Workshop Manager
Alpkit Campus - Moorgreen Industrial Estate, NG16
Full Time
The Community You’ll Join
At Alpkit, and now Trakke too, we believe there’s magic in the handmade. For 20 years, we’ve been crafting bikepacking bags, rucksacks, and boulder mats in our UK factory. With Trakke now part of our family, you’ll be joining a group that’s passionate about purposeful design, sustainability, and celebrating the skill of making. Based at our Nottingham Campus, you’ll lead a tight-knit crew of machinists who care about quality, detail, and the thrill of bringing products to life.
The Difference You’ll Make
As Workshop Manager, you’ll be the steady hand guiding our production from concept to creation. You'll lead two proud in-house production teams — Alpkit and Trakke — ensuring everything runs like clockwork. From planning production schedules to elevating team morale and maintaining craftsmanship, your work will directly shape our gear, our pace, and our planet-first values. You’ll be a key player in ensuring our products meet their purpose — to go nice places and do good things — for years to come.
A Typical Day
* Kick off the day with a walk through the floor — checking machines, chatting to the team, and addressing priorities.
* Juggle short turnaround jobs and long-term workflows across both brands, adjusting the schedule to keep things running smooth.
* Run a team huddle, give feedback, and maybe even jump in on a production issue when things need a hands-on fix.
* Review quality standards, troubleshoot production bottlenecks, and talk through any challenges with the supply chain or product team.
* Wrap up with a glance ahead — forecasting needs, balancing materials, and keeping our sustainability goals firmly in sight.
Your Expertise
You’ve spent time in manufacturing — ideally with textiles, sewing, or soft goods — and you get the rhythm of a factory floor. You know how to lead by example, build trust with a team, and push for progress without compromising quality. Most of all, you care: about the craft, the people, and the planet.
What you’ll bring:
* Experience in factory or production management (bonus if it's sewn goods).
* Natural leadership and a mentoring mindset — 1:1s, team chats, skills development.
* A sharp eye for quality and efficiency.
* Technical understanding of materials, stitching, and manufacturing processes.
* A love for hands-on work, sustainability, and doing things the right way — not the easy way.
Perks of the job
* Ability to buy extra holiday, significant discount for you, your family and friends, life insurance, cycle to work scheme, 5 paid ‘give back’ days per year, green commuting scheme, 3 well-being days on top of your annual leave and much more.
How to apply
* If you think you would like to our workshop team, get in touch telling us why you think you’d fit in well at Alpkit. Email your CV and covering letter to jobs@alpkit.com stating the position you are applying for.
If you need reasonable adjustments at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know. In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example - she/her, he/him, they/them, etc)
We value all cultures, backgrounds, and experiences, Alpkit is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team, so be yourself, join our community and help us “go nice places and do good things”.