Production Group Leader

About the role

Reporting to the Operations & Continuous Improvement Manager, As a Production Group Leader, you’ll lead a frontline team to ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality production. This includes managing people, optimizing labor and equipment, driving continuous improvement, and supporting audits and key projects. The role blends hands-on leadership with cross-functional collaboration to deliver operational excellence.

This is a full-time, permanent, on-site position based in Portadown, working Monday to Friday.

About Kerry Dairy

Kerry Dairy Ireland is a vertically integrated farm-to-fork business with a very substantial consumer foods presence and a leading nutritional and dairy ingredients division, delivering high-quality dairy solutions with a focus on sustainability and innovation. From partnering with local family farms to producing world-class dairy products, we ensure every step of our value chain reflects our commitment to excellence.

With over 50 years’ experience in milk processing, dairy and nutritional technology advancement, and product innovation, we are a key stakeholder in the global food industry and creators of a strong portfolio of market leading dairy brands including Cheestrings, Charleville and Coleraine Cheese, Dairygold, Golden Cow and our new SMUG range. Our from food, for food culture and deep-rooted connection to our 2,800 milk suppliers differentiates our business and offers captivating opportunities for our customers and consumers.

Our dairy comes from some of the world’s richest grazing land and is produced by a network of Irish family farms that have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world. Through a combination of expertise, innovation, and sustainability, Kerry Dairy Ireland is proud to shape the future of dairy while meeting the diverse needs of our farmers, customers, and communities.

Globally, Kerry Dairy Ireland employs over 1,600 dedicated professionals across Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, USA, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and China. In 2024, we achieved a turnover of approximately €1.3 billion, reflecting our commitment to excellence and growth.

Key responsibilities

. Team management: lead the Production Stream team by recruiting, inducting new members into the team, building team skills through skills assessment, training, feedback, and support

. Health and safety: protect the health and safety of all Production Stream employees through instituting and adhering to site safety culture

. Standard development & standard confirmation: ensure site policies and procedures are documented, trained to Team Leaders and Members, and that Production Stream standards are consistently followed

. Facilitate & execute continuous improvement: continuously improve standards by facilitating and executing Practical Problem Solving and other appropriate KPS methodologies within the production stream

. Organise labour: optimize labour availability according to the plan, collaborate with the Production Stream Manager and other site-based streams to optimize labour across the site, and cover essential roles during unplanned absences

. Manage process reliability: monitor and improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness through the implementation of the Kerry Asset Management System

. Analyse & report conversion performance metrics: through analysis of Key Performance Data, identify performance gaps, trends, and improvement opportunities

. Quality: maintain product quality and adherence to GMP through management of the team and process to deliver agreed product specifications as defined in quality standards and policies

. Project design & delivery: as part of a wider project team, assist and manage the delivery of key projects that have an impact on the production stream

. Maintenance: coordinate shift maintenance activities in conjunction with engineering team members to deliver planned, reactive, and autonomous maintenance.

Qualifications and skills

. Proven experience in managing a team within a process environment

. Solid understanding and practical application of lean manufacturing principles and tools

. Ability to identify areas for improvement, actively plan and implement solutions, and demonstrate effective problem-solving skills

. Flexibility and adaptability to thrive in a changing environment

. Excellent teamwork and communication skills to collaborate effectively with various teams

. Fluent in English

. Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools