Manufacturing / Operations Director

**Manufacturing / Operations Director**

**c. €150k - c €180k pa plus car, bonus and benefits**

**Location: Between Milan and Varese, Italy**

**APPLICATIONS MUST BE IN ENGLISH TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROLE.**

We are looking to appoint an outstanding **Manufacturing/Operations Director**who can **lead best in class manufacturing activities**and operate in an organisation poised for significant growth. **Your background will have been gained within a world leading manufacturing/operational sector i.e. food manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, micro and reverse logistics etc where you will have led manufacturing activities in a multi-site environment for sizeable teams of c400+.**

Entrepreneurial and cash generative, our client is a key division of a highly successful multi
- billion $ organisation and are one of the **world’s leading manufacturing and service providers**within their sector. Innovative with an absolute commitment to the customer, they are agile and synonymous with the best in the industry and manufacture world class products and provide best in class solutions to a highly demanding customer base.

With a progressive culture, these are exciting times for the organisation. They have achieved outstanding performance and further growth is firmly on the agenda. They have a clear and strategic plan albeit this now requires a step-change in performance and as such a new approach both culturally, strategically and operationally. There is a need to raise expectations and to drive more impactful operational strategy and to appoint an individual who can manage a significant transformational change programme, focusing on sustainable growth and profit improvement.

**Responsibilities;**
- This is a **substantial and influential leadership role**where the incumbent must be able to deliver a high-performance agenda, raise the bar and drive the business to maximise its true potential.
- With a blank sheet, you will conduct a full end to end strategic overview of the organisation with a focus on transformational change and world class improvement techniques.
- As **Manufacturing/Operations Director** for Italy, you will report to the Country CEO where you will **lead the top-level manufacturing/operational strategy** and be fully accountable for influencing the direction of the business, whilst providing a best in class service to both internal and external stakeholders.
- You will **lead multi-site manufacturing activities** throughout Italy and therefore will be required to spend approximately 2 to 3 days between Milan and Varese with a necessity also to travel to other facilities throughout the rest of the country.
- You will have full accountability for customer satisfaction through **delivery of manufacturing and service excellence**and P&L accountability related to labour, COGS and overheads for a highly complex multi-site business unit, where you will lead all operational elements including; manufacturing, assembly, warehouse operations/transport with a focus on lean methodologies and operational excellence.
- You will drive people engagement focusing on mindset, culture and performance whilst implementing a sophisticated change programme in terms of systems, people, process, technology and innovation.
- To champion and develop sustainable manufacturing/operational improvement programmes in an organisation where year on year growth is a given.
- You will bring a fresh approach and lead high quality investment initiatives to advance the business ensuring sustainability whilst focusing on the wider direction of growth for the organisation.

**Person**
- This is without doubt a **substantial change management role,**critical to business success and therefore demands an exceptional Senior Operations/ Manufacturing Executive who enjoys a growth agenda, a substantial challenge and autonomy.
- Ideally degree qualified with fluency in both Italian and English, you will have an outstanding **track record in senior operational / manufacturing roles,** where you will have **led a sizeable multi-site organisation c 400+ people**and will combine knowledge of both Italian and international work environments.
- As such, your **background will have been gained within a world leading manufacturing/operational sector.** People with extensive experience within the food manufacturing sector would be preferable. Other relevant sectors include: pharmaceutical manufacturing, micro and reverse logistics etc. Consequently, you will have significant expertise within complex multi-site environments where best practice is part and parcel of everyday life.
- A dynamic self-starter, intellectually powerful and action orientated, you will understand the levers required to drive performance through your team. You will be the type to champion change and will be distinguished by your ability to achieve major breakthroughs in operational performance.
- You will be able to work with other VP’s of the executive team to build a