Mane Contract Services
Head of Production

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Job Title
This is a senior leadership position with responsibility for Production, Stores and Dispatch. You will lead the continued development of manufacturing capability, improve operational performance and ensure the business is equipped to support sustained growth within a complex, high-value engineering environment.
Reporting Structure
Reporting to the Operations Director, you will be responsible for delivering safe, reliable, cost-effective and high-quality manufacturing performance across the operation.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide visible leadership across Production, Stores and Dispatch.
- Lead, coach and develop production leaders, technical specialists and multidisciplinary teams.
- Ensure compliance with all health, safety and environmental policies and procedures.
- Own production execution and resource deployment to achieve customer delivery and shipping commitments.
- Forecast labour, skills and resource requirements in line with future production demand.
- Improve productivity through effective leadership, coaching, cross-training and capability development.
- Identify succession, recruitment and skills requirements across the manufacturing function.
- Improve material flow, production readiness and manufacturing scalability.
- Reduce build hours, rework, scrap, overtime, work-in-progress and cost of poor quality.
- Standardise and improve operational systems and processes.
- Use SQCDP data to identify and prioritise improvement opportunities.
- Lead continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives.
- Work closely with Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Procurement, Planning and Commercial teams.
- Support the successful introduction of new products, technologies and manufacturing processes.
- Ensure new products are manufacturable, testable and ready for production.
- Manage pre-production builds, production training, documentation and operational readiness.
- Drive improvements in product quality through robust data analysis, root cause investigation and corrective action.
Reasons to use Rodeo
I’m in my final year doing Economics and I don’t know whether to apply for grad schemes now or do a masters first. What do you think?
Honest answer — it depends on where you want to end up. A lot of top grad schemes (Big 4, civil service, banking) don’t need a masters. Let’s look at the ones you’d be competitive for now, and we can decide if a masters actually adds anything.
Also worth knowing: most autumn 2026 applications are open now. Timing matters more than you think.
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Graduate Consultant — 2026 Scheme
Why you're a good match
StrongYour economics background and your summer at a regional bank line up with what PwC looks for on the consulting scheme. Applications close in four weeks.
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Why you're a good match
You’ve got the grades and the economics background, and your bank internship is exactly the experience this scheme looks for. Apply soon — deadlines close within the month.
Experience fit
Your summer at the bank plus your econometrics coursework map directly to the day-one responsibilities on this scheme — client modelling, market briefings, and deal support.
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No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Key Performance Areas
- Health, safety and environmental performance.
- On-time delivery and achievement of shipping commitments.
- Labour productivity, build hours and overtime reduction.
- Reduction in scrap, rework, WIP and cost of poor quality.
- Product quality and commissioning performance.
- Delivery of continuous improvement and operational excellence objectives.
Experience and Qualifications
- Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt qualification or demonstrable continuous improvement experience.
- Significant experience leading production, manufacturing or operations teams.
- Experience working within a complex, high-technology manufacturing environment.
- Proven experience managing and developing line managers and multidisciplinary teams.
- Strong understanding of lean manufacturing, visual management, root cause analysis and structured problem-solving.
- Experience improving safety, quality, cost, delivery and people performance.
- Commercial awareness, with an understanding of margin, productivity, cost and customer delivery.
- Experience using ERP, production planning or operational reporting systems.
- Strong understanding of production planning, labour forecasting and manufacturing resource requirements.
- Experience supporting NPI and the transition of products from development into production.
- Experience within semiconductor, vacuum, plasma, precision equipment, capital equipment or another high-complexity engineering sector would be advantageous.


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Personal Attributes
- A credible and visible leader with a coaching management style.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
- Commercially aware and comfortable using data to make decisions.
- Collaborative, inclusive and able to build effective cross-functional relationships.
- Resilient and comfortable working within a changing manufacturing environment.
- Confident making difficult decisions and holding teams accountable.
- Passionate about developing people and improving operational capability.
- Positive, pragmatic and willing to challenge existing ways of working.
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