Production Team Leader in Leek

Reports to: Production Shift Manager

Location: Ornua Foods UK, Leek

Salary: Generous salary depending on experience

Hours: Monday to Friday, rotating shifts, 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm

Benefits: Company pension scheme, Generous annual leave entitlement, Onsite Physio, Subsidised Staff Canteen, Company shop offering discounts on Ornua products, Sports & Social Club, Staff Lottery, Discount on Bikes & Tech Scheme, Confidential Employee Assist Programme, Free onsite parking and more.

Ornua (meaning “new gold”) is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, proudly bringing the unique taste of Irish dairy to the world for over 55 years. Are you a collaborative, agile and people-focused Team Leader looking for the challenge of taking a mission-driven organisation to its next level of success? Ornua is actively seeking a Production Team Leader to join our operations department as we continue our growth trajectory.

As our Production Team Leader you will play a key role in overseeing all direct reports to ensure timely and efficient food production to agreed product quality, safety, and hygiene standards. You will lead and drive performance and have the ability to identify and implement key improvements while ensuring consistency of approach across all shifts. You will champion operational standards at shift level and promote team development to achieve goals and KPIs.

Why Ornua?

Ornua operates from 10 business units worldwide, including 12 production facilities, and has sales and marketing teams working in-market across all four corners of the globe. The Group is structured across two divisions: Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients. Ornua Foods is responsible for the marketing and sales of Ornua’s consumer brands including Kerrygold and Pilgrims Choice. Ornua Ingredients is responsible for the procurement of Irish and non-Irish dairy products and for the sale of dairy ingredients to food manufacturers and foodservice customers across the world. Our co-operative ethos lies at the heart of how we do business as a purpose and values-led organisation, creating value for Irish dairy farming families. Our Values lie at the core of everything we do. Our five values encourage us to Seek and Embrace New Ideas, Make It Happen, Be Our True Selves, Show You Care, and Achieve Great Things Together. We invest in our people and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Career Progression including Global Mobility opportunities. Comprehensive Benefits with regional specific offerings.

Why This Role Is Valuable:

• Ensure that the team adhere to safe working practices and good housekeeping.
• Ensure compliance with all Quality, Food Safety and Legislation requirements.
• Take full accountability for the Zone performance in terms of Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Motivation and Environment (SQCDME).
• Ensure product quality, food hygiene and food safety standards are communicated, understood, and complied with by Production Operatives prioritising First Time Quality.
• Ensure all direct reports are aware of required tasks and delegate duties accordingly.
• Responsible for the accurate, timely, collation and analysis of performance measurables and initiate remedial action.
• Build strong working relationships with other Zone Leaders and key interfaces to ensure a consistent management approach.
• Develop zone capabilities and improve Zone performance.
• Embed an ethos of Continuous Improvement using standardised business tools and techniques to achieve results.
• Ensure a continuous workflow is maintained in line with orders.
• Assist in waste reduction activities, identifying areas for improvement.
• Ensure all required personnel and production paperwork is completed daily.
• Ensure effective communication channels are adopted and adhered to throughout the zones.

What You Bring To The Role:

• Experience in change management.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to share information with your team.
• Well-practiced planning, organisation and scheduling skills.
• Someone who loves the pace and excitement of FMCG manufacturing with experience in a similar environment.
• Computer literate with an excellent working knowledge of MS Excel.
• Experience managing and leading a team.

Our interview process is designed to be thorough yet supportive. This process includes a first stage via Teams to allow us to get to know you better and to understand your skills and experiences and, if successful, a second stage face-to-face interview that will build upon the first stage and give you the opportunity to get a feel for Ornua and the environment in which you will be working. Ornua has ambitious growth plans and we’re building a team to help enable and accelerate that growth. We are looking for people who share our values, are curious, forward-looking, take ownership and work together to build a future for themselves and Ornua. Would you like to make an impact?

To learn more, please visit Ornua at www.ornua.com. Ornua values diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. We also strongly encourage women and other underrepresented groups in the manufacturing industry to apply. Your unique perspectives and experiences are highly valued and will be instrumental in driving our company’s continued success. Join us in shaping a more innovative, inclusive, and sustainable future. Ornua is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible workplace. We will make every effort to provide for any reasonable accessibility needs you may have during your employment with us. If you require accommodations at any stage of the recruitment process or in your role, please let us know — we’re here to support you.