Plant Manager

The Plant Manager will lead the operations, organizational development, financial performance, and strategic growth of Configure’s Clearwater, Florida, facility. The site will design, build, validate, and deploy turnkey autonomous injection molding work cells for internal manufacturing operations and external customers.

Integrating mold building, tool building, injection molding, robotics, controls engineering, AI, and advanced automation, the facility will deliver complete manufacturing systems designed for consistent quality, high productivity, and minimal manual intervention.

This role extends beyond traditional plant management and requires strong expertise in automation integration, manufacturing systems, injection molding, tooling, process development, and high-volume production. Experience in caps and closures manufacturing is preferred.

Working with executive leadership, engineering teams, customers, equipment manufacturers, and automation partners, the Plant Manager will oversee solutions from initial requirements and quoting through design, project execution, factory acceptance testing (FAT), installation, commissioning, and customer acceptance.

The Plant Manager will have full accountability for site performance and profitability, including P&L ownership, quoting, job costing, project margins, capital allocation, operational efficiency, and customer delivery. A key priority is to build a strong management team, establish accountability, standardize successful solutions, and scale the business into a repeatable, profitable advanced manufacturing automation platform.

• Lead site operations and strategy: Oversee automation engineering, project management, mold and tool building, injection molding, controls, assembly, testing, maintenance, quality, and support functions. Align site priorities with company strategy and customer commitments.
• Own financial performance: Manage site-level P&L, including revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, labor productivity, capital expenditures, working capital as applicable, and EBITDA. Maintain financial discipline and sustainable profitability.
• Manage quoting and job costing: Oversee customer quotations, project estimates, labor and material costs, equipment pricing, supplier costs, and expected margins. Monitor actual versus estimated costs, address variances, manage change orders, and protect project profitability.
• Lead automation integration: Direct the development and deployment of autonomous injection molding work cells integrating presses, robots, conveyors, vision and inspection systems, assembly, packaging, controls, and material handling.
• Oversee molding and tooling: Lead injection molding, mold building, and tool building. Coordinate part design, mold construction, process development, equipment selection, validation, and production requirements while ensuring quality, cycle time, and manufacturability targets are achieved.
• Manage end-to-end projects: Oversee scope definition, technical design, budgets, schedules, procurement, resource allocation, risk management, FAT, installation, commissioning, and customer acceptance. Deliver projects safely, on time, within budget, and to specification.
• Build and develop leadership: Recruit, develop, and retain leaders across engineering, automation, project management, manufacturing, and support functions. Establish clear responsibilities, decision-making authority, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Strengthen operational discipline: Assess organizational capabilities and implement effective management routines, standardized procedures, performance reviews, escalation processes, and clear ownership of results.
• Standardize manufacturing solutions: Develop modular work-cell designs, repeatable engineering practices, and proven manufacturing processes that reduce duplication, accelerate deployment, and support replication across customer sites and Configure facilities.
• Lead advanced manufacturing technology: Guide teams responsible for PLCs, robotics, machine interfaces, vision systems, manufacturing data, and system integration. Leverage AI and data-driven technologies to improve inspection, process control, predictive maintenance, uptime, and performance.
• Manage customer relationships: Translate customer requirements into practical, commercially sound solutions. Maintain accountability for project milestones, system performance, quality, delivery, customer acceptance, and issue resolution.
• Develop supplier partnerships: Build relationships with equipment manufacturers, tooling suppliers, robotics and controls providers, and component suppliers. Manage expectations for quality, cost, lead times, technical support, delivery, and risk.
• Champion safety and reliability: Ensure machine safety, risk assessments, regulatory compliance, technical documentation, operating procedures, and employee and customer training. Establish spare-parts, troubleshooting, remote-support, service, and lifecycle-support programs.
• Establish performance systems: Track project profitability, estimate accuracy, schedule adherence, on-time delivery, quality, equipment performance, commissioning success, customer acceptance, safety, and post-deployment reliability. Use performance data to drive corrective action.
• Scale workforce and capacity: Develop staffing plans, technical capabilities, equipment requirements, facilities, and operating systems to support growth and multiple concurrent projects without compromising quality, schedules, or margins.
• Drive continuous improvement and growth: Improve engineering efficiency, manufacturing processes, project execution, equipment utilization, and customer value. Partner with executive leadership to evaluate new markets, expand capabilities, and increase the facility’s contribution to company growth.
• Maintain executive alignment: Report regularly to the COO and executive leadership on financial results, project portfolios, forecasts, sales pipeline, capacity, delivery performance, staffing, operational risks, and strategic initiatives.
  

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in industrial automation, manufacturing systems integration, injection molding automation, turnkey equipment, or advanced manufacturing.
• Proven success leading automation integration, engineered-to-order equipment, turnkey manufacturing systems, or complex industrial projects, with responsibility for engineering, project delivery, manufacturing operations, and financial performance.
• Required injection molding experience: Practical knowledge of injection molding operations, equipment, processes, or manufacturing systems sufficient to lead technical teams, evaluate manufacturing requirements, and oversee integrated molding solutions.
• Strong automation and systems integration expertise, including robotics, controls, machine integration, material handling, inspection, and complete production work cells.
• Demonstrated P&L ownership and financial management experience, including quoting, estimating, job costing, margin management, cost control, capital investment, and EBITDA.
• Proven ability to manage projects from customer requirements and quotation through engineering, procurement, build, testing, commissioning, and customer acceptance.
• Experience managing project budgets, schedules, suppliers, scope changes, commercial risks, and customer commitments.
• Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, and lead multidisciplinary management and technical teams.
• Strong understanding of mold construction, tool building, part design, process development, equipment selection, and high-volume production.
• Ability to lead technical teams working with PLCs, robotics, industrial controls, machine vision, manufacturing data, and AI-enabled manufacturing technologies. Direct programming expertise is not required.
• Experience managing sophisticated customer relationships involving demanding technical specifications, project milestones, quality standards, and delivery expectations.
• Strong commercial judgment, communication, negotiation, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, including the ability to balance technical performance, cost, schedule, and return on investment.
• Experience establishing operational discipline, management systems, performance metrics, and continuous improvement practices in a growing or changing organization.

• Experience in caps and closures manufacturing, particularly high-volume injection molding, mold development, or automated production systems.
• Experience leading an injection molding automation integrator, turnkey equipment manufacturer, systems integration business, or similar engineered-solutions organization.
• Familiarity with FAT, site acceptance testing (SAT), commissioning, machine safety standards, customer training, and post-deployment technical support.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Automation, Business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant industry experience.
  

• Company: Configure
• Location: Clearwater, Florida
• Reports to: COO – Configure
• Work Arrangement: On-site, with daily leadership presence at the facility expected.
  

Configure is an equal opportunity employer. This description outlines the general nature and level of work associated with the position and is not an exhaustive list of duties, responsibilities, or required skills. It does not constitute an employment contract, and responsibilities may change at the Company’s discretion.