Operations Manager in Training

Cirkla develops and manufactures high performance fiber packaging solutions to help global brands reduce plastic in their packaging. We've built a variety of industry-first packaging solutions such as trays for meat, produce and ready meals, dairy tubs, scoops, and more. Role Overview Cirkla is hiring Operations Manager in Training to help build and run our new molded fiber lamination facility in Gainesville, Georgia. This is deliberately a broad role. For the first several months you will work across production, sourcing, fulfillment and plant accounting, learning and building each function and doing the hands-on work of standing up systems that do not exist yet. As the plant stabilizes, you will take ownership of a specific function based on where you have performed and where your interest lies. We are hiring generalists because a plant being built from scratch does not have clean functional boundaries yet - and the people who help draw those boundaries are usually the right people to own them. What You’ll Do Learn the plant end to end: Work across production, quality, warehouse, purchasing, order fulfillment and plant accounting. Properly, not as a tour - you will be accountable for real work in each area. Build what does not exist: SOPs, trackers, checklists, reporting formats, vendor files, filing structures. A new plant runs on things nobody has written yet, and writing them well is most of the job in year one. Run the daily operational load: Raise and chase purchase orders, follow up with vendors, book inbound receipts, reconcile inventory, process customer orders, coordinate dispatch, support invoicing and month-end, and produce daily production reporting. Close loops on the floor: Find the delayed shipment, the missing certificate, the reason the count does not match. Be the person who does not hand the problem back. Build the numbers the plant runs on: Output, yield, scrap, inventory accuracy, spend by category, on-time delivery. Set the baseline and then make it visible. Grow into a function: Take defined ownership of one area - production, sourcing, or fulfillment and logistics - within 3-6 months Who You Are 3-5 years in a manufacturing plant, in any of production, supply chain, sourcing, warehouse, fulfillment or plant finance. Time on a factory floor matters more to us than which function you spent it in. A generalist by temperament, not by accident. You are curious across functions and comfortable being the least experienced person in the room while you learn. Strong on execution and follow-through. In a startup plant, the person who reliably closes things becomes indispensable within weeks. High tolerance for ambiguity, and the judgment to act without waiting for a process that has not been written yet. Ambitious about owning a function, and clear-eyed that which function is not decided on day one. Bilingual English and Spanish, and experience at a new plant startup or in food or packaging manufacturing, are all preferred. Health insurance Travel reimbursements for work-related travel Paid public holidays Impact: Be a part of the early team of a business that will create a large meaningful impact on the planet while being profitable Culture: People who are super-driven, grounded and nice to work with! #J-18808-Ljbffr