Job Description

Job Purpose

This is a hugely exciting role leading the operational team within the graze business! The Hayes site is where it all comes together; a melting pot of brilliant people, tasty ingredients, value-adding systems and specialist production assets which together produce our delicious healthy snacks.




As Operations Manager, you will play a pivotal role in leading our manufacturing and packing operations to deliver excellence every day. You'll be responsible for driving performance across safety, quality, delivery, and cost, while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and high engagement. With a strong focus on team development and cross-functional collaboration, you'll ensure our operations are not only efficient and effective, but also future-ready. This role is ideal for a hands-on leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment and is passionate about empowering people, embedding innovation, and delivering sustainable results.

What

you'll be responsible for

Leading and inspiring the operational team to meet daily production targets while maintaining a safe working environment.*
Championing a culture of sustainable continuous improvement, ensuring our processes and products meet the highest standards of safety, quality and consistency.*
Driving productivity and cost control through identifying and implementing opportunities for operational efficiencies.*
Developing & empowering the manufacturing team - building capability, ownership & engagement in line with strategic goals*
Building strong relationships & working closely with peers in Safety, Engineering, Quality and People to deliver site-wide objectives.*
Influencing and landing transformation & innovation projects in alignment with key business initiatives, working collaboratively with our food & projects teams.*

It would be great if you have

The successful candidate will bring proven leadership experience, ideally in a manufacturing or FMCG environment, with a strong track record of delivering results across safety, quality, delivery, and cost. They will be a high-energy, driven individual with a proactive, can-do mindset and a passion for making things happen. Confident in leading teams through change, they will embed continuous improvement and foster a culture of ownership, pace, and engagement. Strong collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills are essential, along with commercial awareness and a sharp focus on operational efficiency. They will also demonstrate the ability to maintain control of day-to-day operations, ensuring the site runs safely, and in line with business priorities.

Desirables:


Understanding of operational excellence practices, with experience applying Lean or other continuous improvement methodologies.*
Experience using data and digital tools to drive performance and inform decision-making will be a distinct advantage.*

What's in it for you?

Our graze culture

We want you to be your authentic self - so we create an environment where you feel like you belong, in a way that's right for you. We have a dedicated diversity and inclusion employee resource group that you're welcome to join! You'll be part of an open, inclusive and pioneering team. What could be better? You'll be working with some seriously smart, informed, helpful, funny, dedicated (and very, very modest) people.

Benefits we offer

Free healthy yummy snacks (very important)! 25 days holiday, plus Bank Holidays (to reflect our diverse workforce, four Bank Holidays are interchangeable). You can take a volunteering day and one health day each year on top of your annual leave allowance, to use however you wish. You'll get all the standard benefits including a pension, a yearly bonus, private health insurance and so much more. Access to Bippit, an all-in-one financial wellbeing platform, which includes personalized 1:1 coaching from a finance professional. We encourage active learning, so you can enjoy learning sessions and support for formal qualifications. We have a range of enhanced family-friendly policies which includes Maternity & Paternity Leave, Parental Leave, Undergoing IVF Treatment, Pregnancy Loss & Bereavement.




As graze is unable to offer visa sponsorship, you must be eligible to live and work in the UK to apply for this vacancy.





Let us know if you have accessibility requirements for the interview process and we'll ensure that all your needs are provided for.





Please feel free to include which pronouns you use (such as she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs etc.) in your application.





graze recruits, employs, trains, and promotes regardless of race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, disability, age, or other protected status. We are dedicated to promoting diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion within our team and in all of our work.