About Brompton:
Brompton Bicycle is not just a brand; it's a symbol of innovative urban mobility. Founded in London in 1975, we have become a bit of a global icon, with our easily recognisable design and unwavering commitment to making city cycling smarter and more accessible.
At the heart of our success is our ingenious foldable bike – a testament to British engineering excellence. The compact and portable bicycles have revolutionised urban transportation, offering a practical and eco-friendly solution for navigating bustling cityscapes.
Our dedication to sustainability, quality craftsmanship, and stylish design has earned us a loyal following of cycling enthusiasts and commuters worldwide. We are on a mission to create greener, more efficient cities and dedicated to our motto – Create Urban Freedom for Happier Lives.
If you're ready to pedal your career in a new direction and be a part of something truly special, read on to learn more about this exciting opportunity!
The role:
Brompton is looking for an exceptional Operations leader to play a key role in supporting our transition from a legacy manufacturing model focused on a single, mass-configurable product to a dynamic product development business focused on a range of flexible product platforms and architectures. Our focus is to meet the growing customer demand for our existing product as well as developing our production processes and operational capabilities approaches to meet the increased complexities of our multi-product future.
In this critical role, you will lead the production, manufacturing engineering, and facilities and maintenance teams. You’ll be based primarily at our Greenford manufacturing facility, with oversight responsibilities extending to our second satellite site in Sheffield.
This is an exciting opportunity to shape and lead the operational transformation of a renowned brand as we scale and innovate to meet future demands.
Key Responsibilities:
Production Management:
- Responsible for manufacturing operations, including factory production, financial performance, meeting customer requirements, and ensuring efficient, smooth operations.
- Work closely with planning and factory managers to maintain daily production plans.
- Lead risk assessment processes, ensuring adherence to safety protocols in manufacturing.
- Provide leadership, coaching, and training to ensure team success in meeting operational, financial and personal metrics.
- Create and manage reports to track progress and communicate actions to Chiefs and Board.
- Provide technical expertise across production areas, ensuring KPIs and OKRs align with the strategic plan.
- Maintaining a structured and efficient production environment driving continuous operational improvements.
Strategy and Development:
- Lead manufacturing and facilities activities, shaping vision, strategy, and process improvements.
- Identify risks and challenges, implementing actions to mitigate these.
- Contribute to the overall business strategy, including budget processes.
- Drive innovative manufacturing processes and ensure compliance with environmental, health, safety, and quality standards.
General and Task Management:
- Partner with Supply chain, Quality and Customer Service to uphold a customer-focused operational culture, delivering world-class customer satisfaction.
- Coordinate team activities to optimise cost performance through capital investment programmes, maximising working capital and minimising waste.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, driven by lean principles and clear strategic development.
- Collaborate with planning teams to ensure the timely delivery of production schedules.
- Work alongside Digital teams to support manufacturing operations through ERP and control systems.
- Contribute to New Product Introduction (NPI) by ensuring manufacturability, quality, safety, and environmental compliance.
- Oversee the introduction of new products and ensure production readiness.
Financial and Budget Management:
- Input and hold responsibility for manufacturing and facilities budgets.
- Prepare the annual Operations budget and forecasts.
- Oversee and sponsor Operations capital expenditure proposals.
- Responsible for stock movements, transfers, and stock takes, ensuring accurate control and appropriate WIP levels to maintain consistent production and flexibility within a lean environment.
Relationship Management:
- Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to drive optimal performance and implement best practices.
- Provide regular updates on manufacturing activities to Senior Management team, ensuring accurate and timely KPI reporting.
- Communicate the impact of technological changes and potential supply effects to stakeholders.
- Recommend cost-effective solutions that maintain quality and service.
- Contribute to new business initiatives, reviewing and communicating their impact on manufacturing activities.
Who you are:
- Strong leadership and management skills to optimise team performance and development
- Effective relationship management with the ability to engage, negotiate, and manage key stakeholders and suppliers
- Skilled negotiator with experience at all organisational levels
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and influencing abilities
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Results-oriented with the ability to meet project deadlines
- Commercially astute with experience in managing budgets
- Resilient, self-motivated, and capable of working well under pressure
- Technical mindset
- Cultural awareness and ability to resolve cross-cultural issues positively
Desired Experience:
- Degree in a relevant engineering/manufacturing discipline or equivalent NVQ Level 7 qualification
- Demonstrated complex problem-solving skills, with examples of effective resolutions
- Strong leadership, communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills
- Experience in managing production environments and meeting cost, quality, and delivery targets
- Proactive, responsive, and flexible to production issues and opportunities
- Experience managing workloads to meet schedules
- Leadership experience with a focus on team building through effective communication
- Ability to work across departments, promoting open communication and demonstrating emotional intelligence
- Ability to perform under pressure with clarity, calmness, and decisive authority
- Meticulous attention to detail and ability to learn new technologies quickly
- Experience with lean and continuous improvement methodologies
- Familiarity with ERP systems in production environments
- Six Sigma experience is a plus
- Fellow or Chartered Member of an industry-related Professional Body
You might not tick all the boxes, and that’s okay, we still encourage you to apply. Here at Brompton we are always looking for people that share the same values and attitudes as we do, as we continue to build diverse teams and a sense of community which is made stronger by each new individual who joins.
Benefits at Brompton:
Brompton offers you an excellent working environment with enthusiastic colleagues who get along, communicate and co-operate well with each other. The working climate is informal, but we work hard. Next to good terms of employment, Brompton offers you the opportunity to work in a responsible and challenging job within a dynamic, international and ambitious environment. We are all proud to be part of Brompton Bicycle Ltd; we all share the same passion and dedication to the company and the product, despite any differences in cultural backgrounds and skills.
- Flexible working
- 9 Day Fortnight – This is a flexible working pattern which individuals can opt in for where an employee works their contractual hours across 9 days instead of 10 days. (i.e. 80 hours across 9 days instead of 10 days). This means the individual would work an additional hour across Monday to Thursday (across the 2-week period) to gain their Friday off.
- Annual Leave – 25 days annual leave, plus all UK bank holidays.
- Competitive Salary – Plus workplace pension scheme and profit share bonus.
- Brompton Discount - Get ready to bike in style, as all employee’s receive up to 60% off their very own bike and accessories, plus there are discounts for your friends and family too.
- Social activities - Throughout the year enjoy time with your colleagues as we host an annual Summer and Christmas party, annual bike rides (both inside and outside the UK), Birthday breakfast, volunteering activities and family fun days just to name a few.
- Learning and Development - Access to free LinkedIn Learning and opportunity to devote some of your time at work to personal development. We value professional development and actively promote internal promotions and opportunities.
- Benefits - Workplace Pension Scheme, Care and Health Support, Flexible Working, Cycle to Work Scheme and other benefits.
- Mental Health – We provide access to a confidential EAP that offers counselling, resources and support for various mental health challenges. There’s also Head Space, Brompton’s approved wellness program for employees.
- Paid Leave – We offer an enhanced Family, Paternity and Maternity leave pay.
Brompton was listed amongst the best UK workplaces in 2020 and was awarded silver investors in People Accreditation and London Living Wage Employer in 2021.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Commitment
Regardless of age, disability, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, culture, educational background, parental status, neurodiversity or disability - whoever you are, if you’re passionate about your work, curious, relentless and customer-obsessed, we want to hear from you.
