Operations Leader

We are looking for a credible, hands-on operations leader to lead manufacturing, logistics and warehouse operations at our Llantrisant site. This is a high-impact leadership role with broad scope across safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people performance. You will play a key role in strengthening operational excellence, developing team capability, supporting site growth, and ensuring the highest standards of quality and regulatory compliance within a life sciences manufacturing environment.

You will be responsible for:

Leadership & Team Development

• Provide visible, effective leadership across manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, building strong collaboration with quality, engineering, planning and supply chain teams.

• Coach, develop and empower teams through clear expectations, strong performance management, and the practical application of lean and structured problem-solving tools.

• Create and embed a culture of continuous improvement, accountability and engagement that supports both performance and employee development.

• Lead daily management routines, performance reviews and Gemba-based leadership practices to drive visibility, ownership and rapid issue resolution.

• Contribute as a key member of the site leadership team, helping shape and deliver strategic objectives, capacity plans and sustainable site growth.

• Partner with R&D and engineering to ensure robust operational readiness for new product introductions, transfers and scale-up activities.

Operational Excellence

• Lead initiatives that improve productivity, reduce waste and optimise end-to-end operational performance.

• Drive disciplined root cause analysis and sustainable corrective actions to resolve operational, quality and service issues.

• Ensure full compliance with health, safety, environmental, quality and regulatory requirements, including relevant ISO standards and site procedures.

• Ensure reliable execution of production plans and inventory strategies to meet customer demand and business priorities.

• Champion lean manufacturing principles and continuous improvement methodologies to strengthen process capability and resilience.

• Improve customer outcomes through targeted quality and cost improvement initiatives, including reduction of cost of poor quality and warranty exposure.

Performance & Business Delivery

• Own and improve performance across safety, people, quality, delivery and cost metrics, using data to prioritise actions and drive results.

• Identify, prioritise and deliver improvement projects that support site, functional and corporate business objectives.

• Communicate performance, risks and improvement plans clearly to site and corporate leadership stakeholders.

• Apply strong project and change management capability to deliver complex priorities at pace and with discipline.

• Strengthen inventory accuracy, service performance and cost effectiveness across logistics and warehousing operations.

You will bring

• Significant leadership experience within a manufacturing environment, ideally in life sciences, diagnostics, medical devices or another highly regulated industry.

• A degree in engineering, operations management or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant industry experience.

• Proven success using lean, Six Sigma or similar continuous improvement methodologies to deliver measurable operational results.

• A collaborative approach with the ability to influence effectively across cross-functional teams and multiple organisational levels.

• Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to lead through change and inspire high performance.

• Experience of ERP systems, preferably SAP, together with confidence using operational data to inform decisions and track performance.

• Strong engagement and change leadership skills, with the ability to build trust, momentum and accountability across teams.

• Willingness to travel within the UK and internationally as required.

• A resilient, adaptable and pragmatic leadership style, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.