Production Planner Manager

Overview

COMPOSITE Production Manager / Senior Production Planner — Portsmouth, Hampshire — Permanent | Salary DOE

We're working with a well-established composite manufacturing business in Portsmouth that supports high-spec programmes across advanced engineering sectors. Due to continued workload and growth, they're now looking to strengthen their leadership team with an experienced Production Manager — or a strong Senior Planner / Team Leader ready to step up.

This is a hands-on, shop-floor-focused role, suited to someone who understands composite production in detail and can bring structure, clarity, and leadership to a busy manufacturing environment.

You'll take responsibility for the day-to-day management of composite production, with a strong focus on planning, people, and quality, including:

• Production planning and scheduling across composite programmes
• Managing workflow through pre-preg lay-up, bagging, and autoclave processes
• Resource management — labour, skills, and capacity planning
• Oversight of quality control and build standards
• Working closely with engineering and quality teams to resolve issues
• Leading, motivating, and developing production teams
• Ensuring delivery targets are met without compromising quality

We're open to different backgrounds, but ideally you'll bring:

• Strong technical knowledge of pre-preg composites and autoclave processes
• Experience in production planning and shop-floor coordination
• Proven leadership or team-leading capability
• A structured, organised approach to production and people management
• Clear communication skills — able to work across departments
• A practical, solutions-focused mindset

Step-up candidates encouraged:
If you're currently a Senior Planner, Cell Leader, or Team Leader with the right technical grounding and leadership potential, we'd still like to hear from you.

• Salary to be agreed depending on experience and level
• Long-term opportunity within a stable, growing composites business

If you're a composite production professional who enjoys bringing order to complex manufacturing environments — and wants genuine influence on how things run — this is well worth a conversation