Operations Engineering Team Leader

Operations Engineering Team Leader
Location: Southampton
Salary: Competitive
Contract: Permanent

The Opportunity
We are supporting a high-tech manufacturing business in Southampton with the appointment of an Operations Engineering Team Leader.
This is a hands-on engineering leadership role within the Operations Engineering function, supporting manufacturing operations and ensuring production has the technical capability, processes and equipment required to deliver products effectively.
You will lead a team of engineers and technicians, setting standards across the team while driving improvements in manufacturing capability, quality, productivity and process sustainability.
The role will suit an experienced Manufacturing or Operations Engineer who enjoys solving production problems, improving processes and working collaboratively across Engineering, Production, Quality and R&D.

Key Responsibilities
•    Lead and manage the day-to-day activities, priorities and development of a team of engineers and technicians.
•    Provide engineering support to manufacturing operations, leading day-to-day problem solving and ensuring effective root cause corrective actions.
•    Support project and resource planning with the Operations Engineering Manager and Project Manager.
•    Drive continuous improvement activities, including yield improvement, scrap reduction, productivity and process optimisation.
•    Maintain and improve manufacturing processes, procedures and workflows.
•    Analyse and report manufacturing data and KPIs including OTD, Yield, WIP, Scrap, OEE and SPC.
•    Ensure appropriate engineering representation at daily and weekly Production Tier meetings.
•    Support TPM activities, including equipment and tooling service, repair and calibration schedules.
•    Work closely with Production, Quality and R&D to identify priorities, resolve issues and deliver improvement projects.
•    Support the introduction of new products, processes and equipment, ensuring manufacturing requirements are met.
•    Work with R&D on process and product improvements, NPI and engineering change projects.
•    Support engineering change processes and project planning.
•    Analyse scrap material and work collaboratively with Production, Quality and R&D to identify opportunities for reduction.
•    Support capacity planning, including changes to line layouts, equipment and processes to meet changing production requirements.
•    Help develop and implement Lean Manufacturing methodologies and continuous improvement techniques.
•    Use JIRA and Confluence to log and track issues, activities and priorities across the team.
•    Manage team administration including holidays, absence, development and performance reviews.

About You
We're looking for an experienced engineer who enjoys working in a hands-on manufacturing environment and is ready to take on a team leadership responsibility.

Essential Experience
•    Minimum 5 years' experience in Manufacturing Engineering or a closely related Operations Engineering role.
•    Experience working in a manufacturing support environment with a strong manufacturing mindset.
•    Ability to organise and lead team meetings, prioritise actions and coordinate activities effectively.
•    A proactive approach to identifying alternative solutions and improving existing processes.
•    Strong IT skills, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

Desirable Experience
•    Leadership experience within manufacturing, particularly involving fine mechanical assembly components or a similar high-pressure environment.
•    Experience within high-tech manufacturing, optics, lasers or similar industries would be advantageous.
•    Experience of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma or Continuous Improvement methodologies.
•    Knowledge or experience of 5S.
•    Experience of product fault finding and testing.

Qualifications
A degree in an appropriate engineering or science discipline, or demonstrable equivalent experience supported by relevant technical qualifications.

What You'll Bring
You'll be someone who is:
•    Highly motivated and able to manage multiple priorities in a structured and efficient way.
•    Comfortable working in a dynamic environment where priorities can change.
•    Self-motivated, with the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively.
•    A strong communicator who can work effectively across multidisciplinary and cross-functional teams.
•    Hands-on and creative in your approach to problem solving.
•    Able to translate engineering requirements into practical, workable solutions.
•    Focused on delivering high standards and meeting committed timescales.
•    Customer focused and committed to continuous improvement.

Support will be provided to help develop you in the role.

If you're an experienced engineer looking for a role combining technical problem solving, continuous improvement and team leadership, this could be a great next step.