Plant Manager

Location: Union City, CA (Onsite) | Type: Full Time | Experience: 8+ years | Pay: $200K-$220K

About the Role We're hiring a Plant Manager to run a food manufacturing site in Union City, California. You'll own the plant's strategy and master schedule, its day-to-day performance, and the team that will carry it through its next stage of growth. That means planning capacity and talent against where the business is going, and still being the person on the floor when a line goes down.

The company is a global, private equity-backed producer of semi-finished ingredients for bakery, pastry, gelato, and food manufacturing customers, with plants across Europe, North America, and Asia. Think chocolates, creams, fillings, inclusions, and fruit purées that end up in products people buy every day. The business has grown through a string of acquisitions, and this plant is a real part of that story.

This role is for an operator who likes both halves of the job: hitting the numbers this week and building a plant that runs better every year. If you've wanted a voice in how manufacturing strategy gets made, not just a site to keep running, this is that seat.

What You'll Do

Build the plant strategy and the master schedule behind it, aligned to growth plans and the broader manufacturing strategy

Run performance management for the site: dig into the data, recognize what's working, and put clear plans against the gaps

Represent the plant with manufacturing, functional, and commercial leadership so decisions reflect what's actually happening on the floor

Partner with QSHE, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Procurement to get ahead of anything that could hurt plant performance

Own productivity across asset management, efficiency, and output

Make continuous improvement a habit across the team, not a one-off program

Lead change initiatives in automation, digital, and sustainability, and tie each one back to the master schedule

Work with R&D and commercial on new product launches, spelling out what each means for cost, service levels, and OTIF

Raise engagement and organizational health across the plant

Trade best practices with peer plant leaders across the network

Qualifications

8+ years of progressive leadership experience in food manufacturing and plant operations

Bachelor's or Master's in Engineering, Business, Food Science, or a related field (preferred)

A track record as a change agent, with continuous improvement and accountability programs you built and made stick

Hands-on leadership with both direct and indirect reports; you show up for the hard days

Proven ability to assess, develop, and keep strong talent

Experience managing operating budgets or capital spend, plus the financial analysis to back up your calls

Process improvement results delivered on budget and in regulatory compliance

Strong working relationships with finance, supply chain, sales, and commercial partners

Fluent written and spoken English

Conversational Spanish (preferred)

Experience in chocolate, confectionery, or bakery ingredients is a plus

Why Join Us You'll join a company big enough to invest in its plants and still growing fast enough that a strong plant leader gets noticed. There's a real plant leadership community here, so the ideas you bring get shared across sites, and you get to borrow theirs.

The package includes medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k) match, paid vacation and holidays, and tuition reimbursement. If you want to own a plant's results and its future, this one is worth a look.

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