Background

 

Butternut Box was founded in 2016 and has seen outstanding growth and significant investment during its rapid evolution. A certified B-Corp, Butternut Box is committed to doing better for the planet, people and dogs. In 2023, the business secured £280m of investment from General Atlantic and L Catterton. This significant investment has allowed the business to rapidly develop its international expansion plans. These plans centre around European expansion with Germany the next market to launch. Beyond that, there are a number of

markets that would be attractive considerations including: Austria, Czech Republic, Nordics, Italy and France.

 

Butternut Box fully acquired PsiBufet, a Polish Direct to Consumer dog food brand in 2023. This business provides a foothold from which to establish a new manufacturing plant to serve these markets. As it stands, the business currently serves c.295,000 dogs with 200,000 in the UK, 30,000 in Poland, 20,000 in Benelux and 15,000 in Ireland. To achieve the growth demands will require the UK factory, ‘Rudie’s Kitchen’, to deliver increased output whilst a new Polish operation is commissioned and brought online.

 

The new site is in Zabrze. This new site will be 400,000 sqft (compared to the original UK site at 150,000sqft) and will eventually have 8 lines with the capacity to produce 1,200T per week.

 

Work is required to ready the building for food manufacturing, and this is underway. Once this is completed, equipment will be installed to allow a fulfilment operation to be moved from

an established site. It isn’t anticipated that many of the existing team will move so a new team will need to be recruited and trained to allow first orders to be processed by Summer 2025. Further equipment is being installed and commissioned in readiness for the first production to commence by the beginning of July 2025. Again, a production team will need to be recruited and trained to make this possible. It is envisaged that much of this training will utilise the knowledge and experience gained at Rudie’s.

 

To achieve these goals, a number of key hires need to be made. Initially, a Site Director has been recruited due to start January 2025. A Project Manager has also been appointed from August 2024 to work alongside the project management company who are managing the civil aspects of the site development. A number of additional leadership roles will be required including a Technical Manager, Engineering Manager, People Manager and Operations Manager.

 

It is expected that the Site Director, Project Manager, People Manager, Engineering Manager and Operations Manager will work together to build a team and ready the site for operation from July 2025.

 

Our Values & ways of working

 

A business with people at the very core.  The company has great employee retention and prides itself on giving everyone the chance to stretch themselves in a supportive and inclusive environment.

 

The business’ values are: Dedicated and Determined; Open and Honest; Genuine Care; Strive for Better and For the Love of Dogs.

Recruitment process for Senior Roles

 

• Screen/interview Michael Page
• Video interview Operations Director Butternut & Talent & Development Manager
• Face to face interview in Poland with Site visit
• Site visit to UK to meet Senior Butternut stakeholders

Technical Manager

Zabrze

Technical Manager

📣 A bit about the role

This is an exciting opportunity to join a  high growth manufacturing business on a greenfield site, Butternut Box. The Technical Manager will sit on the site leadership team and will report to the Site Director and European Head of Technical, leading the Technical function of Butternut in Poland.

In Butternut things move quickly and as Technical Manager you'll have experience and passion for process improvement, skills development and engaging teams through high growth and / or change.  

An integral part of this role is to take the team on a scaling journey, the way we do a task today won't be the way we do it tomorrow, there will be evolution with growth, your role is to communicate and ensure passion.

 

The Technical Manager will have a fundamental role in establishing the manufacturing credentials of the new site.

You will face many challenges but will have the resilience, ingenuity, creativity and capability to adapt to the circumstances and, working with the wider team, will create systems, processes and, ultimately, a working environment that matches the aspirations of the business.

 

As part of the role:

You will work closely with the Head of Compliance in the UK to embed the processes and systems required to effectively manage safety, legality and quality of all Butternut/PsiBufet products, using and tailoring the existing processes from Rudie’s Kitchen in the UK.

Develop a great team who are able to manage the day-to-day technical challenges at site whilst succession planning for future growth.

Support in identifying and developing Technical KPI improvement initiatives relevant for this

site.

