Role Purpose
The Group Production Director is responsible for leading, standardising, and optimising production operations across multiple manufacturing sites. The role ensures safe, efficient, high-quality delivery of complex, low-volume, high-value special purpose machinery, while driving continuous improvement, cost control, and on-time customer delivery.
5 Direct reports
Key Responsibilities
* Develop and execute a group-wide production strategy aligned with business objectives.
* Drive standardisation of processes, KPIs, and best practices across all sites.
* Own production performance across all sites: safety, quality, delivery, cost, and productivity.
* Ensure robust production planning and capacity management to meet project schedules.
* Oversee make/buy decisions, workload balancing, and inter-site coordination.
* Champion Lean Manufacturing, CI, and waste reduction initiatives.
* Build high-performing leadership teams across sites.
* Develop succession plans and technical capability within production teams.
* Promote a strong safety culture and employee engagement.
* Work closely with Engineering, Project Management, and Quality to manage design changes, NCRs, and root-cause analysis.
* Ensure compliance with HSE regulations and internal standards.
* Improve margins through efficiency, yield improvement, and cost-reduction initiatives.
* Support bids and project reviews with realistic production input and risk assessment.
* Work closely with Supply Chain to improve material availability and supplier performance.
* Support Project Management in meeting customer milestones and managing escalations.
Profile of candidate
* Senior production leadership experience in a multiple site/low volume environment
* Strong internal logistics/supply chain experience
* Strong understanding of project-based, engineer-to-order environments.
* Track record of implementing Lean / CI in low-volume, high-complexity manufacturing.
* Strong people leadership and stakeholder management skills.
* Exposure to international or geographically dispersed operations.
* Strategic thinker with hands-on operational credibility
* Decisive, data-driven, and resilient
* Comfortable balancing short-term delivery with long-term capability building
* Strong communicator across shop floor to board level
* Must be fluent in German and English