Production Readiness Lead

Job Title: Production Readiness Lead Location: Rugeley Salary: £DOE The Role Are you experienced in scaling production within complex engineering environments? As a dedicated talent partner to ESCO Maritime, we are looking to hire a Production Readiness Lead to drive their capability to meet increasing programme demand and production rates. This is a pivotal role where you will lead a cross-functional readiness programme, ensuring engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, test, and facilities are fully aligned and capable of delivering safely, reliably, and at scale. What you will be doing: Define and deliver the production readiness strategy to support growth Lead cross-functional coordination across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, and more Drive structured readiness planning (scope, schedule, cost, dependencies) Implement methodologies such as APQP, Lean, and value stream mapping Oversee production trials, pilot runs, and run-at-rate readiness Identify capability gaps and implement solutions across people, process, and systems Lead readiness reviews, reporting, and stakeholder engagement (internal & customer-facing)What we are looking for: Proven experience in production ramp-up, industrialisation, or manufacturing readiness Strong understanding of engineering-to-manufacturing transition Experience in complex, regulated environments (defence, aerospace, marine desirable) Knowledge of APQP, Lean, Six Sigma or similar Excellent planning, stakeholder management, and communication skills Ability to operate both strategically and hands-onIf you are someone who can bring structure to complexity and drive real production outcomes, this is the opportunity for you. ***PLEASE NOTE*** Security Clearance (SC) or eligibility to gain is required to be considered for this vacancy Services advertised by Gold Group are those of an Agency and/or an Employment Business. We will contact you within the next 14 days if you are selected for interview. For a copy of our privacy policy please visit our website