Radar Recruitment
Head of Operations
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Head of Operations - Vacancy
£competitive + package | South London (site-based) | 200+ employees
Seeking candidates from:
- FMCG
- Food
- Cosmetics
- Manufacturing
- Engineering
- Automated Warehousing
- Logistics
- Pharmaceutical
- Consumer Goods
If you’re an experienced Operations Leader who thrives in high-volume, fast-paced and highly automated environments, this could be a very interesting opportunity.
I’m working with a highly established, growing organisation that is investing heavily in its operational infrastructure, automation and continuous improvement agenda.
They’re looking for someone who can lead at scale, drive performance through people and managers, and create operational excellence across a complex multi-site environment.
The opportunity
This is a broad and genuinely senior operational leadership role, with responsibility for an operation of approximately 200+ people across multiple sites, supported by a strong layer of management.
You’ll be leading through your management team rather than managing purely at a hands-on level - setting direction, creating accountability, developing leaders and ensuring the wider operation consistently delivers against demanding performance, quality and service expectations.
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The environment is high-volume, highly automated and operationally complex, with a significant focus on efficiency, process optimisation and continuous improvement.
What you’ll be responsible for:
- Leading multiple operational sites and their leadership teams
- Managing through managers and developing a strong leadership structure
- Driving Lean, Continuous Improvement and process optimisation
- Improving productivity, efficiency, cost and operational performance
- Leading capacity, resource and workforce planning
- Driving a strong SQCDPE / KPI culture
- Supporting the development and optimisation of automated operations
- Maintaining high standards of compliance, governance and operational control
- Owning Health & Safety across the operation
- Building a culture of accountability, engagement and continuous improvement
- Coaching, developing and succession-planning your management population
- Working cross-functionally with Supply Chain, Quality, IT and wider senior stakeholders
What I’m looking for
I’m not looking for someone who has simply worked in one particular sector. The right environment and leadership experience are far more important!
What’s important is that you’ve operated in a high-volume, fast-paced and operationally demanding environment, ideally with significant automation and complexity.
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You’ll need a proven track record of:
- Leading large-scale operations / teams of 250+
- Managing through a strong layer of managers
- Delivering Lean / CI / operational excellence programmes
- Improving processes, productivity and performance
- Leading in an automated environment
- Building, coaching and developing high-performing leadership teams
- Operating confidently in a structured, KPI-driven environment
- Remaining calm, credible and pragmatic when the pressure is on
Most importantly, I’m looking for someone who is a genuine people leader.
Someone who can set high standards without simply managing by numbers; who develops their managers, creates ownership within their teams and leaves the operation stronger than they found it.
If you’re an experienced Head of Operations, Operations Director or senior operational leader and this sounds like the kind of challenge you’re looking for, I’d be very keen to speak with you.
Keywords: Head of Operations, Operations Director, General Manager, Manufacturing Director, Head of Manufacturing, Head of Distribution, Distribution Director, Plant Manager
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