Distillery Operations Manager

The North British Distillery is one of Scotland’s oldest and largest Scotch grain whisky producers. We manufacture and sell grain spirit – the base for blended whisky – and its co-products. Significant quantities of North British grain whisky are included in many well-known blended brands.  The production of grain spirit also creates valuable co-products which are sold on to other sectors.

We are looking to appoint an exceptionally talented Distillery Operations Manager at our Edinburgh Site who will lead the Distillery to safely and compliantly meet increased demand for new make spirit production.  Working closely with senior colleagues across the business, you will be responsible for driving operational excellence across the team, inspiring them to think differently and bringing new ideas and energy to the role, to help deliver enhanced levels of performance.

You will be an experienced senior leader in a 24/7 manufacturing environment, ideally with recent experience in Brewing and Distilling, Oil and Gas or FMCG.  An engineering background is helpful but not essential, and candidates should understand the principles and fundamentals of asset care and equipment reliability.

We are looking for a strong leader who will be a role model for the company’s values and behaviours.  The ability to inspire, engage, motivate, and deliver through teams and build strong internal and external relationships is essential.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate:

• Several years experience in a relevant Senior Leadership role.
• An understanding of a COMAH site and the ability to coordinate emergency response activity in a major accident hazard site.
• Knowledge of the full operation of Grain Brewing/Distilling, spirit production and maintenance would be desirable.
• Experience of delivering initiatives to meet and exceed regulatory requirements and of working with and delivering successful outcomes for statutory bodies like HSE and SEPA.
• Passion in supporting the move to Net Zero.
• Skills in change management and project management – Lean Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement methodologies such as TRACC are particularly attractive.
• A cost sensitive and commercial mind-set, with experience of budget management and accountability.

We focus on Continuous Improvement under our ‘True North’ programme, with company-wide core values uniting our workforce. For all employees, safety at work and working together are part of day-to-day life at North British.   A culture of support and opportunity enables those who work here to thrive in their chosen field.

This is an exciting time for the company as we continue to grow and move forward on the next phase of our Continuous Improvement and Sustainability journey.

We welcome your interest in this role and invite you to download a full candidate brochure here.

To apply, please send your CV to Ailsa Sutherland, Director, FWB Park Brown at applications@fwbparkbrown.com or for a confidential discussion, please contact her at our Edinburgh office on 0131 539 7087.