Senior Production Manager

Senior Production Manager

Location: Germany – flexibility to work from anywhere in Germany

Sector: Premium Consumer Goods / Manufacturing

Recruitment Partner: Talent Magpie

The Opportunity

Talent Magpie is partnering with a globally recognised premium consumer brand to identify an experienced Senior Production Manager for a key European manufacturing operation.

This is a significant operational leadership position within a large-scale production environment. The successful candidate will take responsibility for a substantial manufacturing area, leading 100+ employees through an established management structure of Shift Supervisors and Team Leaders.

The role requires a commercially aware and hands-on manufacturing leader who can combine strong people management with operational excellence, continuous improvement and a relentless focus on quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a large production function comprising 100+ employees, including Shift Supervisors and Team Leaders.
• Take full P&L responsibility for the operation, with accountability for financial performance, cost control and delivery against budget.
• Achieve production targets across output, quality, productivity, cost and on-time delivery.
• Develop, monitor and improve key manufacturing KPIs.
• Lead and support the ramp-up of fast-growing or expanding manufacturing operations, ensuring scalable processes, capability and structure.
• Identify opportunities to increase efficiency and optimise production processes.
• Lead Lean manufacturing and continuous-improvement initiatives.
• Develop and standardise effective shop-floor management practices.
• Take responsibility for workforce and capacity planning within the production area.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and succession planning in partnership with HR.
• Work constructively with Works Councils and employee representative bodies, maintaining strong and collaborative labour relations.
• Coach and develop production managers, team leaders and operational employees.
• Drive a strong culture of accountability, quality, safety and continuous improvement.
• Support new product introductions, production trials and material testing.
• Oversee production inventory and ensure appropriate material availability.
• Maintain accurate manufacturing and operational information through ERP/SAP systems.
• Work cross-functionally with Production Planning, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality and HR.
• Deputise for senior production leadership when required.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for an established manufacturing leader with experience operating within a complex, high-volume production environment.

You will ideally bring:

• Several years of senior production/manufacturing management experience.
• Demonstrable experience leading large, multi-layered operational teams.
• A proven track record of successfully ramping up, scaling or transforming fast-growing factories.
• Strong full P&L ownership and commercial accountability.
• A degree or equivalent qualification in Manufacturing Engineering, Production Engineering, Industrial Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• Strong knowledge of Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Experience managing manufacturing KPIs covering productivity, quality, cost and delivery.
• Strong workforce planning and people-development capability.
• Proven experience working successfully with German Works Councils.
• Experience with SAP/ERP manufacturing environments.
• Strong commercial and numerical understanding.
• Excellent process and project-management capability.
• Experience within footwear, apparel, consumer goods, plastics, EVA, automotive or another high-volume manufacturing environment would be advantageous.
• Fluent German and English are essential.
• Willingness and flexibility to be based anywhere in Germany, depending on operational requirements.

Leadership Profile

This opportunity will suit someone who is:

• Visible and comfortable operating on the factory floor.
• Able to lead through other managers while remaining close to day-to-day operations.
• Highly focused on people, performance and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable scaling operations at pace and bringing structure to rapidly growing environments.
• Experienced in balancing commercial objectives with workforce engagement.
• Comfortable working closely with Works Councils and senior employee stakeholders.
• Data-driven and commercially aware.
• Passionate about delivering premium product quality at scale.

Why Consider the Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to join an internationally recognised premium consumer brand with significant European manufacturing operations.

The position offers substantial operational responsibility, full P&L ownership, exposure to senior leadership and the opportunity to influence the continued development and growth of a major European production facility.

All applications and conversations will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Talent Magpie | Talent Worth Keeping

TalentMagpie.com

peterjackson@talentmagpie.com