Global Manufacturing Excellence Senior Manager

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you. As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire.

We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits. To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose‑led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact.

Job Title Senior Operational Excellence Manager

Location Flexible / Global (with regular travel to manufacturing sites)

The Senior Operational Excellence Manager will play a critical role in driving world‑class manufacturing performance across pladis’ snacking and confectionery operations. This role will lead the deployment of operational excellence frameworks, improve safety, quality, cost and service performance, and embed a strong continuous improvement culture across multiple factories. The successful candidate will bring deep experience in the snacking and/or confectionery sector, strong manufacturing and operational excellence expertise, and the ability to influence at all levels in a complex, global organisation.

• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

  Lead the design, deployment and sustainment of pladis’ Operational Excellence (OE) framework across manufacturing sites, aligned with global standards and local needs.

  Drive measurable improvements in OE%, cost, losses, quality, conformance to plan, and safety performance using problem‑solving methodologies.

  Coach and challenge factory leadership teams to embed continuous improvement behaviours and ways of working.

  Identify, prioritise and execute improvement initiatives with clear business cases and quantified benefits.

• Manufacturing Performance & Capability Building

  Partner closely with site, regional and global manufacturing leaders to improve end‑to‑end operational performance.

  Support capability building across factories through training, coaching and hands‑on support (e.g. Lean tools, root cause analysis, standard work).

  Ensure consistency of KPIs, performance management routines and best‑practice sharing across the network.

  Act as a subject‑matter expert for operational excellence within the snacking and confectionery manufacturing context.

• Safety, Quality & Compliance

  Champion a strong safety‑first culture, supporting continuous improvement in safety performance and risk reduction.

  Ensure OE initiatives fully align with food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements typical of the snacking and confectionery sector.

  Support reduction of losses, defects, and variability through robust problem‑solving and process control.

• Change & Stakeholder Management

  Lead change initiatives across multiple sites and geographies in a matrix organisation.

  Influence senior stakeholders and factory leadership teams without direct authority.

  Work cross‑functionally with Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, R&D and Digital teams to deliver integrated improvements.

  Support digitalisation and data‑driven decision‑making initiatives where relevant to manufacturing performance.

Experience

Proven experience in the snacking and/or confectionery industry is essential.

Significant experience in manufacturing and/or operational excellence roles within FMCG or food manufacturing.

Demonstrated track record of delivering sustainable operational improvements in a factory environment.

Experience working across multiple manufacturing sites and cultures, ideally in a global or regional role.

Technical & Functional Skills

Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, CI tools and structured problem‑solving.

Solid understanding of manufacturing KPIs such as…