General Manager (Artisan Food Production)

1.0 FTE (permanent)

40 Hr per week, typically 08:30-17:00 over 5 days between Monday and Friday with a 30 min break (unpaid for lunch on days exceeding 6 Hr), with regular weekend work.

On site.

Location

The School of Artisan Food, Lower Motor Yard, Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, S80 3LR

Salary and benefits

£30,502-£37,099 p.a. dependent on qualifications and experience

Holiday entitlement: 33 days inclusive of bank holiday entitlement.  The Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day bank holidays will form part of the Christmas closure period for all employees.  The School will gift additional days leave to employees for the period following Boxing Day up to and including New Years Eve (Christmas closure).  Days will be allocated based on normal days worked.

 

Contributory company pension plan

Opportunities to access School of Artisan Food courses, additional professional development opportunities, and to gain certifications

The Welbeck Card – 9% staff cash discount plus ‘savings points’ at Welbeck Farm Shop, The Harley Gallery and The Portland Collection

Access to various discounts across the estate throughout the year, including School of Artisan Food Friends and Family Discounts, and discounts at Welbeck Holiday Cottages, Cuckney House, and Lady Margaret Hall bookings

Opportunity to join Westfield Health

Employee bike scheme

Monthly free drink at The Welbeck Abbey Brewery on the last Friday of every month for all employees. Family and pets welcome!

 

Role Description

Based on the Welbeck Estate in North Nottinghamshire, The School of Artisan Food is a unique food education provider, attracting students and customers from around the world to a wide range of food production courses.  The School of Artisan Food is a registered charity and as a not-for-profit institution is committed to providing the widest possible access to its facilities.

We are seeking a dynamic and forward-thinking General Manager to lead efficient and effective operations across The School of Artisan Food, enabling the seamless delivery our entire offer, ensuring the highest standards of quality, student and customer satisfaction are upheld.  This role involves working closely with colleagues, volunteers, tutors, students, customers, suppliers, clients and others.  Careful resource management is an important part of the role, as are the design/ implementation of innovative processes/ procedures to support optimal working practice.  At The School of Artisan Food, we foster a culture of excellence to ensure we prioritise continuous operational improvement to support the School's mission.

Duties

• Design, implement and train out processes and procedures supportive of seamless, day-to-day operations across all aspects of The School’s work, including those critical for timetabling/ scheduling, logistics, coordination and delivery of artisan food education activity.
• Drawing on your broad and deep understanding of artisan food production, in collaboration with the Sales & Marketing Manager and CEO, ensure our short course, CPD and bespoke offer remain under constant review, evaluating relevance, sales, fill-rates, price point, costs and customer experience to inform and innovate our offer.
• Oversee/ lead the workstream that supports the preparation of short course, CPD and bespoke (commercial) handouts/ materials and the engagement/ booking of new and existing tutors to ensure outstanding delivery of these activities.
• In collaboration with the Operations Manager (Resources), lead the Technical, administrative, procurement, cleaning and facilities teams, coordinating their activity and input across The School.
• Drive the efficiency of procurement of high-quality ingredients, equipment, and materials needed for classes, courses, hospitality, events and any other relevant activities/ workstreams across The School.
• Develop, manage and report on the operations (delivery) budget, establishing robust ways to comprehensively monitor expenditure and save, adopting processes and/ or technologies to enhance efficiency.
• Prioritise The School’s compliance with all regulations relevant to our operational delivery (e.g., safe procurement, receiving, recording and reporting on donated items) and remain abreast of relevant charity/ non-profit legislation.
• Procure suitable, cost-efficient all-staff training and specialist training for techs/ procurement/ admin and request any relevant background checks (including DBS checks), maintaining The School’s central training/ background checks record.
• Work closely with tutors, customers, clients, partner organisations, suppliers, contractors etc. to ensure our operational activity adheres to our ethos, is compliant of extant or new policies/ requirements and is aligned with the school's mission.
• Maintain and report on The School’s assets for both management accounting and to inform operations/ planning.
• Lead the ‘bespoke’ workstream, pro-actively horizon scanning for opportunities and ensuring our systems enable us to respond efficiently to all enquiries.
• Spearhead the delivery for bespoke for commercial/ private/ business clients and collaboratively facilitate delivery of bespoke for charitable/ social impact with the Director of Social Impact.
• Prepare regular reports on operational performance, the customer/ client experience, and compliance for stakeholders and Trustees.
• Actively and positively promote the profile of both The School of Artisan Food and its offer, recognising and adopting appropriate tone and reflecting our values and standards.
• Lead and manage reportees, fostering a proactive culture of excellence and innovation.
• As a member of the leadership team, seek out and share opportunities for income generation or charitable impact, in line with our mission, vision and values and to offer appropriate strategic leadership relevant to the post.
• Contribute, as a School of Artisan Food employee, to the day-to-day workings of The School as required, including responding to incoming calls, monitoring central inboxes (if asked), and acting as Manager-in-Charge on select days (shared across the leadership team, by negotiation) across the calendar year.

 

 

Application Process

To apply for this position, please send maximum 2-page CV and succinct cover letter explaining how you meet the person specification to recruitment@welbeck.co.uk no later than 5pm on Monday 12^th May 2025, however we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications ahead of the advertised deadline.

If you would like to discuss this post informally, please call Jenny Paxman, Chief Executive Officer, on 01909 532171 or email jenny.paxman@schoolofartisanfood.org or call Jack Arkless or Chris Collins (Operations Managers) on 01909 532171.

Person Specification

Qualifications and/or experience 

	Example	Essential/ Desirable
Proven leadership and management experience	Demonstrated ability to lead diverse teams and manage operational delivery effectively	Essential
Experience in artisan food production	Previous hands-on or role overseeing artisan food production, with relevant broad industry knowledge	Essential
Budget management experience	Managed operational budgets, demonstrating cost-saving initiatives	Essential
Strategic planning experience	Able to support the development and execution of long-term strategies for organisational growth	Essential
Understanding of industry trends	Knowledge of current artisan food production practices and regulations	Desirable
Relevant academic qualifications	Formal qualification in business administration or a related field	Desirable
Experience in a similar managerial role	Held a significant position such as department manager or regional manager or operations manager in artisan food production or related field	Desirable

 

 

 

 

Skills and behaviours

	Example	Essential/ Desirable
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills	Has fostered demonstrably positive relationships with colleagues, suppliers, and clients	Essential
Problem-solving and decision-making skills	Applied innovative solutions to resolve logistical or operational challenges	Essential
Ability to work independently and collaboratively	Successfully worked on solo projects and as part of cross-functional teams	Essential
Skilled in food artisan production/ techniques	E.g., hands-on skills in artisan butchery, bakery, patisserie, viennoiserie or similar preferable	Desirable
Financial performance management	Conducted analysis of operational budgets, identifying savings opportunities	Essential
Initiative and innovation	Designed processes that improved organisational efficiency and customer satisfaction	Desirable
Commitment to continuous improvement	Proactively led efforts to enhance operational workflows and staff training	Essential