Operations Director
Director of Operations
Overview
A rapidly growing, family-owned food processing business with multiple production sites in County Cork is seeking to appoint a Head of Operations. The business supplies leading retail customers in Ireland and internationally and continues to scale its operations following recent investment in production capacity.
This is a senior leadership role with responsibility for driving operational performance, supporting long-term growth, and ensuring consistently high standards across all sites.
The Role
Reporting to the owners, the Director of Operations will provide strategic and hands-on leadership across a multi-site production network. The role has full accountability for operational excellence, capacity planning, and cost control while developing strong management capability throughout the organisation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading day-to-day operations across multiple fresh and frozen production lines, ensuring quality, efficiency, and delivery targets are met.
- Managing and developing a large operational workforce through a team of supervisors and managers.
- Driving operational planning, performance management, and budget control.
- Contributing to long-term strategy, including capacity expansion, process improvement, and major capital projects.
- Identifying and delivering continuous improvement and cost reduction initiatives across production, procurement, and workflows.
- Ensuring full compliance with food safety, quality, health & safety, and regulatory standards.
- Minimum 15 years' experience in a manufacturing environment, ideally within food processing supplying Irish or UK retail customers.
- Significant senior leadership experience in multi-site or complex operations.
- Strong technical understanding of production equipment, maintenance planning, and asset development.
- Proven experience operating under BRC or equivalent food safety standards.
- Experience with ERP systems and continuous improvement methodologies (e.g. Lean, Six Sigma).
- A track record of leading change, building high-performing teams, and scaling operations in a growing business.