HEAD OF PRODUCTION – Job Specification Sprout is growing, and our Central Kitchen is at the heart of that growth. As Head of Production, you will take ownership of the long-term strategy, structure, and performance of our Central kitchen, ensuring we can produce food at scale that is safe, consistent, efficient, and built for the future. This is a senior leadership role with real influence. You’ll shape how food is made at Sprout, designing the systems, teams, and production frameworks that allow the business to grow without compromising quality, safety, or standards. Reports to: Operations Director Location: CPU & Support Office Role Purpose To lead the strategic direction, long-term capability, and overall performance of the Central Kitchen (Our production unit). You ensure we can scale efficiently, safely, and consistently by designing the production frameworks, systems, teams, and capacity models that power Sprout’s growth. You bring the big-picture view of how our food is made at scale — shaping the people, processes, and production backbone that keeps us moving. Three Things You Own CPU Strategy & Long-Term Planning Productivity, Process Improvement & Innovation Food Safety & Risk Management Strategy You design production systems, capacity plans, labour models, and strategic frameworks that enable Sprout to scale. You lead continuous improvement, automation, layout optimisation, and operational redesign projects that improve throughput and reduce cost per unit. You own the food safety and quality management systems across production, ensuring retailer-grade standards and audit readiness. Five Areas / Projects You’ll Impact CPU Structure & Capability Development Cross-Functional Alignment Cost Efficiency & Budget Leadership Supplier Strategy & Quality Assurance Facility, Equipment & Capital Investment Building the production management team, succession planning, and organisation design. Working with NPD, Procurement, Logistics, and Commercial to align production with demand, sales, new products, and stock availability. Owning CPU P&L, cost-per-unit strategy, labour design, and overall efficiency. Setting supplier frameworks, managing escalations, aligning quality and consistency across inputs. Leading long-term planning for equipment upgrades, maintenance strategy, and capital projects. Ten Ways We’ll Know You’re Winning Central Kitchen capacity consistently meets demand with reduced bottlenecks. Cost per unit improves through smarter systems and labour planning. Audit outcomes are strong, with food safety risks proactively mitigated. Production runs become more predictable, efficient, and scalable. Long-term equipment and facility plans are clear, costed, and implemented. Supplier performance improves, with fewer defects and tighter consistency. The production management team grows in capability and confidence. Cross-functional teams experience clearer alignment and better forecasting accuracy. Waste, downtime, and rework trend downward. The Central kitchen becomes a well-run, efficient, safe, and scalable operation under your leadership. Why Work at Sprout? Great food for you every day you work Growth opportunities, we love to promote from within Team discount across all locations Well-being and mental health support Regular team socials and celebrations A fun, friendly team that genuinely cares What You’ll Need to Bring Solid experience (roughly 7+ years) in food production, manufacturing, or large-scale food operations, with time spent leading at a senior level. A proven track record running or shaping a production operation, thinking beyond today’s plan to capacity, labour, and how things scale. Real experience improving how work gets done: simplifying processes, improving flow, reducing cost per unit, and removing bottlenecks. Strong food safety instincts, with hands‑on experience owning systems and leading audits to a high standard (retailer-grade or equivalent). Confidence managing numbers, budgets, labour spend, waste, and efficiency, and using them to make better decisions. Experience building, leading, and developing management teams, not just managing tasks. Comfortable working closely with other teams (Food, NPD, Procurement, Logistics, Commercial) to keep production aligned with demand. A mindset suited to growth: you’re happy building systems as you go, improving what exists, and bringing structure without slowing things down.
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