Interim CEO/MD/Operations Director / Manufacturing Turnaround Leader | PE-Backed Transformation & Scale-Up
This executive brings more than 13 years of interim leadership experience, supported by a strong permanent career in manufacturing, packaging and operational leadership. Their work is centred on helping businesses move from instability to control, whether through turnaround, scale-up, restructuring, integration or management transition. They are highly experienced in diagnosing operational weaknesses quickly and converting those findings into practical plans that improve service, productivity, margin and customer confidence.
They have significant private equity exposure, having delivered multiple assignments in PE-backed manufacturing and industrial businesses. Their work has included direct reporting to investor stakeholders, stabilising underperforming sites, supporting buy-and-build growth plans, improving EBITDA, preparing businesses for relocation or sale, and handing over to permanent leadership teams once stability has been restored.
Well suited to interim Operations Director, Manufacturing Turnaround Lead, General Manager or Transformation Director roles, they bring a hands-on and commercially grounded approach. Their ability to work across the factory floor, senior leadership team and investor stakeholders makes them particularly valuable for PE-backed industrial businesses requiring rapid operational improvement, turnaround execution or scalable manufacturing performance.
Led a seven-month transformation assignment for a PE-invested passive fire protection manufacturer, supporting scale-up plans to double turnover within three years, improving OTIF from 36% to 96% and delivering a 1% gross margin gain through shift pattern redesign.
Delivered a nine-month turnaround of a PE-backed timber products manufacturing site, improving OTIF from 57% to 79%, increasing productivity by 15% and returning the business to sustained positive EBITDA after 18 months of underperformance.
Led a cash release and waste reduction project for a £60m aluminium manufacturing business, unlocking more than £1m from aged quarantined stock and implementing process improvements to save £300k per annum in production waste.
As Interim General Manager for a PE-backed global labels group, led business transition, relocation and restructuring, improving plan conformance from 75% to 90%, OTIF from 65% to 90%, implementing €2m CAPEX projects and increasing EBITDA from 17% to 20%.
About the Candidate
This interim executive is a highly experienced manufacturing-focused operations and transformation leader with a strong track record delivering turnaround, scale-up and operational improvement across PE-backed, FTSE 250, public, private and family-owned businesses. With extensive experience as Interim Managing Director, General Manager, Operations Director and Transformation Lead, they are typically engaged where manufacturing operations need stabilising, productivity needs improving, or leadership teams require experienced support through periods of change.
They are particularly effective in private equity-backed environments where speed, commercial discipline and measurable improvement are essential. Their expertise spans operational turnaround, site recovery, manufacturing scale-up, OTIF improvement, productivity gains, cost reduction, management transition, IT platform implementation, business relocation, restructuring and CAPEX-led growth. Known for calm, practical and objective leadership, they quickly diagnose operational issues, align teams around clear KPIs and deliver sustainable performance improvement.