General Manager

General Manager Featherstone

This is an opportunity to lead one of the UK’s flagship packaging manufacturing sites.

With the capacity to produce over 200 m
illion square metres of corrugated packaging each year
, Featherstone is recognised as one of the highest-performing operations within DS Smith’s network. Built on a culture of operational excellence, exceptional customer service and continuous improvement, the site has an outstanding reputation for delivering for its customers and its people.

We’re looking for an exceptional people-first leader to build on that success.

This opportunity is focused on taking an already successful site and leading and inspiring it to reach even greater heights. You’ll be joining an experienced and capable site leadership team, bringing the leadership, commercial thinking and strategic vision needed to continue raising standards across safety, quality, customer service and operational performance.

If you’re passionate about developing people, creating high-performing cultures and delivering exceptional business results, we’d love to hear from you.

As General Manager, you will have overall accountability for the performance of our Featherstone manufacturing site, leading a business where safety, quality, customer satisfaction and operational excellence come first.

You’ll provide visible, authentic leadership across the site, empowering colleagues to perform at their best while ensuring every decision reflects our commitment to safety, quality and customer success.

Working alongside a high performing leadership team, you’ll shape the future of the site by developing talent, driving continuous improvement and ensuring Featherstone continues to be recognised as one of the best-performing manufacturing operations in the UK.

You’ll also work closely with colleagues across Commercial, Supply Chain, Finance and HR to translate business strategy into operational excellence, ensuring the site continues to deliver outstanding results for our customers and the wider business.

• Providing inspiring, people-centred leadership that creates an engaged, accountable and high-performing culture.
• Championing a world-class health, safety and environmental culture where everyone goes home safe every day by leading for Safety Above All Else.
• Building on Featherstone’s reputation for excellence by driving continuous improvement across safety, quality, service and productivity.
• Leading, coaching and developing direct and indirect leadership team members, while strengthening succession and future capability.
• Delivering exceptional customer service through outstanding operational performance, quality and OTIF delivery.
• Driving commercial performance by balancing customer needs with operational efficiency and financial performance.
• Taking full ownership of site performance, including budget delivery, profitability, productivity and capital investment.
• Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce waste and support sustainability objectives.
• Building strong relationships across the wider business, being the conduit for realising business benefit through crops functional working with Commercial, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain and Support Functions.
• Creating an environment where colleagues feel valued, listened to, empowered, able to be themselves and proud to work at Featherstone.

You’re an experienced manufacturing leader who understands that exceptional operational performance starts with exceptional people.

You know how to inspire teams, create accountability and build a culture where safety, quality and customer focus become habits rather than priorities.

You’re equally comfortable on the shop floor engaging with colleagues as you are presenting business performance to senior stakeholders. Commercially astute and operationally credible, you’re able to make balanced decisions that benefit both our customers and the business.

Most importantly, you’re someone who leads with authenticity, humility and integrity.

• Significant senior leadership experience within manufacturing, packaging, FMCG or another fast-paced…