Head of Production Performance - THG Manufacturing in Manchester

About THG

We are THG, a global ecommerce group on a mission to be the global online leader in beauty and sports nutrition. Our portfolio of leading retailers and brands such as LOOKFANTASTIC, Myprotein, ESPA, Perricone MD, and Cult Beauty form our two core businesses: THG Beauty and THG Nutrition.

With us, you’ll go further, faster. What are you waiting for?

Role Purpose

The Head of Production Performance is the global functional leader responsible for driving operational performance improvement across all production sites in the UK, Poland, and the United States. Acting as the Production Director’s primary strategic partner, this role leads the central performance functions (CI, Maintenance Excellence, Training & Compliance) to deliver consistent standards, strengthen capability, accelerate improvement, and maximise productivity across the global network.

The role ensures that global performance systems, methodologies, KPIs, and improvement frameworks are deployed consistently while collaborating closely with Site Managers, who retain direct reporting lines to the Production Director. This position is critical in building a high-performance culture, ensuring world class manufacturing practices, and enabling the group to scale effectively and sustainably.

What this role is

A global functional leadership role, accountable for building and embedding production performance systems, governance, and capability across multiple countries, primarily through influence and expert leadership rather than direct site control.

Key Responsibilities

• Global Performance Strategy & Leadership
• Lead the development and deployment of the global Production Performance strategy across UK, Poland, and USA sites.
• Drive alignment on performance targets, KPIs, standards, and improvement priorities across the network.
• Act as the Production Director’s deputy in performance related forums, governance meetings, and cross functional leadership discussions.
• Champion a high performance culture working across the balanced agenda of safety, quality, cost, deliver, and people.
• Deliver meaningful performance improvements at a group level, focussing on strategic streams/sites.

• Continuous Improvement (CI)
• Initial focus on rolling out an MES (PLEX) across the group, and then using the insights from this to drive improvements.

• Maintenance Excellence
• Lead global maintenance excellence standards, including asset care, reliability frameworks, PM optimisation, and maintenance maturity.
• Partner with site engineering teams to elevate TPM/RCM practices.

• Training & Capability
• Own global production capability and compliance frameworks and training standards.
• Drive leadership capability development for Site Management Teams, Engineers, and Operators.
• Ensure consistency in onboarding, skills matrices, and technical certification.

• Data & Performance
• Oversee standardised global KPI dashboards, reporting cadence, and data integrity.
• Lead insight generation (OEE, downtime, waste, labour efficiency, quality trends).
• Ensure performance data drives decision making and improvement prioritisation.

• Cross Site Alignment & Governance
• Establish and oversee the global performance governance rhythm (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly forums).
• Review performance from each site, identify themes, risks, and opportunities, and escalate appropriately.
• Facilitate knowledge sharing and best practice transfer across the group.

• Support for Site Managers
• Provide expert support, coaching, and challenge on operational performance.
• Coordinate specialist support (CI, Maintenance, Training, Data) into sites based on need and priority.
• Standardise site scorecards, daily/weekly reviews, and tiered accountability systems.
• Improve leadership capability and succession planning across all sites.

• Global Improvement Projects & Transformation
• Lead cross site strategic programmes (e.g. digital manufacturing, automation, waste reduction, throughput improvement).
• Drive harmonisation of systems, tools, and processes across countries.
• Own the 5 year production investment plan, identifying & prioritising projects across the group.
• Ensure major improvement programmes deliver measurable results and return on investment.

• People Leadership & Culture
• Build a strong, high performing global team with clear objectives and talent development pathways.
• Create a collaborative, but driven environment across sites.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

Essential

• Senior operational or functional leader at group / multi-site level.
• Deep knowledge of lean manufacturing, CI, maintenance excellence, and performance systems.
• Strong leadership capability and experience managing senior specialists.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.
• Experience working across different countries and cultures.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to translate complex data into actionable insight.
• Demonstrable track record of delivering bottom line performance improvements.

Desirable

• Experience in UK, European, or US manufacturing markets.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent.
• Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing or related degree.
• Experience leading digital transformation or Industry 4.0 initiatives.
• Experience in Food Manufacturing.

What’s in it for me?

Career Development

• Access bespoke development programmes that have been designed and developed by our in-house L&D team.
• Develop your expertise through our upskilling programme that is delivered in partnership with an industry-leading training provider.

Enhanced Leave

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Don’t want to work on your birthday? We don’t either! Enjoy your day off on us!
• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, depending on length of service.
• Up to 10 days compassionate leave.
• Buy back up to 3 days each year.
• Unlock 2 days volunteer leave after 12 months.

Wellbeing Support

• Access face-to-face and virtual appointments with our in-house GP.
• Access our 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which is provided by Bupa.
• State-of-the-art on-site gym.
• Access to our on-site physio.

Other Perks

• Save up to 12% on the cost of personal tech through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Subsidised bus pass from Manchester City Centre to our ICON office.
• Up to 50% staff discount on THG brands.
• On-site staff shop.
• Access to on-site barber.
• Know someone who would be perfect for THG? Refer them and get up to £1,000 when they pass their probation.
• Anniversary gifts when you hit 5 and 10 years of service.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We’re committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that allows everyone to thrive, and strongly encourage all candidates from all backgrounds and identities to apply.

Please email talent@thg.com if you require any additional support or need to make any adjustments to our recruitment process. You don’t need to disclose your disability or condition; you just need to let us know what support you need or changes you need to make. If you’re not sure, we can work with you to explore the available options.

THG is proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. If you are invited to interview, please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments we can make to the recruitment process that will enable you to perform to the best of your ability. THG is committed to creating a diverse & inclusive environment and hence welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

Because of the high volumes of applications our opportunities attract, it sometimes takes us time to review and consider them all. We endeavour to respond to every application we receive within 14 days. If you haven't heard from us within that time frame or should you have any specific questions about this or other applications for positions at THG please contact one of our Talent team to discuss further.