Manufacturing Team Lead

Job Description:

Your Impact

Leonardo is seeking an experienced and motivated Manufacturing Team Leader to provide senior leadership across manufacturing operations, compliance, and capability development within our manufacturing environment.

This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for driving operational excellence, governance, audit readiness, workforce capability, and continuous improvement. The successful candidate will play a key role in developing future manufacturing capability while ensuring compliance, performance, and operational readiness across the manufacturing hall.

If you are passionate about people leadership, lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and delivering sustainable operational performance, we would like to hear from you.

What You'll Be Doing

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Lead manufacturing compliance, governance, audit readiness, documentation control, and cleanroom behavioural standards.
• Develop and implement manufacturing strategies aligned to business objectives.
• Act as the senior authority for Hall Compliance, ensuring adherence to PRD063 and related procedures.
• Drive operational performance through effective leadership, governance, and execution.

People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, coach and develop manufacturing teams, building a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Manage training, performance management, succession planning, and recruitment activities.
• Develop future capability through skills planning and workforce development initiatives.
• Promote lean manufacturing principles and high-performance behaviours.

Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure robust governance, risk identification, and mitigation processes are embedded within operations.
• Lead internal, customer, and regulatory audit activities.
• Drive effective closure of audit findings and sustain audit readiness.

New Product Introduction (NPI)

• Provide manufacturing leadership and shop-floor input into NPI programmes.
• Support the introduction of new products, processes, facilities, and equipment.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering, Project Management, and wider stakeholders to ensure readiness and successful implementation.

Continuous Improvement & Operational Excellence

• Act as the Manufacturing Hall Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence focal point.
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives delivering measurable business benefits.
• Drive Lean Manufacturing deployment across integrated project teams and operational areas.
• Deliver improvements in Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery and People metrics.

Financial & Capital Management

• Support capital investment planning and delivery.
• Manage budgets and ensure effective utilisation of resources.
• Work with engineering and project teams to ensure investments deliver predicted capability, capacity and business benefits.

What you will bring

• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, principles, and operational management.
• Proven experience leading and developing teams within a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrable experience within regulated manufacturing environments.
• Strong understanding of governance, compliance, documentation control, and audit requirements.
• Experience leading audit preparation and driving corrective and preventive actions.
• Ability to influence and drive change across multiple functions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven approach.
• Experience delivering process improvements and embedding sustainable ways of working.
• Broad understanding of product lifecycle and manufacturing processes.
• HND or higher qualification in an Engineering, Manufacturing, or related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.

• Lean Manufacturing qualification (Green Belt or equivalent).
• Continuous Improvement or Operational Excellence accreditation.
• Experience within aerospace, defence, electronics, or other highly regulated industries would be good but not essential

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!

Primary Location:

GB - Edinburgh

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hybrid Working:

Onsite