General Manager
Ely
As the General Manager for our Ely site, you will be responsible for developing a highly effective site leadership team. Working closely with various teams and managers, both on site and in the wider cluster and business, we want you to provide exemplary leadership to our employees, demonstrating our core values and management standards, ensuring that we embed a culture of employee engagement, with world class health and safety standards.
You should be able to create an environment of continuous improvement across site, developing systems and processes to track and optimise productivity. All of this must be delivered safely whilst maintaining disciplined cost control to ensure that the site maintains profitability.
About the Role
The General Manager of our Ely site, you will be the driving force behind creating a high-performing, safety-first culture. Reporting directly to the Cluster Director, you will be entrusted with leading the Ely site leadership team and will hold full P&L responsibility.
You will inspire, coach, and empower a team of senior managers who report directly to you across Health & Safety, Quality & Compliance, Co-Pack, Production, Supply Chain, and Engineering. Together, you will ensure every colleague feels engaged, supported, and part of a safe and successful workplace.
By modelling our core values and management standards, you will embed leadership in action—keeping people and health & safety at the heart of operational excellence. All improvements, productivity gains, and profitability targets must be achieved with disciplined cost control, but never at the expense of employee wellbeing.
- Setting the long-term vision and direction of the site in alignment with DS Smith’s Retail Marketing strategy
- Delivering consistent, high-quality operations with a strong emphasis on safety, efficiency, sustainability, and continuous improvement
- Acting as a cultural leader—developing people, building engagement, and driving a performance-based yet collaborative environment
- Representing Ely within DS Smith’s senior leadership community, contributing to strategic decision-making and influencing the future direction of our Retail Marketing offering
- Playing a key role in delivering growth and innovation, ensuring Ely remains at the forefront of sustainable, data-driven, and impactful retail marketing solutions
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives—lean, waste reduction, productivity, and quality
- Owning P&L responsibility for the site
- Controlling budgets and driving cost efficiency while investing in transformational projects as needed
This is a rare opportunity to lead a complex, high-profile site that combines cutting-edge manufacturing with client innovation—making a tangible difference for both DS Smith and some of the world’s biggest retail and consumer brands.
About You
- Significant experience in senior operational leadership, ideally as Plant Manager or Operations Director
- Proven track record in running facilities with advanced technologies—preferably in print, display, packaging, or FMCG sectors
- Strong results orientation and ability to simultaneously drive safety, quality, efficiency, and innovation
- Excellent strategic thinker with experience translating vision into operational reality
- Financial acumen—experience managing budgets, P&L, and capital investments
- Leadership excellence—skilled in developing teams, creating positive culture, and delivering sustained performance improvements
- Customer-focused mindset—comfortable working with marketing and account functions to deliver exceptional outcomes
- Strong change management and continuous improvement experience (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma)
What we can offer you:
Competitive salary
Qualifying Sick Pay scheme
Pension scheme & Life insurance
Share Save scheme
Income Protection
25 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
Employee Assistance Programme
Virtual GP, Occupational Health & free Flu vaccine
Cycle to Work and shopping discounts
We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!
“To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.”
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What We Do
DS Smith provides innovative packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services with a commitment to sustainability and a circular economy.
Our core purpose is to Redefine Packaging for a Changing World, and our expert teams work closely with like-minded partners to incorporate renewable resources for products that minimize our environmental impact, reduce complexity and increase profitability through supply chain optimization
