Shift Manager - Manufacturing Operations

About the Role

Are you ready to lead in a fast-paced manufacturing environment and make a real impact? As a Shift Manager remote at DS Smith, you’ll take full responsibility for production and quality during your shift, ensuring safety, efficiency, and performance are always top priorities. This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll be a visible presence on the shop floor, supporting and engaging your team to deliver outstanding results. You’ll inspire and develop a diverse team of operators, driving clear communication, effective coordination, and accountability across the shift. You’ll play a key role in continuous improvement, maintaining compliance with DS Smith standards and customer requirements, and fostering an inclusive, high-performance culture.

What You'll Do

• Lead by example to create a safe working environment and uphold health & safety standards.
• Manage production plans for corrugator and conversion areas using CDM systems to maximize efficiency and meet deadlines.
• Monitor progress, adjusting plans as needed.
• Collaborate with Internal Sales and attend daily planning and operations meetings to align production with customer needs.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives and contribute to KPIs.
• Create and deliver on development plans for your team.

Requirements

• Experience leading teams in manufacturing (packaging, print, or FMCG advantageous).
• Strong leadership and people management skills.
• Excellent communication and problem-solving abilities.
• Knowledge of health & safety, quality, and continuous improvement.
• Able to work to the required shift pattern.
• Ability to adapt to business needs.

Nice to Have

• Experience in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Familiarity with CDM systems.
• Proven track record of driving engagement and accountability.

What We Offer

• 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays.
• Pension scheme.
• Life assurance.
• Income protection.
• Employee assistance program.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Electric car lease scheme.
• Shopping discounts.
• Subsidised staff canteen.
• On-site parking.

Join DS Smith, the company redefining packaging for a changing world. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. Today, we operate in more than 30 different countries, supporting customers across sectors like FMCG, industrial, and e-commerce. We deliver on quality, service, innovation, and added value to deliver market-leading sustainable packaging solutions our customers need. Our industry needs to transform, and we’re building the team to drive change across Europe and North America. To fulfill our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bringing different perspectives, ideas, and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.