Plant Site Director
My Client is seeking a highly driven Plant Site Director to lead all aspects of manufacturing operations for a large-scale food production facility. The ideal candidate combines strong operational leadership, business acumen, and people development skills to drive safety, quality, productivity, and financial performance while fostering a high-performing culture.
This role provides overall leadership for production, quality, maintenance, supply chain coordination, and workforce development, ensuring operational excellence and continuous improvement across the facility.
Key Responsibilities
Plant Leadership & Operations
- Lead all day-to-day manufacturing operations, ensuring production, quality, safety, and service objectives are achieved.
- Develop and execute operational strategies that improve efficiency, productivity, and plant performance.
- Drive accountability across the organization through clear expectations, performance metrics, and leadership engagement.
- Ensure alignment between plant operations and broader business objectives.
People Leadership & Culture
- Build, develop, and lead a high-performing workforce across all plant functions.
- Foster a culture focused on safety, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
- Drive employee engagement, talent development, succession planning, and leadership growth.
- Promote proactive communication and collaboration throughout the facility.
Food Safety, Quality & Compliance
- Ensure compliance with all food safety, quality, regulatory, and environmental requirements.
- Partner with quality teams to maintain product integrity and customer satisfaction.
- Champion best practices related to food safety, sanitation, and operational compliance.
- Lead audit readiness and continuous improvement efforts.
Continuous Improvement & Operational Excellence
- Monitor and improve key manufacturing performance metrics including productivity, yield, downtime, quality, and cost.
- Lead process improvement initiatives that enhance operational efficiency and profitability.
- Drive Lean, continuous improvement, and problem-solving methodologies throughout the organization.
- Support capital improvements and operational modernization initiatives.
Financial & Business Management
- Own plant financial performance, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, and resource allocation.
- Analyze operational and financial data to drive informed business decisions.
- Ensure efficient utilization of labor, materials, and equipment resources.
- Provide regular reporting and performance updates to executive leadership.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Business, Operations, or related field.
- 8+ years of plant leadership experience in food manufacturing.
- Strong understanding of food safety, quality systems, and regulatory compliance.
- Proven success leading large manufacturing teams and driving plant performance improvements.
- Experience managing budgets, financial performance, and operational metrics.
- Strong leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.
Preferred
- Experience leading facilities with 150+ employees.
- Background in high-volume food, beverage, dairy, protein, bakery, or consumer packaged goods manufacturing.
FAQs
Congratulations, we understand that taking the time to apply is a big step. When you apply, your details go directly to the consultant who is sourcing talent. Due to demand, we may not get back to all applicants that have applied. However, we always keep your resume and details on file so when we see similar roles or see skillsets that drive growth in organizations, we will always reach out to discuss opportunities.
Yes. Even if this role isn’t a perfect match, applying allows us to understand your expertise and ambitions, ensuring you're on our radar for the right opportunity when it arises.
We also work in several ways, firstly we advertise our roles available on our site, however, often due to confidentiality we may not post all. We also work with clients who are more focused on skills and understanding what is required to future-proof their business.
That's why we recommend registering your resume so you can be considered for roles that have yet to be created.
Yes, we help with CV and interview preparation. From customized support on how to optimize your CV to interview preparation and compensation negotiations, we advocate for you throughout your next career move.