Manufacturing (Shift) Operations Manager in Wolverhampton

About McCain
At McCain, we're feeding the world: from French fries to Smiles, we contribute to the important role food plays in people's lives. That's why we're dedicated to ensuring our core values - Family, Authentic, Trusted, and Quality - shine through every day. As a privately owned family company with over 60 years of experience, a presence in more than 160 countries, and a global team of 22,000 people, our values and culture are at the heart of everything we do.

About the Role
This is not your average Shift Manager role. At Wombourne, our Shift Manager sits at the heart of site performance - leading people, driving operational excellence, and owning outcomes across Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Environment, and People (SQDC). It is a role with real weight, real responsibility, and a salary to match.

Think of it as the bridge between a traditional Shift Manager and a Production Manager. You will be managing a team of up to 25 people - including three Team Leaders and a mix of permanent and agency operators - and you will be the most senior leader on site out of hours. You will run the Daily Direction Setting (DDS) meeting each morning, presenting the operational picture for the next 24 hours to the wider site team, and then spend the rest of your day making sure everything and everyone is performing to the standard required.

What sets this role apart is the expectation that you will not just manage the present - you will build the future. A key priority is upskilling your Team Leaders and developing your team so that the pipeline below you is strong, capable, and ready to step up. This is a role for someone who is ambitious, technically curious, and ready to lead with real autonomy. If you are looking for a stepping stone to Senior Production Manager or Plant Manager, this is the place to do it.

What You'll Do

• Lead the Daily Operations: Chair the Daily Direction Setting (DDS) meeting - presenting the previous 24 hours and the plan ahead, flagging any material or operational considerations to the wider site team.
• Own Your Team's Performance: Ensure your Team Leaders and operators are working to the right standard work methods. Make decisions. Solve problems. Do not wait to be told.
• Develop Your People: This is a priority, not an afterthought. Create genuine development opportunities for your Team Leaders and operators - with the goal of having someone ready to step into your shoes when the time comes.
• Drive SQDC Performance: Own your metrics across Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Environment, and People. You are accountable for the full picture, not just production output.
• Collaborate Across the Site: Work closely with Engineering, Food Safety, Quality, Technical, and other functions. The Operations Manager at Wombourne is considered one of the biggest drivers of overall site performance.
• Champion Continuous Improvement: Use lean manufacturing tools to drive efficiency, reduce waste, and embed a culture of improvement within your team.
• Uphold Safety and Compliance: Maintain the highest standards of Health & Food Safety across your shift, ensuring full competence and compliance at all times.

What We're Looking For

• Essential: Proven people leadership experience - ideally managing larger, multi-layered teams in a fast-paced operational environment.
• A track record of making decisions independently and driving results without constant direction from above.
• Technical understanding of manufacturing environments ideally within food or FMCG - an engineering background or bias is a genuine advantage and something we actively welcome.
• Resilience, energy, and the ability to thrive across a rotating shift pattern (days, nights, and weekends).
• Strong communication skills - you will be presenting, influencing, and collaborating across the site every single day.
• Ambition - we want someone who is looking to grow their career.

• Desirable: Knowledge of Health & Safety requirements within a manufacturing setting.
• Familiarity with Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, or Managing Daily Improvement (MDI).
• Proficiency in MS Office and SAP Manufacturing.
• Advanced Food Hygiene or HACCP certification.

Your Approach:

• You own your patch - you make decisions and take accountability without waiting for permission.
• You lead through others - coaching and developing your team is as important as hitting today's numbers.
• You are curious and technically minded - you want to understand how things work, not just whether they are working.
• You are ambitious - you are not here to stand still, you are here to grow.

About the Site
You will be based at our Wombourne plant in Staffordshire - a close-knit, high-engagement site of around 140-145 colleagues, where the production team of 102 people are the engine of everything we do. We make some of McCain's most loved products here - potato Smiles, hash browns, rsti, potato pops, air fry hash brown bites, and pre-baked Jacket Spuds. Across our two production lines, we pack up to 100 tonnes of Potato Specialty product and up to 38 tonnes of Bakes product in a single 24-hour period.

Wombourne is a site that quietly gets on with it - strong engagement scores, a real team spirit, and a culture built on support and doing the right thing. It is a genuinely good place to work, and the people here are proud of what they make.

Shift pattern: 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 nights, 3 days off (6am-6pm / 6pm-6am).

The Package
Alongside your salary, you'll enjoy a range of benefits including:

• Paid overtime.
• Private healthcare (single).
• An excellent salary sacrifice pension scheme where we'll contribute double what you do, up to a maximum of 12% of your salary.
• 25 days' annual leave from day one plus bank holidays (increasing with service), giving you plenty of time to recharge with the opportunity to buy and sell up to 5 days holiday per year.
• Life insurance cover providing peace of mind for you and your family.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, because the moments that matter outside of work matter to us too.
• Medicash health cash plan, helping you claim money back on everyday healthcare costs, with access to a virtual GP and wellbeing support.
• TELUS Health employee and family assistance programme offering full wellbeing support - including a 24/7 confidential counselling line, legal and financial guidance, and a range of employee discounts.
• Salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme.
• A paid 'Chips In' Volunteering Day, giving you the opportunity to support projects that make a positive impact in our communities.

And because you're joining a global business, your career opportunities don't stop at the factory gate. Whether you're looking to deepen your expertise, step into leadership, or even explore opportunities internationally, we'll support your growth. With ambitious plans for the future, there's plenty of scope to develop your career with us.

About McCain.
Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide you with opportunities to make an impact that matters.

Leadership principles.
At McCain, our leadership principles guide how we engage with customers, collaborate as a team, and achieve success. We focus on understanding customer needs, driving innovation, empowering people, and taking ownership to clear obstacles and deliver results.

The McCain experience.
We are McCain. This statement is a testament to our collective strength and our individual value. Your contributions play a vital role in our success. Our winning culture is rooted in authenticity and trust, empowering us to bring out the best in one another. Here, you'll find opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Join us and experience why we're better together.

Our purpose is grounded in building meaningful relationships. We're big believers in the power of working together in person - it helps us stay connected, collaborate more effectively, and grow as a team. At the same time, we recognize the importance of flexibility. Most office-based roles follow a hybrid model, with the option to work remotely two days a week. There may be exceptions depending on the role and location, so we encourage you to speak with your recruiter for more details.

McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.

Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain's Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy, as applicable. McCain leverages AI in the hiring process, though all final decisions are made by humans.