Vice President of Operations

Job Purpose 

Develop organizational and scalable processes that deliver the financial, cost, quality, safety, and service levels to meet business goals and customer expectations and ensure financial strength and operating effectiveness. Develop a culture of operational excellence focused on driving performance through exceptional service, innovation, continuous improvement, and high-impact business results.

Essential Functions 

• Lead and develop the corporate and multi-site plant operations team and the cross-functional plant leadership team 
• Collaborate with all functional groups as well as senior leadership to develop and meet the company’s strategic goals 
• Promote a continuous improvement mindset in operational processes and innovations at all levels 
• Build a positive, collaborative, results-oriented culture marked by employee involvement and trust in leadership 
• Lead the design and implementation of key performance metrics, goal setting, scorecards, and effective communication processes that build a continuous improvement culture 
• Drive key initiatives in the areas of quality, safety, sustainability, cost, and service through continuous improvement management; ensure consistency and standardization throughout the facilities 
• Establish procedures that maximize the efficiency of the operations function, resulting in the highest level of productivity 
• Ensure the product pipeline is robust, resourced, and projects are delivered on time and within budget 
• Develop and manage long-range, annual, and quarterly functional plans and department/plant budgets 
• Determine requirements for new and existing manufacturing facilities and develop start-up or process improvement cross-functional project plans 
• Provide leadership and direction for future manufacturing requirements in people, process, product, facilities/capacity, and tools 
• Work with direct reports to identify proper structure to leverage talent and capabilities throughout the operations function 
• Collaborate with customers, sales, and marketing in determining prioritization and successful launch criteria, such as quality, delivery, operational simplicity, and cost competitiveness 
• Maintain a knowledge of emerging technologies and trends in operations management; use that knowledge to identify, recommend, and implement new processes, technologies, and systems to improve and streamline the organization and use of resources and materials 
• Support food safety program, quality standards, and legality of manufactured products 
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned

Qualifications (Education, Experience, Competencies) 

• Bachelor’s degree in business, logistics, engineering, or other industry-related field 
• 20+ years of experience in manufacturing, with 10+ years in a senior-level leadership position with direct P&L oversight in a food manufacturing environment, and experience leading a large multi-site group in food manufacturing ideally with $500 million of revenue or more 
• Lean, Six Sigma background in product development and manufacturing desired 
• Experience leading culture development and program implementation in the areas of human safety, quality, food safety, statistical process control, sanitation, metrics/scorecards, and continuous process improvement 
• Leadership experience with acquisitions or other business integrations 
• Ability to organize cross-functional teams and implement plans to mobilize and align an organization 
• Ability to build a strong culture marked by positive teamwork, employee involvement and satisfaction, and trust in leadership 
• Strong business acumen with a strategic-thinking mindset, effective management skills, and the ability to proactively respond and scale to market demands 
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills with the ability to exercise sound judgment 
• Leadership skills including the ability to inspire others, set direction/vision, drive innovation, get results through others, develop organizations/teams, and coach, supervise, and develop others 
• Ability to collaborate and foster effective relationships with all levels and functional areas of the company 
• Adaptable, resilient, decisive, results oriented, passionate, innovative, and aligned with company mission and core values