Pilot Plant Operations Team Leader II - 2nd Shift (2pm - 10pm) - Golden Valley, MN

POSITION OVERVIEW

The James Ford Bell (JFB) R&D Technical Center Pilot Plant is a critical hub for versatile experimentation, encompassing a broad range of projects from consumer learning, innovation, and cost savings to supply chain capacity unlocks and even supporting saleable products. This dynamic environment demands critical leadership to align our teams, ensuring operational excellence and enabling future growth.

The Pilot Plant Operations Team Leader II role leads a team of 10 direct reports focused on 2nd shift operations at the JFB Pilot Plant. This role is central to the daily execution and continuous improvement of their shift, directly impacting execution efficiency, product quality, and frontline team development to ensure reliable, consistent results. The Team Leader fosters a collaborative environment, building effective relationships with all employees to leverage cooperation, innovation, and technical capabilities for problem-solving. They drive sustainable performance by optimizing people and processes, creating a meaningful learning environment for both the business and employees. As a strategic partner for OU platforms, they guide work prioritization, performance, and technology to meet short- and long-term needs.

This role requires flexibility, as work hours may vary somewhat based on business needs and operational demands. The core working hours for this role are 2nd shift (2 pm - 10 pm), M-F

Learn more about the Pilot Plant and the James Ford Bell Technical Center by clicking here.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Champion Safety

• Champion the daily execution of a robust human and food safety culture for the shift, leveraging Safety 2.0 leadership principles.
• Build team capability to proactively identify and control critical hazards, ensuring strict compliance with GMI policy and regulatory requirements.

Develop & Empower Talent

• Serve as the operational leader for the shift, directly managing a team of 10 direct reports.
• Drive daily shift performance through effective people and process management, fostering a collaborative and engaged team environment.
• Cultivate employee engagement and retention through dedicated "floor time," daily coaching, performance management, accountability, and capability building.
• Execute platform strategies, including setting clear individual and team goals, staffing, and performance management for the shift.
• Model Engaging Leader behaviors.
• Own the shift learning plan, collaborating with operational capability experts to develop team capabilities and training plans, identify skill gaps, track progress, and plan training time.
• Actively pursue continuous learning and development to strengthen technical acumen, leadership effectiveness, and operational leadership, optimizing personal and team performance.

Operational Excellence

• Ensure the operational health of the shift to meet business needs and deliver reliable, consistent results.
• Own shift execution of Daily Direction Setting (DDS), defect handling (DH), and maintenance and preventative maintenance systems.
• Lead the daily execution of all shift operational activities, including daily assignments, seamless shift-to-shift hand-offs, effective transitions, start-ups, changeovers, sanitation, scheduling, and managing experimentation.
• Maintain a deeper understanding of core technology systems, equipment, operational process execution, troubleshooting, and standard work.
• Drives safety, quality, and process discipline on the production floor through visible leadership and real-time team member engagement.
• Proactively identify improvement opportunities, leveraging data to lead loss elimination efforts and optimize operational performance and efficiency.

Business Partnership & Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional partners, including Logistics, Food Safety, Human Safety, and Maintenance to ensure seamless operations and achieve shared objectives.
• Serve as the primary shift-level communication link with R&D partners on day-to-day execution, including experiment status, delays, logistics issues, risks, escalations, and alignment needs.
• May serve as backup coverage for the Cereal Platform Manager for OU partnership meetings.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• High School Diploma and 2+ years of operational leadership with leading people and/or processes in a manufacturing, pilot plant, or process development environment with direct exposure to equipment operation and technical troubleshooting.
• Demonstrate foundational technical literacy and process comprehension. Able to understand/interpret process flows and effectively trace system pathways. Understand/interpret the 'how' and 'why' of a process, facilitating effective problem-solving and guidance for their team.
• Proven success in driving results, reducing losses, and improving performance through effective process management and teamwork in a manufacturing setting.
• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills, with a demonstrated ability to foster a collaborative environment and effectively manage, coach, and develop direct reports while managing difficult conversations.
• Experience in coaching, training, and providing performance feedback to operators/technicians, including developing skills on the floor.
• Demonstrated experience applying human and food safety standards (e.g., HACCP, OSHA) and working within formal safety systems/procedures.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to effectively partner and communicate across work groups, cross-functional resources, and all levels of an organization.
• Self-starter with strong problem-solving skills, capable of making fast, well-informed decisions to drive optimal solutions.
• History of successful partnerships with multiple customers in dynamic learning environments.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Leadership experience in a manufacturing environment
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and listening skills
• Ability to adjust to multiple demands, shifting work priorities, ambiguity, adversity, and change
• Demonstrated composure and effective decision-making in challenging situations

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

• International relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered.
• Applicants for this position must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. General Mills will not sponsor applicants for this position for work visas.

Salary Range

The salary range for this position is $71300.00 - $107000.00 / Annually. At General Mills we strive for each employee's pay at any point in their career to reflect their experiences performance and skills for their current role. The salary range for this role represents the numerous factors considered in the hiring decisions including, but not limited to, educations, skills, work experience, certifications, etc. As such, pay for the successful candidate(s) could fall anywhere within the stated range. Beyond base salary, General Mills offers a competitive Total Rewards package focusing on your overall well-being. We are proud to offer a foundation of health benefits, retirement and financial wellbeing, time off programs, wellbeing support and perks. Benefits may vary by role, country, region, union status, and other employment status factors. You may also be eligible to participate in an annual incentive program. An incentive award, if any, depends on various factors, including, individual and organizational performance.

Reasonable Accommodation Request

If you need to request an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please fill out our online accommodations request form by following this link: