Site Operations Manager

at  Hotel Chocolat

CLOSING DATE

6/10/2024
As we continue our mission to make people and nature happy through chocolate, we’re looking for a Site Operations Manager to join our Manufacturing team on a permanent basis.
The Site Ops Manager role acts as the operational lead for our chocolate manufacturing site ‘Hadley Park’. You are responsible for the 24/7 safety, engagement, welfare and performance of your team, the GMP of the site and the quality and food safety of the products produced. You will lead the site through a self-developed balanced scorecard of KPI’s, delivering objectives set by the business within the framework of the operation.
This is a Monday-Friday, full-time position, operating across standard office working hours. There is no expectation to work weekends, however our Factory runs a 7-day-a-week operation, so we do expect this role to work a pattern that provides all teams (including nightshift) the touchpoints they require.
The onsite location for this role is our Factory ‘Hadley Park’, in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, right in the heart of where our chocolates are made and where weekly, we can produce between 4 to 6 million of the chocolates we all know and love. Hadley Park is just 5 minutes off the A141 and 1.3 miles from Huntingdon train station, with direct rail links to Peterborough and London King’s Cross.
As well as a competitive salary and company benefits, you’ll receive 50% discount on all products, and a delicious 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia.
What You’ll Be Doing….

Compliance to Safety and Quality Standards

• Accountable for Health and Safety of all colleagues at Hadley Park, working in partnership with the H&S team
• GMP ownership and analysis to drive improvement to business world class standards
• 100% compliance and confidence of company processes and procedures, driving a no-compromise culture for product quality and team behaviour
• Drive a Quality and Food Safety Culture to proactively minimise any risks to customers and colleagues, acting as the main point of contact for all external audits, BRC, ISO etc
• Drive root cause analysis and action plans for non-compliant produce
• Ensure SOPs / CiCs are followed by the team for all parts of the operation and that skills matrices reflect this

Leadership

• Overall P&L responsibility for Hadley Park, understanding logic around costed standards of labour, rate and overhead recovery
• Leadership of the two main business units - Chocolate manufacturing and Velvetiser Hot Chocolate
• Line management of 5 managers, frequently holding 1-2-1’s to monitor performance and development, making sure clear objectives are set and managed, providing clarity and driving accountability
• Developing a strategic labour profile, planning training and resources to minimise labour spikes and skill gaps over a 24-month horizon
• Working alongside your HR partner, ensure team holidays are utilised effectively and drive an accurate absence management process to control attendance within the absence targets set
• Lead the site to achieve its financial goals, driving a CI culture to continuously strive for improvements in production
• Lead Daily Review Meetings and performance meetings across site
• Provide formal communication at all levels, including full site briefings to ensure an engaged workforce at site

Operational responsibilities

• Ownership of daily and weekly plan completion for the site, including being the main supplier for the Pack Area at our Distribution centre in St Neots
• Hold responsibility for the Roast and Conch production area, centre Preparation area, main Production Hall and Velvetiser factory
• Liaise with the planning team to find the most effective and efficient way to deliver demand through daily meetings and forward-looking planning sessions
• Accountable for the Hygiene Function including Mould Wash Room and Line Deep Cleaning
• Deliver the Safety, Quality, Delivery, Control KPIs on time and accurately, focussing on the drive to Behavioural Safety
• Drive the embedding of data into performance metrics to showcase performance and realise opportunities through system deployment and reporting
• Focus on the capital delivery plan to support the automation journey in manufacturing
• Be the primary point of contact for the temporary workforce agency relationship
• Understand the criticality of Temperature management to support product life cycle
• Ensure optimal utilisation of materials and resources through yield and labour control, owning the material variance line on the P&L.

WHO WE ARE…

We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser™.
A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.
Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to 135 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.
To learn more about us and read about our People Pledge – our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion – click here: hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html

• Ownership of daily and weekly plan completion for the site, including being the main supplier for the Pack Area at our Distribution centre in St Neots
• Hold responsibility for the Roast and Conch production area, centre Preparation area, main Production Hall and Velvetiser factory
• Liaise with the planning team to find the most effective and efficient way to deliver demand through daily meetings and forward-looking planning sessions
• Accountable for the Hygiene Function including Mould Wash Room and Line Deep Cleaning
• Deliver the Safety, Quality, Delivery, Control KPIs on time and accurately, focussing on the drive to Behavioural Safety
• Drive the embedding of data into performance metrics to showcase performance and realise opportunities through system deployment and reporting
• Focus on the capital delivery plan to support the automation journey in manufacturing
• Be the primary point of contact for the temporary workforce agency relationship
• Understand the criticality of Temperature management to support product life cycle
• Ensure optimal utilisation of materials and resources through yield and labour control, owning the material variance line on the P&L