Director, Co-Manufacturing

Position Summary The Director, Co-Manufacturing is responsible for developing, managing, and optimizing Mama's Creations' external manufacturing network to support the company's growth strategy, customer commitments, and operational objectives. This position serves as the enterprise leader for all co-manufacturing relationships, ensuring external partners consistently deliver exceptional service, Grandma Quality, food safety compliance, cost performance, and capacity support. The Director will build strategic partnerships with contract manufacturers, lead commercialization and capacity expansion initiatives, and ensure co-manufacturing operations align with Mama's values of Commit to Craftsmanship, Nurture Relationships, Honor Heritage, and deliver Grandma Quality. This role requires a highly collaborative leader who can influence cross-functional partners across Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement, FSQA, R&D, Finance, Sales, and Customer Service while holding external manufacturing partners accountable for operational excellence and business results. Position can be based in East Rutherford, NJ or Farmingdale, NY Co-Manufacturer Strategy & Relationship Management Develop and execute the company's co-manufacturing strategy to support growth, innovation, customer requirements, and capacity needs. Identify, evaluate, qualify, negotiate, and onboard new co-manufacturing partners. Establish and maintain executive-level relationships with co-manufacturer leadership teams. Lead business reviews with co-manufacturing partners, focusing on performance, service, quality, cost, and continuous improvement. Ensure clear accountability, governance, and communication structures exist across all manufacturing partners. Serve as the primary escalation point for critical business, operational, quality, and supply issues. Relationship management and development of multi-site 3PL solution network. Operational Performance Own service, inventory, capacity, quality, and cost performance across the co-manufacturing network. Establish performance metrics and scorecards to monitor supplier execution and compliance. Drive improvements in on-time delivery, schedule adherence, yield, waste reduction, and production efficiency. Partner with Supply Planning and Operations teams to align manufacturing capacity with demand forecasts and growth plans. Ensure co-manufacturers maintain appropriate labor, equipment, and material resources to support business requirements. Commercialization & Product Launches Lead co-manufacturer activities associated with new product commercialization and customer-specific initiatives. Partner with Culinary Innovation, R&D, Operations, and FSQA teams to ensure successful product transfers and launches. Coordinate production trials, scale-up activities, process validations, and first-production runs. Ensure accurate production documentation, specifications, and operational readiness prior to launch. Quality, Food Safety & Compliance Partner closely with FSQA to ensure all co-manufacturers consistently meet Mama's food safety, quality, regulatory, and customer requirements. Support supplier qualification, audit programs, CAPA activities, and continuous improvement initiatives. Ensure compliance with FDA, USDA, FSMA, HACCP, GMP, SQF, BRC, and customer-specific standards. Lead cross-functional response efforts related to quality events, recalls, customer complaints, or regulatory concerns. Financial Management Own co-manufacturing budgets and financial performance. Collaborate with Procurement and Finance to negotiate manufacturing agreements and cost structures. Identify and execute productivity initiatives that improve margins while maintaining product quality and customer service. Evaluate capital and investment opportunities within the co-manufacturing network to support long-term growth. Continuous Improvement Develop and implement operational excellence initiatives across manufacturing partners. Leverage KPIs, root-cause ana…

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