Advanced Team Lead

We are excited to be looking for a driven and proactive Advanced Team Lead (ATL) to join our Hamilton sites operations team.

135 years of craft baking skills lie behind the quality of the special branded cakes, sweet snacks and slices we produce in Hamilton, and 55 million products are produced each year. Lightbody’s is the UK’s largest supplier of celebration cakes to UK retailers, with Disney, Mars, Universal and Thorntons all within the portfolio of branded cakes made under license. We also make a variety of supermarkets’ well-loved own-label cakes and in-store bakery bites.

As an Advanced Team Lead you will have ownership of process adherence, ensuring production lines run efficiently, safely, and to the highest quality standards. This is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about operational excellence and team leadership.

This is what you’ll actually do!

In this role, you’ll take ownership of process adherence and lead your team to deliver high-quality products safely and efficiently. Your day-to-day responsibilities will include leading and motivating your team to achieve or exceed KPIs in waste reduction, throughput, yield, and quality. You’ll drive continuous improvement initiatives to reduce process variation and embed best practices, while also managing the team skills matrix to ensure effective training, development, and succession planning.

Ensuring compliance with GMP, Food Safety, Health & Safety, and site standards will be a key part of your role. You’ll champion a ‘Clean as You Go’ and safety-first culture across the bakery, support production plans and effective changeovers to meet business needs and communicate effectively at all levels while taking ownership of process targets. Additionally, this role has responsibility for supporting the People Manufacturing Shift Lead in developing a team willing to go the extra mile to strive for manufacturing excellence.
Accountabilities and activities specific to this role include leading by example to encourage appropriate behavioural standards in support of the company’s values and culture. You will be expected to engage, motivate, train, coach, and develop a high-performing team to meet or exceed performance targets and standards.

Using Leader Standard Work techniques, you’ll ensure daily and weekly routines are consistently met. You’ll participate in improvement initiatives aimed at enhancing Health, Safety, and Environmental metrics through A3 methodology and the use of action teams. Active contribution to Short Interval Control meetings will help drive hourly and daily performance. You’ll use appropriate systems to raise any hazards or near misses and support accident investigations when needed.

In this role, you will work closely with the People Manufacturing Shift Lead to review workforce planning needs in line with the site labour budget, ensuring optimum staffing levels while considering seasonal demands as required. You will apply Leader Standard Work techniques to maintain consistent daily and weekly routines, supporting operational efficiency. Additionally, you will review staff time and attendance records and, with guidance from the People Manufacturing Shift Lead, address any performance issues in accordance with company processes.

A key part of the role will also involve monitoring and supporting the training of new starters on the production line, ensuring all training requirements are completed within the designated time frames.

Clear and proactive communication with your team and others across all levels of the business will be essential, using channels such as Workvivo, notices, huddles, briefs, and shift handovers. Any people issues should be promptly addressed and reported to the MSL for support in resolution. You’ll be expected to champion a culture of Health and Safety, Food Safety, and Quality across the site, while working flexibly with the business to manage labour in response to production plan changes and support effective changeovers within the allocated time.

Finally, you will be required to cooperatively take on other duties, roles, and responsibilities as assigned by the Manufacturing Shift Lead.…