Site Excellence Lead

Location: Lightbody, Bothwell Road, Hamilton, ML3 0DW
Shift: Monday-Friday
Salary: Competitive
We are now recruiting for a Site Excellence Lead to join our team at our Lightbody site in Hamilton.
135 years of craft baking skills lie behind the quality of the special branded cakes, sweet snacks and slices we produce in Hamilton and 55 million products are produced each year. Lightbody’s is the UK’s largest supplier of celebration cakes to UK retailers, with Disney, Mars, Universal and Thorntons all within the portfolio of branded cakes made under licence. We also make a variety of supermarkets’ well-loved own-label cakes and in-store bakery bites.
To be successful in this role you will be a confident and collaborative leader who motivates others through a clear vision and strong engagement. As a strategic thinker with robust analytical skills, you’ll be committed to data-driven decision-making, balancing the demands of short-term performance with the pursuit of long-term improvement goals. Thriving in dynamic environments, you will be adaptable and responsive to evolving business needs.

Are you passionate about driving change, unlocking potential, and making processes better every day? We’re looking for a proactive Excellence Lead to champion continuous improvement and lead site-wide Operational Excellence initiatives across our manufacturing and support functions.
This is What You’ll Actually Do

In this role, you will lead and deliver group-standardised Lean, Excellence, and Practical Process Improvement (PPI) training to build strong in-house continuous improvement capability across the site. You will also design and deliver targeted workshops to upskill teams and embed sustainable CI behaviours. A key part of your role will be to deploy standard tiered meeting structures and champion group standards across all site functions, ensuring alignment with Finsbury Food Group expectations.

You’ll be responsible for driving operational excellence by leading and facilitating Lean and CI projects that improve efficiency across labour, materials, and overheads. Working closely with internal customers, cross-functional teams, and wider stakeholders, you will identify opportunities for improvement using Lean principles, supported by data and BI systems to validate results and report meaningful progress to senior forums.

Your work will focus on embedding a high-performance, decision-making culture at all levels of the organisation, enabling faster problem-solving, agility, and a consistent “right first time” mindset. You will play a key role in the deployment of MARA, Finsbury’s management system, ensuring it is fully embedded across site functions to support effective daily management and governance. As part of this, you will work with Engineering and Operations to support the implementation and long-term sustainability of Asset Care (TPM), helping to strengthen equipment reliability and operational discipline.

You will contribute to process standardisation by supporting the implementation of “Process Blueprint” (Leader Standard Work), reinforcing behaviours that drive improved quality, customer satisfaction, and core operational KPIs. Throughout your work, you will champion cultural change by challenging waste, promoting value-adding interventions, and ensuring best practices are captured, shared, and consistently applied across all FFG sites, including through TRACC (the CCi maturity tool) to strengthen site and group maturity levels.

You’ll lead structured problem-solving sessions, facilitate CI workshops, and act as a visible change agent—encouraging an action-oriented, growth-focused mindset and fostering strong cross-functional collaboration. You will be responsible for preparing and presenting OBP updates and progress reports to senior stakeholders and business forums, ensuring clear communication and alignment on priorities.

Driving improvements across safety, quality, service, cost, and people metrics will remain central to your responsibilities. You’ll manage CI projects from initiation through to compliant, on-time, and on-budget delivery, ensuring risks are assessed and appropriate controls implemented. In addition, you will promote and maintain strong internal and external relationships that support operational excellence, successful project integration, and long-term business improvements.

Finally, you will actively model FFG’s core values and behaviours, championing a culture of continuous improvement and inspiring others to do the same as you strengthen capabilities, embed standards, and help develop a high-performing, future-ready site.

Ideally, This is You!

Essential:

• Minimum 2+ years’ experience in a leadership role within manufacturing.
• Proven track record in change management and delivering sustainable improvement.
• Strong influencing, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to interpret data and drive data-led decision-making.
• Highly organised, proactive, and adaptable to changing business needs.

Desirable:

• CI/Lean qualifications (e.g., Green/Black Belt).
• Experience with TRACC or similar CI platforms.
• Background in food manufacturing or FMCG.
• Familiarity with bakery processes and Six Sigma/SPC techniques.

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&cs 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 specialty 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. We want good people to join our company, to help our company continue to go from strength to strength. If this sounds like you, please get in contact to learn more!