Work with Compliance and Supplier Quality Assurance to ensure that Sam’s Kitchen

maintains their accreditations and customer standards, and that APHA controls

and plans are adhered to and developed in conjunction with the business need.

Develop strong internal collaboration, based on the company values, between

key teams such as Production, Engineering and Operations whilst also cultivating external relationships with Customers and Suppliers.

 

Provide strategic technical support to assist the sites in achieving its longer-

term goals and priorities.

 

Support the leadership team in creating a high-performing environment and a

culture of achievement together with a strong focus on food safety, quality

and compliance.

 

Technical Requirements:

• A people-centric mindset but with the commercial acumen to focus on doing

the right thing for the business and the customer.

• Experience in the legal and operating stands requirements for Poland, whilst considering the wider European market
• Lives the values of the business, creating an open culture and promoting a

collaborative approach across all functions.

• A leader, motivator, and an excellent influencer with the ability to tackle

complex challenges and create simple solutions.

• A highly pragmatic and adaptable approach, given the scale of change,

backed by strong intellectual rigour and a results focused style.

• High energy levels and an understanding of the commitment that is required to

help shape the future success of the site.

• Experience of working in a high-calibre manufacturing environment.
• High levels of resilience will be needed to cope with the wide range of challenges and opportunities that are presented. Someone who sees change as an opportunity and not a problem.

Our Culture & Values:

• Be a culture carrier, leading by example and proactively upholding the Butternut Box values in everything you do! 
• Ensure team members have a clear understanding of our company and team goals and their part in helping to achieve this, and help ensure the teams are provided with the resources to achieve this.
• Develop a highly motivated and inclusive team while adopting an open, visible, and supportive management style.
• Confidently undertake meaningful and regular 1:1’s with Squad members, ensuring they feel heard and that their feedback is important to you. You’ll consider their career aspirations, skills and background and tailor your style to their needs.
• Ensure the site always operates at 'audit ready' standards and promote a proactive quality culture within the team.
• Ensure people policies and procedures are applied correctly and consistently across the team and a high performance bar is set.

Communication & Partnership:

• Messages and key communications are delivered to the teams and key stakeholders in a timely and accurate manner. You’ll have an excellent awareness of how your communication style impacts on others and you’ll tailor this to your audience. 
• Be an active part of the Site Management team, supporting the Site Director as a functional expert to achieve the best possible and aligned outputs and improvements.
• Work collaboratively with a cross functional team, including but not limited to, Finance, Procurement, People, Operations and Engineering.

A bit about you

• Loves dogs (naturally)
• Strong experience within the fast-moving consumer goods market (FMCG), preferably gained in the food industry within a team oriented culture
• Awareness of continuous improvement concepts and practices.
• Understanding of Health and Safety best practice and current legislative requirements
• A good level of experience gained in a high-speed volume manufacturing environment
• Supervisory experience with broad working knowledge of relevant safety legislation
• Pragmatic, adaptable, resilient and humble
• Well-practiced planning, organisation and scheduling skills
• Someone who loves the pace and excitement of FMCG manufacturing
• Ideally financial and budget control experience
• Hungry for a challenge and keen to build something from the ground up
• Easily approachable with good interpersonal skills, with creative thinking and analytical skills
• Results driven and action oriented
• Problem solving skills and priority setting

🐶 A bit about Butternut

At Butternut, the mission is to deliver health and happiness to dogs and their humans all over the world. In order to do just that, they need a team of forward-thinking, driven people who love dogs as much as they do. And they need quite a big kitchen too. Which is precisely why they have built one.

Located in Zabrze, Sam’s Kitchen will be the place where all the magic happens, so to speak. It's where the tasty Butternut meals and treats will be gently cooked, using human-quality ingredients because, the way they see it, they wouldn't serve food to dogs that they wouldn't be happy to eat themselves. At Butternut, they believe dogs deserve better, and if that's something you think too, we want to hear from you.

Butternut has come a long way since Kev & Dave (co-founders) hand-delivered the first Butternut Box, and they are now looking for brilliant people to join the team for this next part of the story.

Are you up for the challenge?