Manufacturing Manager

The Person:

The Manufacturing Manager plays a central role in ensuring PROPER Snacks' production lines run safely, efficiently, and consistently to the highest standards. This leader oversees the day to day operation of the manufacturing function, managing a team of Shift Managers and driving performance across Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost.

The Role:

Reporting to the Head of Manufacturing, this is a hands on, people focused role suited to someone who thrives in a fast paced FMCG environment and enjoys building strong teams, improving processes, and delivering exceptional results.

• Lead, coach, and develop Shift Managers, ensuring clarity of expectations and consistent performance across all shifts.
• Foster a high performance culture built on accountability, continuous improvement, and open communication.
• Ensure effective handovers and alignment between shifts to maintain seamless operations.

• Champion a proactive safety culture, ensuring all teams follow safe working practices and comply with legal and internal standards.
• Drive incident reduction through root cause analysis, corrective actions, and ongoing training.
• Ensure the site meets or exceeds all health & safety KPIs.

• Maintain PROPER SNACKS high product quality standards through robust processes, training, and compliance.
• Partner with Quality and Technical teams to resolve issues quickly and prevent recurrence.
• Ensure all manufacturing activities meet food safety, regulatory, and audit requirements.

• Oversee daily production performance to meet output, service, and schedule targets.
• Monitor and optimise line performance, labour utilisation, and shift efficiency.
• Ensure effective planning and resource allocation to support demand.

• Manage manufacturing cost performance, identifying opportunities to reduce waste, improve yield, and enhance productivity.
• Support budgeting and forecasting activities for labour, materials, and overheads.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives using lean tools and data driven decision making.

• Proven leadership experience in FMCG manufacturing, ideally food or snacks.
• Strong understanding of safety, quality, and operational excellence principles.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multi shift teams and drive consistent performance.
• Experience with lean manufacturing, problem solving tools, and continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication, coaching, and stakeholder management skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast moving, entrepreneurial environment.

PROPER SNACKS is the home of PROPER and Eat Real. The UK's fastest-growing major snacks company.

We're a diverse team of builders, thinkers, creators and makers - based in London and Nuneaton and serving snackers across Europe. Our brilliant team are united by an insatiable curiosity and driven by an entrepreneurial spirit. At PROPER SNACKS, we don't sit still. We scale fast, dream big and back our people to make stuff happen. Our values keep us grounded: Be builder. Dream bigger. Seriously fun.

Whether you're joining us in London - where the brands are built, and big ideas take flight. Or in Nuneaton where magic happens in our factory and every bag gets made - you'll be part of a team shaking up the snacking world. Get a flavour of what life is like at PROPER SNACKS here

LDN - Drummond Street - London - NW1 3HP

NUN - Townsend Dr - Nuneaton - CV11 6TJ

PROPER and Eat Real is an equal opportunities employer and we do not discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, disability, or age.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the recruitment or interview process.