Director of Manufacturing

Who We Are

At Jonny Pops, our team is empowered to make an impact every day—from producing high‑quality, innovative frozen novelties to spreading kindness one pop at a time. We are a high‑growth, values‑driven organization built on operational excellence, disciplined execution, and people who care deeply about doing things the right way.

The Director of Manufacturing is a senior operations leader responsible for end-to-end manufacturing performance s role owns 24/7 production execution, safety, repairs & maintenance priorities, and people leadership, while building the systems, standard work, and leadership capability required to scale.

This leader integrates people, process, and equipment to deliver safe, high-quality, efficient production that supports brand growth, seasonal demand, and long-term capacity plans—operating both in the business and on the business.

• Ensure exceptional plant performance as measured by:
  • Human & Food Safety
  • Attainment
  • Scrap
  • Labor $/Pop and Overhead $/Pop
• Manufacturing & Production Leadership
  • Own 24/7 manufacturing operations, ensuring safe, efficient, and high quality output
  • Establish, document, maintain, and sustain standard work for critical manufacturing processes
  • Generate and lead continuous improvement initiatives to increase throughput, reliability, and efficiency
  • Leverages production and operating data and other inputs to direct the resolution of operational, manufacturing, and maintenance issues to ensure minimum costs and prevent operational delays
• Quality & Food Safety
  • Partner closely with Quality department to embed food safety and quality systems into daily operations
  • Reinforce quality as a nonnegotiable operating discipline
• Safety & Compliance
  • Create and sustain a strong safety culture across all shifts and teams
  • Ensure compliance with OSHA and internal safety standards
  • Proactively address hazards, near misses, and incidents with corrective actions
  • Consistently create safety awareness among all employees to prevent safety incidents and achieve company safety goals
• Maintenance Leadership and Engineering Partnership
  • Develop and manage R&M/Engineering priorities to ensure proper maintenance of the physical plant and equipment for quality and food safety, line up-time, and production efficiency
  • Own preventative maintenance execution and downtime reduction strategies
  • Partner with Engineering to ensure equipment reliability and uptime
• People Leadership & Talent Development
  • Lead, coach, and develop supervisors and managers to build a high performing manufacturing team
  • Ensure effective communication, collaboration, and teamwork between all plant operations team members
  • Ensure clear expectations, accountability, and performance management
  • Foster engagement, ownership, and continuous improvement at all levels
  • Hire, develop, and retain talent aligned with Jonny Pops values
• Cross Functional Collaboration
  • Effectively partner with Supply Chain, Quality, R&D, Engineering, Finance, and Commercial teams
  • Provide operational input on new products, scale up feasibility, and commercialization
• Financial & Operational Discipline
  • Manage manufacturing budget and operating costs
  • Monitor labor, material, and overhead efficiency
  • Use metrics and scorecards to drive fact based decisions and continuous improvement

Education: Bachelors (or equivalent experience) in Manufacturing Operations, Industrial Engineering, Operations or related field.

Experience & Skills:

• 7+ years of food manufacturing experience preferably in wet food / dairy products.
• Demonstrated experience working with LEAN Manufacturing Principles.
• Working mechanical knowledge of equipment.
• Must be familiar with GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) and QC standards required in a foods packaging environment.
• Experience hiring, leading and developing an effective production team.
• Must be able to manage multiple tasks and balance competing priorities in a dynamic environment.
• Proven experience maintaining or implementing metrics to measure and manage performance.
• Effective written communication and presentation skills. Ability to influence up, down and across organization levels.
• Strong MS Office…