Location : Cookstown
Job Ref: UDF/2025/484
Employment : Full-Time Permanent
Closing Date : 21 August 2025 05:00 pm
Dale Farm Cooperative is a UK dairy farmer co-operative owned by over 1200 dairy farmers who supply us with fresh milk. Dale Farm has operations throughout the UK and Ireland producing and distributing a wide range of dairy products which it sells across the UK and Ireland as well as exporting to over 45 countries worldwide.
At Dale Farm virtually every career discipline is represented in our workforce, from production, engineering and distribution, to sales & marketing and food technology/quality assurance, to Finance, HR and IT through to general management. Our standards are high and when we recruit we are looking for those with energy and drive, who are keen for responsibility and motivated to succeed with a record of achievement and with the potential to develop as the company grows.

LEAN SPECIALIST - DUNMAN

The Company
Dale Farm is a leading dairy company, which manufactures an extensive range of consumer and food ingredient products. With an annual turnover in excess of £500m the Group exports globally to over 40 countries, with a particularly strong presence in the UK retail market. It is our mission to ensure that we exude the highest standards through our processes, products, and people. We believe our success is built on your people, and so as we continue on your ambitious journey we are looking to recruit for the following key position, based at our Dunman site in Cookstown.
As a Lean Specialist, you will be responsible for influencing and implementing the Group Lean Strategy, seeking to continually develop, implement and refine the core business processes; driving best-in-class results in customer satisfaction, quality, on-time delivery, customer value, sales operations, organic growth, and ultimately financial performance.
About The Job

Reporting to the Group Lean Manager, your role as Lean Specialist will include the following responsibilities:

• Participating in the development of Dale Farm’s Lean Strategy.
• Assisting in embedding a Lean Culture into the organisation.
• Performing and coordinating process studies to determine opportunities for waste reduction and improvement.
• Utilising appropriate Lean and Problem-Solving tools to drive all KPIs to best-in-class level.
• Leading Value Stream Mapping, Standard Work, Visual Management, Problem Solving and other Kaizen events to meet customer and site requirements.
• Providing leadership, mentoring and coaching in the implementation of Lean/Continuous Improvement methodologies.
• Creating and delivering training, coaching and mentoring for team members to learn to see lean opportunities and develop their skills within the Group.
• Assisting in the development of data driven thinking across the sites.
• Completing any training or certification as required.

This role is primarily based at our Dunman site in Cookstown, but the successful candidate will be required to be flexible to travel to our other sites, and our Head Office in Belfast as required.
About You
The Essential
Education/Experience
The successful candidate should be educated to degree level and will have 3+ years’ similar experience of leading, teaching and mentoring continuous improvement activities. Alternatively, in the absence of a degree, the successful candidate will have obtained 5+ years’ lean experience within a manufacturing business. You should also have working experience of Lean methodologies, continuous improvement and problem-solving tools, and be able to demonstrate experience in training program development and training delivery.
Key Skills

We are looking for a highly motivated and ambitious person who has the energy, determination and mindset to drive continuous improvement within an extremely challenging, dynamic, and competitive marketplace. The successful candidate will demonstrate an improvement mindset and application, and who be able to lead through influence, with strong interpersonal and leadership skills. The successful candidate will also hold the following key skills and attributes:

• Experience implementing and influencing organisational metrics.
• Be able to demonstrate experience in training program development and training delivery.
• Can demonstrate the ability to analyse and solve complex problems, and coaching teams to do the same.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present information, status and issues in a clear and concise manner with the goal of driving decision-making.
• Strong critical thinking and leadership skills to effectively influence stakeholders and meet project requirements.
• Strong project management, interpersonal, negotiation, communication, documentation and problem-solving skills.
• Proficient in the use of PowerPoint, Excel and Word as well as other typical business productivity tools.
• Strong coaching and training skills.
• As travel between sites is required, a driving license and access to a car is essential.

The Desirable

The following criteria is not essential, but would be advantageous:

• Accredited to Black Belt level.
• Previous experience or knowledge of Dairy Science.

• Participating in the development of Dale Farm’s Lean Strategy.
• Assisting in embedding a Lean Culture into the organisation.
• Performing and coordinating process studies to determine opportunities for waste reduction and improvement.
• Utilising appropriate Lean and Problem-Solving tools to drive all KPIs to best-in-class level.
• Leading Value Stream Mapping, Standard Work, Visual Management, Problem Solving and other Kaizen events to meet customer and site requirements.
• Providing leadership, mentoring and coaching in the implementation of Lean/Continuous Improvement methodologies.
• Creating and delivering training, coaching and mentoring for team members to learn to see lean opportunities and develop their skills within the Group.
• Assisting in the development of data driven thinking across the sites.
• Completing any training or certification as required