Vice President of Manufacturing
The Vice President of Manufacturing is accountable for designing and executing the manufacturing strategy that enables profitable growth, margin expansion, and operational resilience across a multi-site food manufacturing network. This leader transforms operations from plant-centric execution to a standardized, data-driven, enterprise manufacturing system while ensuring uncompromising food safety and regulatory compliance.
This role ownsend-to-end manufacturing performanceand serves as a core member of the executive leadership team, influencing capital allocation, network strategy, and long-range business planning.
Enterprise Manufacturing Leadership
- Own P&L performance for manufacturing operations across the network
- Translate corporate strategy into executable manufacturing roadmaps
- Establish a scalable operating model supporting organic growth and M&A
- Drive enterprise standardization while respecting site-level realities
- Serve as executive sponsor for manufacturing transformation initiatives
Food Safety, Risk & Regulatory Governance
- Set the enterprise food safety vision and risk tolerance
- Ensure sustained compliance with FDA, USDA, FSMA, HACCP, SQF/BRC, and GMPs
- Lead executive-level response to recalls, regulatory actions, or crises
- Embed preventive controls and audit discipline into daily operations
- Partner with Quality to shift food safety from compliance to culture
Operational Excellence & Cost Competitiveness
- Build and deploy an enterprise manufacturing system (Lean-based)
- Drive step-change improvements in OEE, yield, labor productivity, and conversion cost
- Establish standard KPI architecture and tiered accountability
- Lead loss elimination, waste reduction, and throughput optimization
- Balance service, cost, and inventory through disciplined execution
Capital Strategy & Network Optimization
- Own the manufacturing capital investment strategy
- Evaluate make/buy, footprint optimization, and capacity expansion decisions
- Lead large-scale automation, modernization, and greenfield initiatives
- Ensure capital projects deliver financial returns and operational readiness
- Partner with Supply Chain and Finance on long-range network planning
People, Capability & Succession
- Build a deep bench of plant leaders and functional manufacturing talent
- Establish clear succession plans for all critical leadership roles
- Elevate leadership capability through coaching and accountability
- Drive cultural alignment around performance, safety, and ownership
- Partner with HR to strengthen labor strategy and workforce stability
Cross-Functional & Executive Collaboration
- Partner with Supply Chain on S&OP, service levels, and inventory strategy
- Enable R&D and Commercial through reliable innovation execution
- Collaborate with Finance on budgets, forecasts, and margin improvement
- Support due diligence, integration, and value creation for acquisitions
- Act as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Board on manufacturing matters
Qualifications & Executive Profile
Education
- Bachelor?s degree in Engineering, Operations, or related discipline
- MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred
Experience
- 15+ years in food or beverage manufacturing
- Executive leadership over multi-site, high-volume operations
- Demonstrated success leading large-scale operational transformations
- Proven ownership of capital deployment and cost structures