Operational Excellence Consultant

Operational Excellence Consultant

Salary: £80,000 + High-Performance Bonus (Aligned with Efficiency Targets)

Location: Hybrid / Site visits required

Reporting to: CCO

Contract: Full-Time, Permanent

The Opportunity

Our client is an ambitious group portfolio of catering businesses scaling toward a £250m+ turnover. To support this growth, they are transitioning from organic expansion to disciplined, profitable scaling. They are seeking a high-calibre Operational Excellence Consultant to act as a strategic catalyst for efficiency.

This is not a traditional "process audit" role. Sitting entirely outside standard departmental silos, you will report directly to the CCO. You will have the mandate to enter any site, challenge the status quo, and implement Lean methodologies that protect and expand margins across a diverse portfolio.

The Mission: 10x ROI

Success in this role is measured by a clear, audited KPI: Generating 10x your annual salary in verified operational efficiencies. You will achieve this through a dual-track strategy:

1. The Multiplier Effect: Training and empowering cohorts of site-level management.

2. Transformational Projects: Executing high-impact, business-wide "Black Belt" initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Independence: Identify systemic waste and efficiency leaks across all group companies. Work directly with the CCO to prioritise projects based on commercial impact and ROI.

• Capability Building: Design and lead Yellow Belt Lean training for operational managers. Mentor site leaders to identify "MUDA" (waste) in labour, food, energy, and logistics.

• Transformational Execution: Personally lead 2–3 major "Black Belt" projects per year focused on business-wide transformation (e.g., procurement logistics, labour automation, and utility strategies).

• Standardisation: Eliminate knowledge silos by standardising best practices across the entire portfolio.

• Audit & Reporting: Develop a framework for verifying savings with the finance teams and provide transparent "Efficiency Impact Reports" to the Leadership team.

The Ideal Profile

• Qualifications: Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (or a highly experienced Green Belt with a track record of Black Belt-level results).

• Experience: Proven background in high-volume catering, hospitality, or FMCG/Manufacturing is highly desirable.

• Commercial Acumen: You must understand a P&L as well as you understand a process map—viewing "seconds saved" as "pounds earned."

• Influence: The ability to walk onto a site and win the "hearts and minds" of managers, convincing them to change long-standing habits without direct authority.

• Startup Mindset: Comfortable in a fast-paced environment where you must build processes from scratch rather than just following existing ones.

Why This Role Matters

• Unprecedented Access: Direct reporting to the CCO and total operational autonomy.

• Direct Impact: You won't be a cog in the machine; you will be the one fine-tuning the machine itself.

• Scalable Growth: As the business grows to £250m and beyond, your role and influence will scale accordingly.

Pineapple Recruitment is acting as a Recruitment Agency on behalf of our client for this vacancy.