_{26th May, 2026}

Lead Manufacturing Excellence. Drive Performance. Shape the Future.
 
Dezignatek is one of New Zealand's leading manufacturers of premium decorative surfaces and cabinetry components, supplying innovative solutions for kitchens, bathrooms, and interior spaces across New Zealand.
 
We are seeking an exceptional manufacturing leader to join our leadership environment as our new Head of Manufacturing — a critical leadership role responsible for transforming and leading our manufacturing operations to deliver predictable, scalable, high-performing outcomes across safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost.
This is not a maintenance leadership role. This is an opportunity for a commercially minded operational leader to step into a business with significant opportunity for improvement, optimisation, and growth.
 
Reporting into senior leadership, this role is suited to an experienced manufacturing executive with the capability, ambition, and leadership maturity to influence at the highest levels of the business and potentially progress into broader strategic leadership in the future.
 
About the Role
The Head of Manufacturing owns and leads the end-to-end manufacturing system across Dezignatek's operations, ensuring production performance is planned, controlled, measured, and repeatable — not reactive.
The role is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational performance, and continuous improvement of all manufacturing activities and you will lead approximately 50 manufacturing team members through four direct reports.
This role requires a leader who can balance strategic thinking with operational execution — someone capable of building structure, accountability, capability, and a high-performance manufacturing culture.
 
Key Responsibilities

• Lead all manufacturing operations to deliver safe, efficient, predictable, and scalable performance
• Drive achievement of key operational KPIs including:
• Productivity
• DIFOTIS
• Quality
• Throughput
• Safety
• Cost performance
• Build robust manufacturing systems, processes, and operational disciplines
• Lead strategic production planning and forward capacity planning
• Drive root cause analysis, problem solving, and sustainable corrective actions
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence
• Coach, mentor, and develop Production Improvement Leads and broader manufacturing leadership capability
• Ensure manufacturing capability aligns with business growth objectives and customer expectations
• Manage operational budgets and deliver strong cost control outcomes
• Use data, analytics, and reporting to drive decision-making and performance improvement
• Champion accountability, ownership, and high standards across the manufacturing function
• Partner closely with senior leadership to contribute to broader business strategy and execution

About You
You are an experienced manufacturing leader who thrives in complex operational environments and knows how to create structure, stability, and performance.
 
You are commercially astute, highly analytical, and deeply operational — but equally capable of leading people, influencing culture, and driving strategic change.
You will likely bring:

• Extensive senior manufacturing leadership experience within New Zealand manufacturing environments
• Proven success leading medium-to-large manufacturing operations and multi-layered teams
• Strong experience driving operational transformation and continuous improvement initiatives
• Demonstrated capability improving productivity, DIFOT, quality, throughput, and cost performance
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including budget management and operational cost control
• Advanced problem-solving and root cause analysis capability
• Excellent leadership, coaching, and stakeholder management skills
• A hands-on, accountable leadership style with high personal standards
• Experience in custom manufacturing, cabinetry, interiors, engineered products, or related industries is highly advantageous

Why Join Dezignatek?
This is a rare opportunity to step into a highly influential manufacturing leadership role within a growing New Zealand business where you can make a genuine impact.
 
You will have the opportunity to:

• Shape the future manufacturing capability of the business
• Lead meaningful operational improvement and transformation
• Influence strategic business outcomes
• Develop high-performing teams and future leaders
• Work alongside an ambitious senior leadership group committed to growth and excellence

If you are a smart, driven, data-led manufacturing leader looking for your next significant challenge, we would love to hear from you.

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