Operational Excellence Coach - FMCG Manufacturing

Essential:Substantial hands-on manufacturing leadership experience - as a Plant Manager, Production Manager, CI/Lean Leader, OpEx or TPM deployment leader, or Manufacturing Consultant. You must have run a shop floor, not just contributed to oneA track record in Lean, Six Sigma, TPM or Operational Excellence, with measurable productivity and OEE improvements you can point toEvidence of being a genuine top performer - someone with a history of overachievement and progression, not a steady contributorThe presence and confidence to challenge senior executives and inspire frontline operators alikeWillingness to sustain ~90% travel: field-based Monday to Friday, a minimum of 42 weeks per year, across EMEAFull professional fluency in English
Preferred:Deep roots in Food & Beverage or CPG manufacturing (Automotive experience also valued)Experience deploying improvement programmes across multiple sites or environmentsMilitary leadership background combined with manufacturing or engineering experience

Why ApplyIf you're energised by walking onto a shop floor and leaving it measurably better, this role offers that on repeat - different plants, different cultures, different problems, with results landing in weeks rather than years. You'll keep the manufacturing credibility you've built, add software-industry experience without needing any previous software or sales background, and join a coaching team where high performers move quickly into senior coaching and leadership positions. High autonomy, high expectations, high impact.

Why this space matters nowManufacturers everywhere are fighting the same battle: labour shortages, high frontline turnover, and productivity targets that can't be met by capital investment alone. Connected worker technology has become one of the fastest-growing categories in industrial software because it attacks that problem directly - engaging frontline teams, making performance visible in real time, and unlocking capacity plants didn't know they had. The companies deploying it need coaches who have genuinely run shop floors, not career consultants.

The clientOur client is the market leader in connected workforce technology for manufacturing - a global SaaS business whose platform is live in well over 1,000 plants worldwide. Their customers include PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz and Coca-Cola alongside hundreds of mid-sized food, beverage and CPG manufacturers. Their deployment model is famous for speed: measurable results - on average a double-digit OEE point gain and productivity improvements approaching 30% - inside the first 90 days. The coaching team is the engine of that model.

The RoleAs an Operational Excellence Coach, you'll lead end-to-end frontline transformations across the EMEA customer base. This is emphatically not a desk job: you'll spend around 90% of your time on customer factory floors, coaching everyone from operators to plant directors on how to win with the platform. You'll manage 5-6 customer accounts at a time through their 90-day engagement cycles, including intensive four-week onsite deployments at each site. It's fast, high-accountability work with visible results - and a clear path into senior coaching and leadership roles.
Key ResponsibilitiesLead hands-on onsite deployments, taking multiple customer plants through fast-paced 90-day transformation cyclesCoach and influence frontline operators, supervisors and plant leadership to adopt Lean behaviours and get full value from the platformRun shop-floor Kaizen events and continuous improvement rituals grounded in Lean, Six Sigma, TPM and Operational Excellence frameworksPartner with plant leadership to challenge the status quo, take on difficult site cultures, and deliver measurable productivity and OEE gainsBuild trusted relationships from the production line through to senior leadership

Operational Excellence Coach - Food & Beverage ManufacturingLocation: Remote / Field-Based - UK or Ireland home base, working across EMEATravel: ~90% - onsite at customer plants Monday to Friday, minimum 42 weeks per yearSector: Food & Beverage / FMCG Manufacturing | Connected Worker Technology | Industrial SaaSPackage: Competitive base + quarterly bonuses + car allowance
This is not a Continuous Improvement Lead vacancy - and it is not a desk job. We're looking for proven manufacturing leaders - CI and Lean Leaders, Production Managers, Plant Managers - to become Operational Excellence Coaches at a global manufacturing software business, spending ~90% of their time on customer factory floors across EMEA, Monday to Friday, at least 42 weeks a year.
If that travel commitment excites you rather than puts you off, read on. Have you spent your career driving OEE, Lean and TPM results on the shop floor - and outgrown the four walls of a single site? This role puts you inside a different factory every month, leading intensive frontline transformations for some of the world's best-known food and beverage manufacturers., Additional InformationLocation: Remote / field-based, UK or Ireland home base, travelling across EMEATravel: ~90% - Monday to Friday onsite, minimum 42 weeks per yearStart date: ASAP - candidates available on shorter notice periods are at an advantage, though we'll wait for the right personCompensation: Competitive base salary + quarterly bonuses + car allowance - full details on application