Department Manager

Join to apply for the Department Manager role at Associated Seafoods Ltd Role: Department Manager | Location: Arbroath | Shift pattern: Monday to Friday, 40 hours per week with flexibility required | Salary: Competitive depending on entry-level skills and/or experience. Company & Job Overview We're proud to be one of the UK's leading food manufacturers, supplying high-quality chilled and frozen seafood products to some of the biggest names in retail and foodservice. Our focus is on innovation, food safety, and working together as a team to deliver excellence every day. As our business continues its growth journey, we are seeking an ambitious and motivated Department Manager to lead our Low Risk and Pickle departments. This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who is passionate about people development, operational excellence, and driving a culture where quality, integrity and continuous improvement thrive. You will provide visible, hands‑on leadership - coaching teams, building capability, and ensuring safe, efficient and compliant production every day. Working closely with key stakeholders, you will help shape how our site operates and performs, ensuring that we meet customer expectations while also managing resources effectively. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving problems, inspiring people, and improving processes in a fast‑paced food manufacturing environment. Main Responsibilities Provide strong daily leadership across both departments, ensuring production plans, throughput, yields, KPIs and customer service levels are consistently achieved. Lead your team with visibility and purpose — actively developing, coaching and motivating individuals, supporting recruitment, managing performance, and building a high‑skill, high‑engagement workforce. Champion a culture of Health & Safety, Food Safety, Quality and Integrity, ensuring full adherence to regulatory, technical and customer standards at all times. Drive continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to enhance processes, reduce waste, improve yields, optimise labour and resource utilisation, and strengthen cost‑effective operations. Ensure exceptional GMP and housekeeping standards, maintaining a safe, clean, and audit‑ready environment across all areas throughout every shift. Maintain robust product integrity controls, including accurate recording, traceability, allergen management and compliance with customer codes of practice. Collaborate effectively with stakeholders to support smooth operations, product trials, audits and proactive problem‑solving. Lead shift reviews, performance updates and operational communication, ensuring your teams understand priorities, respond to issues promptly, and deliver excellence at every stage of production. Ideal Candidate will have Proven experience managing people and developing teams in a food production environment. A strong understanding of ready‑to‑eat or chilled manufacturing processes and compliance standards. A passion for coaching, motivating and engaging diverse teams. The ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results under pressure. Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the confidence to influence at all levels. Strong organisational and time‑management abilities. Effective problem‑solving skills and a continuous improvement mindset. Experience working with KPIs and using data to drive performance. IT literacy including Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint). Food Safety Level 3 and HACCP certification. What we Offer Competitive pay Training and development opportunities Company pension scheme Free on‑site parking Medical/mental health support Life insurance Supportive team environment Cycle to work scheme If you are interested in applying for this position, please forward your CV along with cover letter stating why you are interested in the role and what skills will you bring to the business to: recruitment@associatedseafoods.com We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Seniority level Not Applicable Employment type Full-time Job function Sales and Business Development Food and Beverage Manufacturing #J-18808-Ljbffr