Operations Manager - Food Manufacturing

Schedule: Day Shift (Monday – Friday, single-shift plant)

About the Opportunity

Are you a hands-on manufacturing leader looking for true plant ownership, strong executive support, and a better work-life balance?

We are recruiting on behalf of a rapidly expanding, high-growth food manufacturing leader producing premium specialty products for major national retail and foodservice brands. Backed by solid institutional growth, this facility offers the unique combination of high-impact strategic leadership and a stable 1st-shift, Monday–Friday schedule .

As the Operations Manager , you will function as the premier operational leader at our flagship Bethlehem, PA production facility. Reporting directly to the Director of Operations, you will have total operational command over the plant, including Production, Maintenance , and Warehouse operations. You'll be driving team growth, schedule attainment, line efficiency, and food safety across a modern, clean plant.

Key Selling Points: Why Join?

• Work-Life Balance: Rare 1st-shift only (Mon–Fri) schedule at a single facility—offering a significantly better lifestyle than typical 24/7 continuous manufacturing operations.
• True Site Ownership: Lead, shape, and build plant culture while directly hiring and mentoring your own team of Supervisors and Leads (overseeing ~100 production/maintenance employees).
• High-Growth Trajectory: Backed by ambitious capital expansion plans through 2027+, giving you direct executive visibility and rapid career advancement opportunities.
• Modern & Clean Scope: Direct end-to-end command across multiple specialized processing/packaging lines and maintenance operations in a modern facility.

What You’ll Do

• Build & Lead the Team: Recruit, onboard, and develop Production and Maintenance Supervisors, working leads, and technicians while building a strong talent pipeline.
• Drive Operational Command: Oversee daily plant operations across all production lines and maintenance; own the master production schedule to ensure safe, on-time delivery.
• Scale New Lines: Lead the operational ramp-up of new and expanding lines to hit targeted staffing levels, line rates, and yield goals.
• Own Key Metrics: Manage and report weekly KPIs, including schedule attainment, labor hours per case, equipment uptime, yield, scrap, and preventive maintenance.
• Ensure Regulatory Excellence: Partner closely with FSQA and EHS to enforce strict GMPs, allergen controls, USDA (FSIS), and FDA regulatory standards.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years’ of food manufacturing or consumer packaged goods (CPG), including
• 3+ years’ leadership, including managing supervisors
• Strong working knowledge of USDA (FSIS) and/or FDA regulations, GMPs, HACCP, and allergen control programs
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in MS Excel, ERP systems, data analytics, and modern reporting tools