Manufacturing recruitment
Manufacturing recruitment in Edinburgh
YP Recruitment places production managers, quality managers, process engineers, and operations directors in Edinburgh for employers including Diageo's Edinburgh and Lothians whisky and spirits operations, Scottish Craft Brewing businesses, Aggreko's power technology manufacturing, and the food and drink manufacturers across the Lothians. Edinburgh is not primarily a manufacturing city, but its whisky, spirits, and brewing sector creates specialist production management demand, and the wider Lothians industrial base adds manufacturing breadth. Salaries run from £28,000 for production supervisors to £60,000 for operations directors and plant managers.
The manufacturing market in Edinburgh
Diageo's Edinburgh and Lothians operations include distilling, blending, and bottling facilities that are among the most significant whisky manufacturing assets in Scotland. Edinburgh's status as the home of Scotch whisky tourism and The Scotch Whisky Experience adds a consumer-facing dimension to what is fundamentally a precision food and drink manufacturing operation requiring production managers and quality managers with spirits industry credentials. Diageo's global quality standards, including their Quality, Food Safety and Sustainability framework, set demanding specifications for all production and quality management roles.
Edinburgh's craft brewing and distilling sector, including The Edinburgh Gin Distillery, Innis & Gunn, and numerous smaller craft producers, creates production management demand at a smaller scale. These are often lean manufacturing environments where the Production Manager wears multiple hats, combining technical brewing or distilling knowledge with procurement, quality management, and logistics oversight. Candidates moving from larger FMCG operations into craft businesses often need to adapt quickly to resource-constrained environments where systems are being built rather than optimised.
The Lothians manufacturing base, extending to Livingston's electronics and pharmaceutical manufacturing heritage (though many of the large sites like Motorola and Ethicon have reduced over the years), still includes pharmaceutical packaging, food processing, and light industrial manufacturing. Pharmaceutical packaging and processing operations require production managers with GMP credentials. The proximity to Edinburgh and Glasgow means some Lothians manufacturers compete for Edinburgh-based candidates who prefer not to commute into either city centre.
Manufacturing salary benchmarks in Edinburgh
Production supervisors and junior quality roles in Edinburgh earn £28,000 to £36,000. Production managers and quality managers at mid-level earn £36,000 to £50,000. Operations managers and plant GMs earn £48,000 to £60,000. Spirits and whisky manufacturing roles at Diageo carry a premium over general food manufacturing equivalents, and the Diageo benefits package is competitive with major FMCG employers nationally.
Manufacturing roles we fill in Edinburgh
Production Manager
Whisky, spirits, brewing. Diageo and Edinburgh distillers. £36,000-£52,000.
Quality Manager
Spirits, food, pharma packaging. BRC, GMP, ISO. £36,000-£52,000.
Process Engineer
Distilling, brewing, pharmaceutical. Edinburgh and Lothians. £32,000-£48,000.
Operations Manager
Multi-shift. Spirits or food production. P&L. £44,000-£60,000.
Supply Chain Manager
Spirits and food. Diageo and Scottish producers. £38,000-£54,000.
Plant Manager
Full site leadership. Spirits, pharma, or industrial. £50,000-£60,000.
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