Associate Director of Food Manufacturing

About the Role:
The Associate Director of Food Manufacturing is a hands-on manufacturing leadership role responsible for driving safe, efficient, compliant, and consistent production across multiple manufacturing facilities. This position provides visible floor-level leadership while partnering with senior manufacturing leadership to execute production priorities, improve operational performance, and develop frontline leaders. The Associate Director of Manufacturing Operations, also commonly searched as Manufacturing Operations Director, Manufacturing Director, Production Operations Director, and Senior Manufacturing Manager, oversees regulated production processes including powder blending and mixing, gummies, oils, creams, liquids, and related consumer health products.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and support day-to-day manufacturing operations across multiple production facilities, maintaining a highly visible presence on the manufacturing floor and ensuring production priorities are executed effectively.
• Partner with senior manufacturing leadership to translate operational strategy, production schedules, capacity requirements, and business priorities into clear expectations for managers, supervisors, leads, and production employees.
• Oversee manufacturing processes, production equipment, machinery capabilities, material flow, mixing and blending operations, and production line performance across powder, gummy, oil, cream, liquid, and related product categories.
• Identify and resolve production bottlenecks, equipment issues, labor constraints, workflow inefficiencies, material challenges, downtime, and other factors affecting throughput, productivity, quality, and on-time production.
• Troubleshoot manufacturing and equipment-related issues in collaboration with Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, and production teams, supporting root cause analysis and corrective actions to improve equipment reliability and operational performance.
• Coach and develop manufacturing managers, supervisors, and team leads to strengthen leadership capability, employee accountability, communication, performance management, problem solving, and execution of production goals.
• Support workforce planning, staffing decisions, production scheduling, employee training, cross-training, labor allocation, and resource deployment based on production volume, equipment capacity, and operational requirements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Quality, Research and Development, Warehouse, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Human Resources, and other departments to resolve manufacturing issues and ensure alignment across production activities.
• Support equipment installations, production line expansions, process improvements, technology implementations, scale-up activities, new product introductions, and manufacturing launches while promoting operational readiness.
• Drive adherence to Good Manufacturing Practices, GMP, standard operating procedures, safety requirements, quality systems, sanitation standards, documentation requirements, and applicable regulatory expectations.
• Monitor key manufacturing performance indicators, including production output, throughput, downtime, yield, labor efficiency, quality performance, schedule attainment, and overall equipment effectiveness, using operational data to identify root causes and improvement opportunities.
• Lead and support continuous improvement initiatives focused on operational excellence, process optimization, waste reduction, productivity, equipment utilization, standardized work, capacity improvement, and sustainable manufacturing growth.

Qualifications:

• Significant hands-on manufacturing operations leadership experience in nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, consumer health products, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing manufacturing managers, supervisors, team leads, and production employees in a high-volume or multi-line production environment.
• Strong technical understanding of manufacturing machinery, production equipment, mixing and blending systems, processing equipment, packaging operations, material flow, production scheduling, and manufacturing workflows.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex manufacturing issues involving equipment, labor, materials, processes, scheduling, quality, capacity, and production performance.
• Working knowledge of Good Manufacturing Practices, GMP, standard operating procedures, quality systems, workplace safety, sanitation, documentation controls, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Strong manufacturing leadership skills with demonstrated success improving accountability, communication, employee performance, operational discipline, and execution at multiple organizational levels.
• Experience analyzing manufacturing KPIs and operational metrics, including throughput, downtime, yield, efficiency, productivity, labor utilization, quality performance, and schedule attainment.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively with Quality, R&D, Supply Chain, Warehouse, Maintenance, Engineering, Human Resources, and senior leadership.
• Ability to manage priorities across multiple manufacturing facilities while spending significant time on the production floor and responding effectively to changing operational demands.
• Demonstrated ability to balance production output, employee development, product quality, workplace safety, regulatory compliance, cost control, and operational accountability.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with nutraceutical, dietary supplement, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, or consumer health manufacturing processes involving gummies, powders, blending, mixing, oils, creams, liquids, or similar dosage forms.
• Experience supporting multi-site manufacturing operations, facility expansion, production scale-up, equipment installation, process validation, new production lines, or new product introductions.
• Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, 5S, root cause analysis, corrective and preventive action, CAPA, overall equipment effectiveness, OEE, and other operational excellence methodologies.
• Experience implementing process improvements that increase throughput, reduce downtime, improve yield, optimize labor utilization, strengthen quality performance, or improve production schedule attainment.
• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Engineering, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Business Administration, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and progressive manufacturing leadership experience.
• Proven success developing frontline manufacturing leadership teams and building a culture centered on safety, quality, accountability, continuous improvement, operational excellence, and employee engagement.