Senior CI Manager

Do you thrive on transforming businesses and creating lasting impact? At Refresco, we're looking for an inspiring Site Continuous Improvement (CI) Manager to join our Plant Leadership Team in Bridgwater. In this senior role, you'll lead the charge in shaping a high-performance culture, embedding continuous improvement at every level, and delivering measurable results across safety, quality, cost, and efficiency. If you're ready to influence, innovate, and leave a tangible legacy across a fast-paced, high-volume FMCG site — this is the role for you.

Senior Continuous Improvement Manager – Bridgwater, Somerset
Senior Plant Leadership Position
Shift Pattern: Days Monday – Friday, 38 hours
If you are working as a Head of Continuous Improvement, Operational Excellence Manager or similar level, we want to hear from you

What's in it for you?

• 15% Annual bonus
• Family Bupa Healthcare
• 8% Employer pension contribution, 5% Employee
• £7000 Car Allowance
• 4X salary life assurance
• 28 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Purchase extra holiday scheme
• Access to employee benefits platform – Cheers (healthcare cover, dental insurance, car scheme, wellbeing activities, financial services, and more)

About the Role:
As Site CI Manager, you will be the driving force behind the site's continuous improvement strategy, embedding a culture of excellence and performance across all functions. You'll lead high-impact initiatives that deliver tangible business results, coach leaders at all levels, and build a pipeline of improvements that secure the site's long-term success. This is an opportunity to make a real difference — transforming processes, inspiring teams, and shaping the future of a major FMCG drinks site.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, deploy, and govern the site CI strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Act as a senior change agent, embedding CI behaviours and inspiring a culture of continuous improvement across all functions.
• Sponsor and facilitate cross-functional improvement projects delivering measurable benefits in OEE, yield, waste, labour efficiency, utilities, safety, and service.
• Build CI capability through coaching and training of PLT, managers, practitioners, and shopfloor teams.
• Maintain robust CI governance processes to prioritise, track, and deliver projects on time, within budget, and to high quality standards.
• Own and deliver KPIs relating to CI, including OEE, FTQ, waste, safety, and cost optimisation.
• Introduce best practice tools, digital solutions, and innovative ways of working through internal and external benchmarking.
• Develop talent pipelines and coach future leaders to strengthen organisational resilience.
• Partner with HR and functional leaders to integrate CI into performance management, onboarding, and capability frameworks.
• Report progress and impact to Group stakeholders, ensuring transparency and alignment with wider business strategy.

What We're Looking For:

• Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, or Business (or equivalent experience).
• Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (essential).
• Proven track record of delivering sustainable CI at a senior level in FMCG, drinks, or food manufacturing.
• Strong experience in creating measurable improvements in OEE, yield, waste reduction, safety, and cost.
• Expert knowledge of CI methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, Problem Solving, A3, etc.).
• Strategic thinker with excellent analytical, numerical, and data-driven decision-making skills.
• Outstanding communication, coaching, and influencing skills across all levels of the business.
• Resilient, collaborative leader who role-models company values and inspires cultural change.

About Refresco:
Refresco is the global independent beverage solutions provider for Global, National and Emerging brands, and retailers with production in Europe, North America, and Australia. Refresco offers an extensive range of product and packaging combinations from juices to carbonated soft drinks and mineral waters in carton, PET, Aseptic PET, cans, and glass. Refresco continuously searches for new and alternative ways to improve the quality of its products and packaging combinations in line with consumer and customer demand, environmental responsibilities, and market demand.

Our drinks on every table. That's the Refresco vision. We're a global business and currently produce 12 billion litres of soft drinks from 64 manufacturing plants in 12 countries and we're only just getting started.

We're the proud owners of six drinks manufacturing sites within the UK. Our UK business provides a great place to work for over 1,800 employees, who produce private label soft drinks and fruit juices for all the leading retailers.

Whether it's packed in cartons, bottles or cans, we ensure that our products are made to the highest quality standards. Our products get where they need to be when they need to get there to meet the needs of our high-profile customers.

Refresco believes that equal opportunity for all is fundamental to our company's values and all our applicants can expect fairness and transparency in our recruitment process.

Continuous Improvement Manager / CI Manager / FMCG Leadership / Plant Manager / Manufacturing Manager / Head of Continuous Improvement / Operational Excellence Manager