Senior Director of Operations

A specialty food manufacturer is seeking an experienced operations executive to lead manufacturing strategy and be responsible for the day‑to‑day leadership of all plant operations. This role ensures safe, efficient, compliant production while scaling throughput, improving performance, and strengthening leadership capability across the manufacturing footprint.

The Sr. Director of Operations will have the following responsibilities:

• Direct operations for a specialty food manufacturing plant, ensuring output, cost, service, and quality goals are consistently met.
• Build strong leadership capability within the plant; reinforce accountability, safety, and performance expectations across teams.
• Oversee food safety and quality programs and lead internal, customer, and third‑party audits.
• Champion continuous improvement initiatives to raise OEE, reduce waste, and improve throughput and efficiency.
• Support capital planning, equipment investments, and technology upgrades to enhance long‑term capability and traceability.
• Manage the manufacturing P&L, track KPIs, analyze variances, and present operational insights to senior leadership.
• Lead and develop supervisors, leads, and hourly teams; oversee labor planning, training, engagement, and performance management.

The Sr. Director of Operations should have the following qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Engineering, Operations Management, or a related technical field required. MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years in manufacturing leadership, including 4+ years at the Director level or above.
• Food manufacturing background required.
• Proven success scaling headcount, capacity, and throughput in fast‑growing environments with seasonal volume swings.
• Demonstrated ownership of P&L performance.

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