We have an exciting opportunity to join the Operations team as Continuous Improvement Manager at our Johnstone’s Food Services & Lees of Scotland sites as part of ‘Finsbury Food Group’.  

Lees of Scotland is best known for Snowballs, Teacakes or Meringues, as we’ve been manufacturing confectionery and meringues since 1931 to major retailers across the UK.  Johnstone’s Food Services is one the UK’s leading suppliers of pre-packed cakes to multiple retailers – including a renowned caramel shortcake and chocolate brownies to a variety of Food Services, UK retailers and coffee shops such as Costa Coffee and Co-Op. 
This is a fantastic opportunity to gain experience with one of the UK’s largest bakery businesses, along with great opportunities for growth and development. At Finsbury Food Group, we are passionate about investing in our teams, creating great development opportunities.

To be a success in this role, you will need to be able to work as part of a team and demonstrate strong communication skills. You will have process improvement experience and be able to demonstrate delivering change. It would be advantageous if you had a food science or food manufacturing background, continuous improvement experience and supporting and delivering change management experience. 

This is what you’ll actually do!

The Continuous Improvement Manager role will work with a focus on our ‘Operating Brilliance Program’ (OBP). You will help drive continuous improvement by supporting projects across the site, engaging diverse functional teams to develop in house LEAN capability and adoption of CI culture who is our chosen partner to coordinate and drive our journey to excellence. You will be responsible for facilitating and co-ordinating the training of group standardised OBP, LEAN and PPI (Practical Process Improvement) principles, tools & techniques, developing internal CI capability across the site. 

You will support improvement in decision-making and problem-solving capabilities and the delivery of the site OBP profit improvement targets via the management of enhancement projects across labour, materials & overheads. You will help drive an action based culture of continuous improvement to improve KPI’s in the areas of safety, quality, service, cost and people. 

In the role you will be required to work cross functionally therefore you will need excellent communication skills and be able to build positive relationships with key stakeholders.

Ideally this is you!
•    You will have Process improvement experience
•    Have a proactive approach, keen attention for detail, and conscientious in ensuring all tasks are completed 
•    Strong interpersonal and communication skills, being a confident, competent and collaborative decision maker
•    Be able to demonstrate a clear history of supporting cross functional teams in delivering change
•    Have a flexible approach to work and being capable of working under own initiative
•    Competent in Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Word
•    Holds a driver’s license and has no restrictions to travel
•    CI experience within the food processing industry 
•    Previous experience in the implementation of lean structures, and application of Lean tools
•    Experience in supporting and delivering change management
•    A food science, engineering or bakery qualification attained at HND to degree level
•    Experience in FMCG, with knowledge and experience of bread and bakery manufacturing process
•    Ability to work hands on with product and processes
•    Knowledge and previous experience with 6-sigma/SPC techniques within process manufacturing

What’s in it for you!
•    Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave to allow quality time with your new arrival!
•    Enhanced Pension Scheme for our employees
•    Death in Service Benefit
•    Free Employee Assistance Programme (open to colleagues and their families)
•    Retail discounts accessible via our Benefits Hub platform!
•    Company shop available at sites (heavily discounted, yummy products!)
•    Refer a Friend Scheme (up to £300 per referral – T&C’s dependent)
•    Employee Recognition Awards· Extensive Learning & Development opportunities (including opportunities for sponsored professional memberships and our own in-house development course!)
•    An opportunity to be part of a fantastic, growing organisation. Head over to our LinkedIn page to find out more!

Our vision is to be the leading speciality bakery group in the UK, and we want the best people in place to achieve this. Our continued success is built entirely on the talented people who work here, so employee development is important to us because everyone is a valued member of the team, and we want every individual to have the skills and capabilities to achieve both your own personal goals and our business goals. 

If you are ready for a new challenge and like the sound of what’s on offer then please apply.