Production Director Thomas Fawcett & Sons

Thomas Fawcett & Sons is one of Britain’s oldest independent maltsters — family-owned across eight generations and operating from the same Castleford site since 1809. We supply malted grains to craft brewers, distillers and food producers across the UK and internationally, combining traditional floor malting with modern germination and kilning technology.

Following the planned retirement of our long-serving Production Director, we are seeking an exceptional operational leader to take full accountability for our Castleford site.

Joining in early 2027, you will work alongside the incumbent through a structured handover, before assuming full responsibility for production, quality, technical, H&S, engineering, people, barley purchasing and site financial performance.

This is a genuinely broad leadership role, with full site P&L accountability and direct influence from the shop floor to the main board. You will lead a team of around 50 people and play a central role in our next phase of modernisation — including digital systems, data capture, automation, energy efficiency and future capacity investment.

We are looking for someone who:
• Has senior operational leadership experience in malting, brewing, distilling, food or grain processing.
• Has held full P&L/site financial responsibility.
• Has a strong track record in people leadership, H&S, quality and industrial/union relations.
• Can earn the respect of experienced operational teams while engaging confidently with customers, suppliers and the board.
• Brings the ambition and commercial breadth to grow with the business.
• Ideally has led modernisation or digital transformation within a traditional manufacturing environment.

Applications from candidates already eligible to work in the UK only please.

If you are an experienced operational leader looking for the opportunity to take genuine ownership of a unique manufacturing site and ultimately grow into a broader leadership role, please contact our retained recruiter Julie Carling at Carling Recruitment.
julie.carling@carlingrecruitment.com + 44 1483 893 100