Manufacturing Production Manager

OXFORD125696_1785234638

Salary Package: Negotiable
Location: Abingdon, England
Consultant: Kathy Rusher
Posted: 28/07/2026

Description:

Berry Recruitment are NOW hiring for a committed and experienced Manufacturing Manager to work for a company in Milton Park, managing a small team.

Role: Manufacturing Manager

This role requires proven manufacturing management experience within a hands-on production environment. You will play a key role in supporting both the R&D and Production teams, helping to successfully industrialise and introduce new products from concept through to full-scale manufacture. The successful candidate will be comfortable working across departments, providing practical engineering expertise to ensure new designs are manufacturable, efficient and production ready.

Salary: £65,000 per annum

Location: Milton Park

Hours: Full time

Key Responsibilities of the Manufacturing Manager:

• Lead and manage the Manufacturing function, ensuring effective deployment of resources to support Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Growth objectives


• Develop and execute the Manufacturing Engineering strategy and roadmap aligned to operational and business objectives


• Own the industrialisation process for new products, ensuring manufacturing readiness, tooling, fixtures, test capability, documentation and capacity requirements are established prior to launch


• Act as the site technical authority for manufacturing processes, production equipment and industrialisation activities


• Oversee the design, development and implementation of manufacturing processes, procedures, systems and equipment


• Identify, evaluate and implement automation, digitisation and Industry 4.0 solutions


• Lead programme management of NPI, CAPEX, automation and continuous improvement projects


• Support Design for Manufacture (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) activities


• Drive manufacturing cost reduction, waste elimination and productivity improvement initiatives


• Assess manufacturing capacity and resource requirements to support future growth


• Own the TPM programme and maintenance strategy for shopfloor production equipment and manufacturing assets


• Ensure preventative maintenance plans, spares strategies, uptime targets and equipment reliability metrics are effective


• Ensure production test equipment, fixtures and methods are developed, maintained and continuously improved to support product quality and throughput


• Define and maintain manufacturing engineering standards, methods and best practices


• Facilitate root cause investigations and structured problem-solving using methodologies such as 8D, DMAIC and CAPA


• Lead and facilitate the site Continuous Improvement programme including training, coaching and project delivery


• Manage CAPEX budgets and departmental expenditure, including preparation of business cases


• Develop and review KPIs, ensuring appropriate countermeasures are implemented


• Utilise manufacturing data and analytics to identify opportunities and drive sustainable improvements


• Ensure compliance with applicable quality systems, regulatory standards and health & safety requirements


• Develop departmental capability through coaching, mentoring, succession planning and performance management


• Work closely with Production, Quality, Supply Chain, Product Management and R&D teams

About you:

• Bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering or equivalent


• Previous manufacturing engineering with at least 3 years in a leadership role


• Proven experience leading Manufacturing Engineering, NPI Industrialisation and Continuous Improvement