Night Production Manager
Who We Are
Science In Sport Group is a world leader in sports and performance nutrition.
We have two highly regarded brands; SiS which combines world-class science and innovation to provide optimal performance nutritional solutions for professional athletes, sports and fitness enthusiasts and the active lifestyle community. This includes over 320 professional teams worldwide across a broad range of sports including Football, Rugby, Cycling, Athletics, Basketball, Netball and Swimming. Brand ambassadors include former track cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, an eleven-time world champion and six-time Olympic champion, and Eilish McColgan, who won gold in the 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres.
PhD Nutrition is a premium, active-nutrition brand for the active lifestyle community wanting intelligent nutrition to help them achieve their goals. With over 20 years of research and development, our products are designed to maximise performance in and out of the gym. It’s an exciting time for PhD Nutrition as 2025 will kick off an entirely new line up of brand ambassadors, from hybrid athletes to qualified sports nutritionists.
The two brands sell through the phd.com and scienceinsport.com digital platforms, third-party online marketplaces including Amazon, as well as extensive domestic and international retail distribution.
In 2022 the company opened a state of the art 160,000 square foot manufacturing and logistics facility in Blackburn, Lancashire. Providing a significant advantage in product costs and customer response time and most importantly, allowing Science In Sport to lead the way for quality standards.
Science In Sport is the nutrition partner to globally recognised elite teams, including Tottenham Hotspur, Saracens Rugby, British Triathlon, Aquatics GB, British Cycling, England Netball and Loughborough Sports. As well as being the Official Energy Gel Provider of RunThrough and the Official Nutrition Partner of Ultra X.
The Role
As Production Night Shift Manager, you will be the senior operational leader on site overnight, accountable for the safe, compliant and efficient running of production operations. You will lead, support and coach your team to meet quality, efficiency and cost targets, while setting clear standards, making timely decisions and building a high-performing night shift culture.
You will work closely with Health & Safety, Engineering, Warehouse, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain teams to meet shared objectives while maintaining flexibility to support wider business needs. You will be expected to take ownership of night shift performance, reset standards where required, and act as the main decision-maker overnight within agreed authority levels.
Contract: Permanent
Salary: Up to £38,000 per annum + Nightshift allowance of up to 12.5%
Working Hours: 6pm - 5am, Monday to Thursday
Location: Blackburn
Benefits
On-site gym
Cycle to work scheme
Product discount
Birthday day off
Pension - employer contribution at 4%
The work - Your 4 most important responsibilities
People Safety - Lead a safety-first shift where procedures are followed, hazards and near misses are reported, and unsafe behaviours are challenged immediately.
Product Quality - Ensure products meet quality, BOM and GMP standards through trained people, regular checks and prompt corrective action to prevent HOLD stock and non-conformances.
Operational Efficiency - Own delivery of the night shift production plan, making effective decisions on labour, priorities, downtime escalation and recovery actions to control cost, waste and performance. Identify and communicate practical improvement opportunities that reduce cost, waste and downtime.
Team Leadership & Development - Motivate, coach, and develop the team, ensuring performance management, training, and clear communication are at the forefront. Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback and address poor performance, conduct or attendance early and consistently.
Accountability – what you are responsible for delivering
Delivery of the weekly production plan while controlling cost and efficiency. This includes meeting production targets within BOM rates and standard costs, allocating labour effectively to minimise overtime and agency spend, improving changeover times, reducing waste through root-cause analysis, and ensuring accurate back-to-stock returns to maintain stock integrity.
Maintaining high quality and food safety standards, preventing NCRs and HOLD stock, investigating issues properly, and putting corrective actions in place to stop repeat problems. It also includes keeping the area audit-ready through a strong Clean-As-You-Go culture and managing production trials with accurate documentation, communication, and post-trial review.
Leading a safety-first culture, ensuring policies and legal requirements are followed, managing risks through assessments and clear procedures, assigning safety-critical tasks only to trained people, identifying training needs, and ensuring accidents or near misses are reported, investigated, and followed up with corrective actions to prevent repeat incidents.
Setting clear objectives, managing performance through OKRs, 1-2-1s and coaching, recognising and motivating strong performance, communicating expectations clearly, addressing absence, performance and conduct issues early and fairly, supporting employee relations cases, and building team capability through targeted training and development.
Ensuring clear shift handovers, escalating and resolving downtime issues with Line Leaders and Engineers, keeping the team updated through toolbox talks, maintaining accurate SAP and CMMS data, and using production and cost data to identify trends, reduce waste, improve efficiency, and drive performance improvements.
Capability - the skills and behaviours required to do this job well
Health & safety focus and awareness – Fully committed to safe working practices and compliance.
Strong leadership & communication – Ability to engage, coach, and motivate a diverse production team.
Problem-solving & decision-making – Capable of quickly diagnosing issues and implementing effective solutions.
Numeracy, literacy & IT proficiency – Able to interpret BOMs, production data, and KPIs, while utilising manufacturing software effectively.
Attention to detail & organisation – Ensures accuracy in quality checks, compliance records, and production execution.
Resilience & adaptability – Thrives in a fast-paced, high-pressure manufacturing environment.
Awareness of Lean principles – Capable of applying lean methodologies including 5 “Whys” and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and drive continuous improvement.
Performance – how you will know you are doing a great job
Your team operates safely, with zero major safety incidents or accidents on shift, and safety engagement levels meeting or exceeding targets.
Production targets are consistently achieved, with efficiency, downtime, and costs controlled and within agreed thresholds.
Quality standards are upheld, with minimal NCRs and zero HOLD stock due to process failures.
Your team is engaged and developing, with clear objectives 1-2-1s, performance reviews, and Personal Performance Plans in place.
Continuous improvement initiatives deliver measurable results, waste, downtime, and inefficiencies reducing continuously over time.
Your leadership fosters a positive and productive work environment, resulting in high team morale, strong retention, and minimal staff turnover.
Specific metrics will be set when in role and will be reviewed and built upon regularly. Alongside this, you will be supported with a personal performance plan that will enable you to continue improving your own performance and impact.
Attributes – experience and mindset that will enable you to do well in this role.
Food manufacturing experience – Prior experience in a shift management role within a food or FMCG environment.
Proven leadership ability – Capable of developing and managing a high-performing team.
Process-driven & results-oriented – Strong focus on achieving targets while maintaining compliance and quality.
Forward operational planning – Able to balance short-term operational demands with long-term improvements and projects.
High ethical standards & accountability – Upholds company values and ensures integrity in decision-making.
Science in Sport Group is an equal opportunity employer; we value diversity and strive to cultivate an inclusive workplace. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind in regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We fully support reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, to provide an inclusive and welcoming recruitment experience.
- Department
- Production
- Role
- Production Shift Manager
- Locations
- Blackburn
- Ways of Working
- On Site
About Science in Sport Group
Science in Sport Group is a leading performance nutrition business that develops, manufactures, and markets science-led nutrition products for professional athletes, sports and fitness enthusiasts and the gym lifestyle community.
We have two highly regarded brands:
PhD Nutrition, a premium active-nutrition brand targeting the gym lifestyle community, and
SiS, a leading performance nutrition brand among elite athletes and professional sports teams.