implement, and optimise machinery, production layouts, workflows, and maintenance strategies, • Build scalable warehousing and logistics capability to support UK and European distribution, • Develop and manage European distribution models, including cross-border logistics and service levels, • Set and drive operational KPIs aligned to growth, customer performance, and cost control, • Lead NCR reduction through structured root-cause analysis and continuous improvement, • Ensure full compliance with Health & Safety, ISO, and regulatory requirements, • Build, lead, and develop the operations leadership team, including direct line management of the Operations Manager, • Partner with the Managing Director on operational strategy, capex planning, and risk management Why This Role is Different This isn’t a maintenance role. You’ll start by creating the operation - defining processes, building teams, and embedding a culture of performance. As the company grows, you’ll scale systems, optimise supply chains, and lead continuous improvement. You’ll be challenged, inspired, and never bored, because small business growth is messy, exciting, and full of opportunity. If you want to lead, build, and scale a business with big ambitions, and thrive on rolling up your sleeves to make real impact, this is the role for you. Please apply today to hear more!