Whey Production Manager in Cookstown

Dale Farm Cooperative is a UK dairy farmer co-operative owned by over 1200 dairy farmers who supply us with fresh milk. Dale Farm has operations throughout the UK and Ireland producing and distributing a wide range of dairy products which it sells across the UK and Ireland as well as exporting to over 45 countries worldwide.

At Dale Farm, virtually every career discipline is represented in our workforce, from production, engineering and distribution, to sales & marketing and food technology/quality assurance, to Finance, HR and IT through to general management. Our standards are high and when we recruit we are looking for those with energy and drive, who are keen for responsibility and motivated to succeed with a record of achievement and with the potential to develop as the company grows.

Culture

Our culture is based on setting best in class standards, working towards and delivering on committed objectives, striving for constant improvement and involving everyone in the company. We strive to develop our people and harness everyone's contribution to deliver a winning team. The company is an Equal Opportunities employer and is committed to a safe, inclusive and relationship-based workspace. In return, we offer a high degree of responsibility, plenty of challenge, good opportunities for learning and personal development and rewarding benefit packages, all within a fast-moving and results-oriented environment.

About the Role

This is a senior management position where you will be responsible for managing all aspects of performance from a state of the art whey ultra filtration facility, including upstream and downstream processing plant operations for the production of whey protein and lactose-based nutrition products supplied to global customers in the infant formula, health and food sectors.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead a multi-disciplined team in the safe and efficient operation, cleaning and maintenance of the whey processing plant.
• Manage all aspects of upstream and downstream whey processing to optimise output, cost and quality performance.
• Apply strong technical and analytical understanding of continuous process operations to support high performance manufacturing.
• Build and use process trends that enable effective correlation of inputs to outputs, supporting highly data-driven and trend-led decision making.
• Drive decision making with a clear focus on quality, cost and overall customer outcomes.
• Determine root cause when output falls short of quality expectations and lead corrective action to restore and improve performance.
• Empower and equip the team with process methodology so that the right decisions are made at the right time.
• Conduct trials and adjust input parameters to improve output performance, yield and plant efficiency.
• Identify bottleneck constraints within the process and work closely with the engineering function to overcome them.
• Act as a key interface with external customers, ensuring expectations are understood and delivered against.
• Communicate internal operational needs clearly and effectively to improve plant performance and business outcomes.
• Deliver best in class operational standards in line with the expectations of a blue chip global customer base.
• Monitor and achieve day to day key performance targets across production, quality, efficiency and compliance.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement across the plant, identifying opportunities to enhance performance, yield and reliability.
• Lead and support further investment and improvement activity to deliver leading edge manufacturing performance.
• Ensure high standards of team leadership, communication, capability development and accountability across all disciplines.
• Maintain compliance with all relevant food safety, quality, health and safety, and operational standards.

Qualifications:

• Third level educated, with an applied science degree preferably in chemical or mechanical engineering.
• A minimum of 5 years food processing management or similar experience.
• Strong technical and analytical capability within a continuous processing or complex manufacturing environment.
• A proven ability to lead and develop multi-disciplined teams within a fast-paced production setting.
• Demonstrated success in delivering operational performance across quality, cost, output and continuous improvement.
• Strong knowledge of food processing operations, with the credibility, practical skill and judgement required to succeed in a world-class production environment.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively across internal functions and with external customers.
• Experience within dairy, whey or nutritional ingredients manufacturing would be advantageous.
• Previous experience of filtration technologies and complex processing plant operations would be beneficial.
• A strong track record of leading major improvement or capital investment programmes in a manufacturing environment.

Why Dale Farm?

We have a lot to offer at Dale Farm, not only to our farmer members that we support but also to our employees, and we are committed to a learning and development journey for all. In addition to a competitive salary commensurate with the role and our standard benefits such as 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and contributory company pension, we also offer benefits such as Life Assurance, full wellbeing support through our Employee Assistance Programme, and enhanced Maternity and Paternity leave.

We are proud to promote an open and supportive culture which is based on our core values: Teamwork | Positivity | Resolve | Ambition | Curiosity | Accountability.

You can find out more about our organisation on our LinkedIn and Facebook Career pages and on our company website where you will find the link to apply. The closing date for applications will be confirmed in the full vacancy details. We are an Equal Opportunities Employer. Only applications from EU Nationals or those with a valid permit to work in the UK will be accepted.