Vickerstock in Partnership with a leading Food Manufacturing company are seeking and experienced and Qualified Industry related Production Manager
Co, Meath, Ireland
The Production Manager is accountable for delivering the daily production plan safely and efficiently, while ensuring right-first-time quality, strong CCP/GMP compliance, and continuous improvement in yield, waste and throughput. This role has direct responsibility for EHS execution on the production floor and leads the interface with Engineering/Maintenance to drive equipment uptime, planned maintenance discipline, downtime reduction, and operational reliability.
About the Role
This role is focused on managing the production team and ensuring compliance with safety, quality, and GMP standards while driving continuous improvement in production performance.
Responsibilities
Leadership and Management
Lead the production team to ensure compliance with safety, quality, & GMP.
Train, coach & develop production staff.
Champion cross functional communication with other departments (commercial, planning, maintenance, technical, etc.).
Provide regular reports on production performance, challenges, and achievements.
Production Execution & Performance
Daily production execution to plan, ensuring service levels and adherence to schedule.
Production KPI ownership, including performance tracking and escalation of risks.
Deliver labour & shift rostering to meet production needs within agreed labour plans.
Drive improvements in yield, waste, giveaway & efficiency through structured analysis and corrective actions.
Optimise conversion cost and achieve target cost/kg.
Identity and cost improvement projects.
Ensure strong equipment operation & uptime, including operational discipline and rapid response to breakdowns.
Maintain Right First Time standards through standard work and defect prevention.
Ensure CCP compliance and process control checks are completed correctly and on time.
Lead the creation and upkeep of Production SOPs and standard work instructions.
Manage hygiene consumables procurement, ensuring availability for GMP and sanitation compliance.
EHS Leadership
Engineering / Maintenance Ownership
Quality & Compliance Support
People Management & Workforce Leadership
NPD Trials Success Measures
Safety: incident rate, audit close-out time, toolbox completion
Quality and Right First Time %
Cost control (labour, utilities, hygiene, engineering etc)
Output vs plan / schedule adherence
Yield % vs standard (loss reduction)
Downtime % / uptime improvement
CCP compliance %
PM compliance / maintenance plan adherence
Training matrix completion / induction compliance
Qualifications
We are looking for a candidate who has proven experience as a Production Manager (or Senior Shift Manager ready to step up) in a large scale food manufacturing environment.
Required Skills
3–7+ years in a Production Manager / Shift Manager / role in food manufacturing.
Proven ability to lead teams in high-compliance, high-output environments.
Experience working in a highly structured, audited manufacturing setting (e.g., BRCGS, retailer audits or equivalent).
Preferred Skills
Self-aware
Open & Honest
Proactive
Effective at communication (cross functional, internal & externally)
Effective at delegation
Strong operational execution skills: labour planning, yield control, downtime reduction
Practical and visible EHS leadership: audits, risk assessments, toolbox talks
Strong documentation discipline: batch records, compliance checks, SOP usage
Additional Qualifications
(Preferred): Diploma/Degree in Food Science, Engineering, Manufacturing, or similar. Experience in meat processing preferable. HACCP/food safety exposure. Forklift / EHS training experience beneficial.
If you Feel the Above role suits your experience and Qualifications kindly contact
Skills: Product Management Manufacturing People Management
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