Custom Solutions Manufacturing Manager

We're looking for a Custom Solutions (CS) Manufacturing Manager, you’ll lead the production of high-quality Custom Solutions (CS) assemblies at our Bristol facility, ensuring exceptional performance and zero customer disappointments. Reporting to the Innovations Director, you will oversee day-to-day operations, drive continuous improvement, and ensure compliance with Swagelok Quality System (SQS), ISO 9001, and internal standards.

You’ll play a key role in shaping our manufacturing processes—optimising production planning, resource allocation, and lean workflows. Beyond operations, you'll lead and develop a skilled team of fabricators through hands-on coaching, training, and mentoring, supporting scalability and long-term growth.

Location: Bristol

Salary: £ Competitive

Reporting to: Innovations Director

Department: Manufacturing

Full time

 

Key responsibilities

 

Customer fulfilment

  • Define, monitor, and deliver daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual targets/objectives, including personnel development, efficiency, profitability, and sales.
  • Ensure on-time delivery of all customer orders as scheduled, escalating any deviations to the Innovations Director.
  • Validate completed jobs to confirm that the profitability of shipped assemblies/systems meets agreed-upon levels when quoted.

Technical competency

  • Apply knowledge of product design, assembly, tooling, and materials to establish manufacturing concerns and provide feedback to the technical team.

Quality (policies & procedures)

  • Assure product and process quality by complying with SQS-D and ISO 9001 standards. Confirm and establish procedures around current SOPs, assembly inspections, testing methods, tooling maintenance, and non-conformances.
  • Ensure that change control processes are managed and followed.
  • Take responsibility for achieving personal ARD goals/targets.

Health & safety

  • Maintain responsibility for personal and CS associates’ Health and Safety, ensuring compliance with relevant policies and practices.

Associate appraisals & developments

  • Conduct timely performance appraisals (PDPs) for direct reports, using clear metrics and objectives.
  • Provide ongoing feedback and coaching to address performance gaps and encourage skill enhancement.
  • Collaborate with HR and SLT to identify talent gaps and succession needs, ensuring a robust talent pipeline.
  • Encourage professional growth by recommending training programs, courses, or certifications aligned with career paths.
  • Foster an environment of open communication, recognition, and continuous improvement to maintain high associate engagement and retention.
  • Address any associate issues or concerns proactively, referring to HR where necessary.

Representation

  • Continually develop strong relationships with Swagelok Corporate associates to positively reflect on Swagelok Bristol and support corporate business objectives.
  •  Understand Swagelok’s history and culture, representing the Organisation’s values and ethos professionally in all interactions. 

Skills and experience required

Qualifications | Essential

  • Minimum of 5 years’ of relevant experience
  • Proven success with process, project or business management.
  • HND in technical discipline or business experience of communicating to broad spread of job functions and levels of seniority / responsibility.

Qualifications | Preferred

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent in a relevant discipline.
  • Management & leadership qualifications
  • Knowledge of standard project planning tools.
  • Manufacturing process improvement experience.
  • Trained in office productivity tools i.e. MS Office, CRM etc.

Experience | Essential

  • Strong leadership capabilities and change management experience.
  • Working knowledge of customer systems and ability converse at a technical level to establish customer need.
  • Presence combined with presentation skills.
  • Able to juggle multiple tasks with deftness and attention to deadlines.
  • Ability to read and interpret CAD/P&ID drawings.
  • Highly comfortable with SAP, HubSpot and SharePoint systems.

Experience | Preferred

  • Experience of working with technically diverse team members.
  • Experience of participating in or running business development projects.

Skills/Knowledge | Essential

  • Business and financial acumen allowing for profitability and pricing analysis.
  • Ability to work under pressure to strict deadlines.
  • Ability to manage resource effectively.
  • Ability to analyse processes and procedures to implement continuous improvements.
  • Good application, market and industry knowledge.
  • Good communications skills, both written and verbal.

Skills/Knowledge | Preferred

  • Knowledge of competitors and our differentiable values
  • Supply chain management and costing mechanisms therein.
  •  Ability to analyse working practices and establish working efficiencies and true costs / profitability. 


  

Apply Now

To apply for this position, please submit your CV by clicking the Apply now button.


What we offer

  • Competitive salary
  • EE/ER DV Pension
  • 26 days holidays + bank holidays
  • Health cover
  • Critical illness cover
  • Life insurance
  • Eligibility for the company bonus scheme

Photography-Associate Lab-33

Why join us

At Swagelok Central, we’re committed to delivering quality, innovation, and excellent service. You’ll join a supportive, forward-thinking team where your creativity can thrive and make a genuine impact. We offer a collaborative culture, ongoing development opportunities, and the chance to help shape how we communicate with our customers and our team


Our values

 

  • Integrity - Choose to do the right thing with courage and character
  • Quality - Provide high value performance in our products, processes and services
  • Innovation - Challenge conventional wisdom to create new value for the customer
  • Continuous improvement - Systematically and consistently do things better
  • Customer focus - Create value for the customer to create value for Swagelok
  • Respect for the individual - Commit to the success of each associate through an environment where people are trusted, respected and treated fairly

Values_Blue-1