Technical Manager

Technical Manager Peterborough 65k or a bit more Short version Well invested site with small, passionate team seeks intelligent technical manager for improving a well ran site, managing complex teams and jokes about split milk. Chance to change the world, too. The Company * Big but not massive. * High quality products. * Good benefits. In their space, they’re famous for high quality products. Their customer base is fantastic. The owners have invested loads in the business. They’ve been incredible financially successful over their time, and are quietly building on, going from strength to strength. The owners are investing substantially for the long term, so the business isn’t being pushed into making risky gambles or forcing production out the door because they need to. Instead, they’re investing well in people and plant. You can kind of tell in the benefits. You get 33 days holiday and an employee assistance program that includes, among other things, 24 hour access to a GP. Speaking as someone who actually has the same thing through my own job, it’s a great benefit. They’re also a good size. They’re big enough that you’ve got solid financial backing and good kit. They’re small enough that you can actually make an impact (in the words of the people I’ve spoken to, ‘to change the world’). The Site * Relatively automated food manufacturer. * Good fabric / well invested. * Liquid products. It’s a relatively automated manufacturing site. The fabric is relatively new, so you’ve got loads of easy to clean surfaces, modern equipment. If you’ve spent your days labouring away at a 50 year old factory then it’ll be a breath of fresh (and clean!) air. They make bulk liquid products for a wide variety of customers. Some are tiny. Some are big. You’ll get audited quite a lot. There’s under a hundred people onsite. The technical team isn’t massive. They produce 6 days out of 7, most of the time. And hygiene doesn’t report into you; the role of hygiene has been folded into the operative’s role, so to impact cleaning you need to work with ops. The outgoing TM is lovely. She has a very good reason for leaving, which I’ll happily share over the phone. The Role * Technical manager on the SLT. * Managing people as well as products and customers. * Opportunities for progression. The site doesn’t have recalls. It doesn’t fail audits. Your job, though, is still to improve things. There’s a load of time when things end up being reworked (which is bloody expensive!) instead of going into waste. But if you were running it, you might be able to instil a mindset where they didn’t have to rework it at all. This isn’t pulling up trees. It’s showing people there’s a better way. And gently, but firmly, leading them down that path. It’s understanding the way the site works, and then taking them on a journey. You’re the technical manager and they want someone to actually show up and have a say on the SLT. As well as impact the site. Why you might not like it * You’ll need to actually be emotionally intelligent. * The next role up is multisite, and they’re not local. * Great business but if you want someone as big as Pepsico, this isn’t them. Hmm. The site isn’t always easy to work at. It’s well invested and well run, which is great. There’s low churn there, so over the years a lot of relationships have had a lot of time to grow and become very strong. This can be hard for someone new coming into the business, just from a management perspective. So it’s worth you knowing. Another reason? If you want progression, it’ll be there. But the next level up covers several sites scattered all over the country. So the good news is there’s scope for progression. The bad news is that while you wouldn’t have to move house, you would have to be comfortable travelling quite a bit. That isn’t for this job, though. That’s for the next job up. Finally, if you want to work for a multinational conglomerate with hundreds of sites and tens of thousands of staff – these guys aren’t that. They have a handful of sites and are well run, with a genuinely skilled leadership team. But they’re not Pepsico or Unilever, so bear that in mind. You * Resilitent. * Intelligent. * Emotionally intelligent. * Pragmatic. * Technical manager who has been on SLT. You’re resilient. Members of the team around you are really passionate about the category. Passionate about standards. Passionate about working being done to a high standard. So you’ve got to be able to deal with that. You’re intelligent. The site’s management team is full of bright cookies. You’re coming in as part of that team. You need to be able to operate at a high level. You’re emotionally intelligent. And you’re pragmatic. If there’s a way to do something better, find a way to do it better. Think practically. How can we get this done? You’ve been a technical manager before, and been on a SLT ideally. Food science related degree – it’s a must have (but if you’ve got everything else, done everything else, been a TM for a long time, let me know and we’ll figure it out!). That’s pretty much it. Your work history makes sense and you can hold a conversation too. What to do now? If this sounds like you, then apply. If it sounds like someone you know who is looking, then copy the URL and forward it on to them. Either text or email. And finally, if it sounds like someone you used to work with, then find them on linkedin and let them know. They might thank you and it’s always great to reconnect