Overview
As General Manager, you will lead the PET recycling site to deliver safe, compliant, and profitable operations. You will guide the site management team, owning P&L, budget, and performance targets while aligning with the company’s sustainability mission. You will navigate complex regulatory and market dynamics to optimise feedstock, yield, and product quality, shaping continuous improvement across the full recycling process. This role offers impact at scale, working closely with cross-functional peers to deliver the business plan and drive responsible growth. A strong hook: lead a high-impact facility within a leading UK PET recycler, shaping performance, compliance, and value creation.
Pay / Benefits
- Competitive salary
- Company pension
- Free on-site parking
- Training and professional development opportunities
Responsibilities
- Take full responsibility for safe, compliant and profitable site operation, delivering P&L, EBITDA, budget and targets.
- Lead, coach and develop the site management team to foster ownership, accountability and high performance.
- Manage drivers of site profitability: feedstock cost, PRN value, yield, throughput, energy, labour, maintenance, waste and finished product quality.
- Drive performance across the PET recycling process.
- Ensure robust quality management system and product quality controls.
- Establish and monitor KPIs for H&S, throughput, yield, mass balance, recovery, plant availability, downtime, quality, energy and financials.
- Lead site-wide continuous improvement and resolve recurring issues.
- Oversee maintenance, asset reliability and capital investment plans for safe operation.
- Maintain compliance with Environmental Permits and waste/packaging regulations.
- Collaborate with Commercial, Procurement, Finance, Engineering and Quality teams to align market understanding with operations.
- Provide timely reporting to Board and senior leadership, flagging concerns and recommending actions.
- Own site performance and ensure timely delivery of actions.
Key requirements
- Significant senior management experience in PET recycling, plastics recycling, polymer processing or related manufacturing.
- Proven P&L responsibility with budgeting, forecasting and target delivery.
- Strong knowledge of PET recycling processes, including feedstock/bale quality and conversion to pellet.
- Commercial understanding of feedstock cost, PRN value, yield and profitability.
- Proven ability to lead and develop management teams and drive continuous improvement.
- Experience improving safety, quality, yield, throughput, reliability and operating cost in a complex manufacturing operation.
- Good understanding of regulatory environment for recycling and waste processing.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Experience reporting operational and financial performance to Boards or senior executives.
- Strong communication skills and ability to challenge performance and make site decisions.
- Leadership and people development
- Strategic thinking and decision making
- Strong communication and stakeholder management
- PET recycling process knowledge (feedstock, bale, sorting, washing, flake production, pellet conversion)
- Understanding of PRNs/PERNs, EPR, Plastic Packaging Tax, DRS and environmental permitting
- Data-driven KPI design and performance management
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