The Company

• Dowson Food Machinery is a privately-owned British engineering business that designs, manufactures, and supplies a highly innovative range of capital equipment to an international customer base in the bakery and food processing sector.

• Dowson provides installation and commissioning of its products, as well as a spares and service department, employing c.50 people at its head office. This is a modern and fully integrated facility, with mechanical design, engineering, production (machine shop and assembly), and supply chain functions represented on-site.

• Based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, the location offers a great quality of life, and is highly accessible.

The Role

• Reporting to the Group CEO, you will have full P&L, operational, commercial, and strategic responsibility for the Dowson Food Machinery business. Leading a management team across sales, finance, engineering and production, the new Managing Director will have a great opportunity to build on the company’s strong reputation within its industry.

• The successful candidate will inherit an experienced management team, with a depth of experience in each of their functions, and it will be essential for the new Managing Director to win the hearts and minds of this group, to be able to influence change and development across the organisation.

• The key task will be to enable the business to grow, through the development of its existing products within the UK and export markets, and the introduction of new innovative technology to the food sector – through the leadership and development of its engineering and commercial functions.

The Candidate

• This is a leadership role for an experienced MD / General Manager from an engineered capital equipment manufacturing business, with a track record of growing and developing an organisation through your positive and inclusive management style.

• Ideally, you will have a proven career from within the bakery or food processing world, although the organisation is open to considering candidates from adjacent sectors if they possess the necessary leadership and technical capabilities.

• Importantly, you will be commercially savvy, ambitious for growth, and a true all-rounder. Of graduate calibre, ideally with an engineering degree or similarly relevant qualification, you will have directly relevant knowledge of leading a manufacturing business of a similar or larger scale.

Should you wish to have an informal and confidential discussion before applying, please speak with our advisors at Berwick Partners; 

Jonathan Burke

0113 386 8525