Factory Manager – Chilled Food Production (Nottingham)

Factory Manager (Chilled Food Manufacturing)

Nottingham | Sunday to Wednesday 7am – 7pm | Leading 3 Shift Managers

£62,000 – £66,000

If you’re a confident, hands-on production leader or factory manager ready to step into a fast-paced chilled food environment, this is your opportunity to run a high-performing operation where safety, quality and service really matter. You’ll lead the day-to-day factory performance, develop your leadership team, and deliver consistent results against safety, productivity, cost and customer standards.

The role

As Factory Manager, you’ll lead and direct manufacturing and materials control operations in line with the business plan—delivering industry-leading productivity, high customer service levels and consistent product quality within budgeted cost.

What you’ll be doing

• Own site standards across your shift pattern for Health, Safety & Environment, building a proactive culture and ensuring robust incident/near-miss follow-up.
• Drive quality performance alongside Technical—spotting trends early, leading root-cause investigations, and ensuring right-first-time delivery.
• Embed GMP and audit readiness, ensuring effective routines and strong shift-level ownership.
• Lead materials control: reduce waste and rejects, improve yield, and ensure accurate stock processes.
• Optimise labour across shifts: challenge base manning, improve efficiency and deliver against labour KPIs.
• Inspire and develop your leaders and teams—clear roles, strong communication, fair and consistent people practices.
• Champion Operational Excellence/continuous improvement (Lean/CI): improve run rates, eliminate loss and deliver your performance improvement plan.
• Maintain a strong customer focus: host customer visits and deliver against service level targets.

What you’ll bring

• Proven Factory/Production Management experience within chilled food manufacturing.
• Working knowledge of HACCP (certification desirable).
• Strong people leadership—gravitas, presence on the shop floor, and a track record of building skilled, capable teams and succession planning.
• Clear, confident communicator with the personality to engage teams at every level (including agency).
• Solid CI/Lean/OpEx capability with evidence of driving measurable performance improvement.
• Commercial and analytical mindset—able to balance safety, quality, service and cost.
• Understanding of retailer expectations, standards and pace.

Why join us

• A pivotal operational leadership role with real influence over safety, standards, culture and results.
• You’ll be joining a well-run site with clear expectations and the backing to drive improvements.
• Opportunity to shape a high-performing shift structure and develop future leaders.
• We offer high performers strong and diverse career progression, investing heavily in developing great people through our training programmes as you would expect in an acquisitional growing company of our size.
• Immediate access to our flexible benefits available including EV Salary sacrifice, Health and Wellbeing, fitness, retail discount platforms, holiday discounts and many more.

How to apply

Send your CV and a short note on the scale of sites you’ve led and of your chilled food experience. If you’re ready to raise standards, energise teams and deliver great food safely—apply now. 

The Compleat Food Group fosters an inclusive, respectful culture where everyone feels safe, supported, and valued. We welcome diverse talent, knowing it drives exceptional results and a better workplace. We are committed to Fairness, Equity, Inclusivity, and Respect, we ensure all colleagues can thrive by bringing their whole selves to work. As an equal opportunity’s employer, we provide all the support you need to succeed. Contact us with any questions about Diversity & Inclusion or accessibility during the application process.

Recruitment Agencies: 

We have a small, active and trusted Preferred Supplier List to assist us if required. We do not acknowledge any speculative CVs or unsolicited candidate introductions. We only accept CV submissions for roles released to you directly by our Talent Acquisition team.