At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead enterprise projects, ensuring financial control and continuous improvement across operations.
- Company: Join a dynamic food manufacturing company in a growth phase.
- Benefits: Permanent role with competitive salary and opportunities for professional development.
- Other info: Collaborative environment with opportunities to influence senior leadership.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by driving project success and operational efficiency.
- Qualifications: Degree in finance, business, or engineering; experience in project control preferred.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 75000 ÂŁ per year.
Role Purpose: The Enterprise Project Controller is responsible for ensuring enterprise-wide project discipline, financial control, and value realisation. This includes all CAPEX, NPD, and customer delivery initiatives. Acting as an extension of the CEO and the Head of Operations, the role provides independent challenge and assurance across project costings, delivery economics, and capital deployment, while driving continuous improvement across operations. This role owns outcomes rather than day-to-day execution, delegating implementation to existing functional teams and leveraging a small direct team for analysis and improvement delivery.
Core Outcomes:
- Continuous improvement embedded across customer delivery and operations
- CAPEX and investment projects delivered on time, on budget, and with validated ROI
- Accurate, Finance-validated costings supporting project, NPD, and customer delivery decisions
- Improved margin control, cost transparency, and operational efficiency
- Executive confidence in project governance, performance reporting, and risk management
Key Accountabilities:
- Enterprise Project Control & Governance: Establish and enforce enterprise standards for project planning, CAPEX approval, and reporting. Independently review and challenge scope, timelines, cost assumptions, and delivery models across NPD, CAPEX, and customer delivery. Provide escalation and decision-ready recommendations to CEO where projects are at risk of underperformance or misaligned value.
- Financial Costing & Commercial Validation: Partner with Finance to validate costings, margins, and ROI across customer delivery and CAPEX investments. Review assumptions and variances for labour, overhead, and resource allocation. Identify cost leakage, margin erosion, and opportunities to improve commercial and operational efficiency. Ensure financial insights translate into actionable recommendations and improved governance.
- CAPEX & Investment Oversight: Lead CAPEX governance processes from business case to benefits realisation. Track and report on CAPEX spend, ROI, and payback versus approved plans. Ensure capital projects deliver agreed operational and financial benefits. Escalate risks and variances to the CEO in a timely manner.
- Continuous Improvement & Operational Effectiveness: Collaborate with the Site CI lead to identify inefficiencies in delivery, NPD, and operations. Sponsor and embed improvements into BAU processes across sites and functions. Ensure improvements are measurable, sustainable, and aligned to enterprise goals.
- Executive & Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO, Division Heads and Finance Managers on project performance, CAPEX, and operational risk. Influence functional leaders including Portfolio Manager (NPD), Head of Commercial / Procurement, and Operations, without direct line management. Provide clear, decision-ready reporting for the CEO and, where required, the Board. Challenge assumptions constructively and escalate issues where necessary.
Direct Reports:
- Commercial / Cost Analyst: Independent financial validation. Validate customer delivery and CAPEX costings, perform variance analysis, support ROI tracking, post-project financial review.
- Continuous Improvement Lead – Site: Operational improvement delivery. Identify inefficiencies, implement improvements, track KPIs, standardise best practices across sites.
- Optional Analyst / PMO Support: Reporting and data integrity. Manage dashboards, collate data, prepare executive reports.
Measures of Success:
- Accurate and reliable costings underpinning decisions and investments
- Improved margins and reduced cost leakage across delivery
- CAPEX and NPD projects delivered to budget, timeline, and benefit targets
- Tangible operational improvements realised and sustained
- Executive confidence in project governance, reporting, and independent challenge
Skills & Experience:
- Essential: Bachelor’s degree in one of: Finance / Accounting / Business / Management / Engineering (especially industrial, manufacturing, or operations-focused). MBA or equivalent (especially with strategy, finance, or operations focus).
- Desirable: Degree in Chemical Engineering / Process Engineering / Manufacturing Engineering / Degree in Food Science / Pharmaceutical Science. NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent HSE certification / IOSH Managing Safely. ATEX Certification / DSEAR awareness training. Professional certifications such as: ACA / ACCA / CIMA and PMP / PRINCE2.
