Global Manufacturing Excellence Senior Manager

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you. As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits. To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose‑led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact.

Job Title Senior Operational Excellence Manager

Location Flexible / Global (with regular travel to manufacturing sites)

Role Purpose

The Senior Operational Excellence Manager will play a critical role in driving world‑class manufacturing performance across pladis’ snacking and confectionery operations. This role will lead the deployment of operational excellence frameworks, improve safety, quality, cost and service performance, and embed a strong continuous improvement culture across multiple factories. The successful candidate will bring deep experience in the snacking and/or confectionery sector, strong manufacturing and operational excellence expertise, and the ability to influence at all levels in a complex, global organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement
• Lead the design, deployment and sustainment of pladis’ Operational Excellence (OE) framework across manufacturing sites, aligned with global standards and local needs.
• Drive measurable improvements in OE%, cost, losses, quality, conformance to plan, and safety performance using problem‑solving methodologies.
• Coach and challenge factory leadership teams to embed continuous improvement behaviours and ways of working.
• Identify, prioritise and execute improvement initiatives with clear business cases and quantified benefits.
• Manufacturing Performance & Capability Building
• Partner closely with site, regional and global manufacturing leaders to improve end‑to‑end operational performance.
• Support capability building across factories through training, coaching and hands‑on support (e.g. Lean tools, root cause analysis, standard work).
• Ensure consistency of KPIs, performance management routines and best‑practice sharing across the network.
• Act as a subject‑matter expert for operational excellence within the snacking and confectionery manufacturing context.
• Safety, Quality & Compliance
• Champion a strong safety‑first culture, supporting continuous improvement in safety performance and risk reduction.
• Ensure OE initiatives fully align with food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements typical of the snacking and confectionery sector.
• Support reduction of losses, defects, and variability through robust problem‑solving and process control.
• Change & Stakeholder Management
• Lead change initiatives across multiple sites and geographies in a matrix organisation.
• Influence senior stakeholders and factory leadership teams without direct authority.
• Work cross‑functionally with Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, R&D and Digital teams to deliver integrated improvements.
• Support digitalisation and data‑driven decision‑making initiatives where relevant to manufacturing performance.

Key Requirements

Experience

Proven experience in the snacking and/or confectionery industry is essential.

Significant experience in manufacturing and/or operational excellence roles within FMCG or food manufacturing.

Demonstrated track record of delivering sustainable operational improvements in a factory environment.

Experience working across multiple manufacturing sites and cultures, ideally in a global or regional role.

Technical & Functional Skills

Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, CI tools and structured problem‑solving.

Solid understanding of manufacturing KPIs such as OE%, net losses, service and safety metrics.

Experience embedding standard work, performance management routines and continuous improvement systems.

Familiarity with food safety and quality systems relevant to snacking and confectionery manufacturing.

Leadership & Behavioural Skills

Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills at all organisational levels.

Ability to coach, develop and challenge teams to drive behavioural change.

Structured, data‑driven and pragmatic approach with a strong delivery mindset.

Comfortable operating in a complex, matrixed, international environment.

Education & Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, or a related discipline.

Lean Six Sigma certification (Green Belt / Black Belt) strongly preferred.

Fluency in English required; additional languages are an advantage.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape and elevate operational excellence across a leading global snacking company.
• Exposure to a diverse international manufacturing network.
• A culture that values safety, continuous improvement, collaboration and growth.
• Competitive reward package and strong development opportunities within pladis.

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List.

pladis is one of the world’s fastest growing snacking companies and home to much loved brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA and Ülker. pladis also owns regional brands Jacob’s, Go Ahead, Flipz, Turtles, BN, Verkade and many more products across sweet and savoury biscuits, wafer, cake and chocolate. Formed in 2016, pladis is the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience. The expertise of our 16,000-strong global workforce spans 27 bakeries across 11 countries and is united by our purpose: to ‘bring happiness with every bite’. As a responsible business delivering the highest quality products and exceptional service, pladis’ products have the potential to reach more than four billion people across the world.

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