- Proven experience in enterprise project control, programme oversight, or transformation environments (continuous improvement). Proven track record delivering measurable operational improvements. Experience embedding improvements into BAU (not just one-off projects). Experience working directly with: CEO / COO / CFO level / Board or investors.
- Ability to challenge senior leaders constructively. Present complex data in clear, decision-ready format. Operate without direct authority (influence-heavy role). Strong commercial and financial acumen; experience validating costings and ROI. Experience with Enterprise Project / Programme Control. Experience working with Finance to challenge assumptions and track investment performance. Track record in continuous improvement initiatives with measurable outcomes. Credible presenting at CEO and senior leadership level. Highly commercial mindset. Professional, collaborative, approachable demeanour. Confidence to challenge without conflict. Instinctively seeks improvement opportunities. IT literate across Microsoft 365 and TEAMS. Experience in NPD, CAPEX-heavy, or high-change environments. Exposure to Board or investor reporting. Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or process improvement methodologies.
Personal Attributes:
- Commercially sharp and detail-oriented. Structured, pragmatic, and outcomes-driven. Comfortable challenging assumptions and escalating issues. Influential, resilient, and highly accountable. Trusted to act independently in the enterprise’s best interests. Professional, collaborative, approachable demeanour. Calm, credible, and authoritative. Naturally inquisitive (“show me the numbers” mindset). Comfortable with ambiguity. Persistent in driving standards. Pragmatic (not theoretical). Hands-on, can-do attitude. Solutions orientated.
If the above sounds like you, and you want to be part of an established business in an exciting growth phase, we would love to hear from you. Unfortunately, due to the number of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be responded to directly. If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks, your application has, unfortunately, not been successful on this occasion and we wish you every success in your career search.
Enterprise CI and Project Lead in Leek employer: Allicio Nutrition
Contact Detail:
Allicio Nutrition Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Enterprise CI and Project Lead in Leek
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to connections in the industry, attend events, and engage on platforms like LinkedIn. The more people know you’re looking for opportunities, the better your chances of landing that dream job.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching the company and its projects. Understand their CAPEX and NPD initiatives, and think about how your skills can contribute to their goals. Show them you’re not just another candidate, but someone who can drive continuous improvement.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your pitch! Be ready to explain how your experience aligns with the role of Enterprise CI and Project Lead. Highlight your financial acumen and ability to challenge assumptions constructively – that’s what they want to hear!
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining our team and contributing to our exciting growth phase.
We think you need these skills to ace Enterprise CI and Project Lead in Leek
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Enterprise CI and Project Lead role. Highlight your experience in project control, financial governance, and continuous improvement. We want to see how your skills align with what we're looking for!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're the perfect fit for this role. Share specific examples of your past achievements that relate to CAPEX, NPD, and operational efficiency. Let us know why you’re excited about joining StudySmarter!
Showcase Your Analytical Skills: Since this role involves a lot of financial validation and cost analysis, make sure to showcase your analytical skills in your application. Mention any relevant tools or methodologies you’ve used, like Lean or Six Sigma, to demonstrate your expertise.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply through our website for a smoother process. It helps us keep track of applications better and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates. Plus, it shows you’re keen on being part of the StudySmarter team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Allicio Nutrition
✨Know Your Numbers
As an Enterprise CI and Project Lead, you'll need to be comfortable with financials. Brush up on your understanding of CAPEX, ROI, and costings. Be ready to discuss how you've validated these in past projects and how you can apply that knowledge here.
✨Showcase Continuous Improvement
This role is all about driving continuous improvement. Prepare examples of how you've identified inefficiencies and implemented changes in previous roles. Highlight measurable outcomes to demonstrate your impact.
✨Engage with Stakeholders
You'll be acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders. Think about how you've influenced decisions without direct authority in the past. Be ready to share specific instances where your insights led to improved project governance or performance.
✨Challenge Assumptions Constructively
The ability to challenge assumptions is key in this role. Prepare to discuss how you've approached difficult conversations with senior management. Show that you can provide constructive feedback while maintaining a collaborative approach.