Director of Food Manufacturing

A growing, established food manufacturer is seeking a Director of Manufacturing to lead a large, complex manufacturing operation in Van Buren, Indiana.

This is a highly visible leadership opportunity for someone who enjoys working both on the business and in the business. The successful leader will set operational strategy and build scalable systems while maintaining a meaningful presence on the manufacturing floor and staying connected to leaders and teams across shifts.

The organization is investing significantly in its manufacturing capabilities and continuing to grow. This leader will have an opportunity to make a measurable impact by improving operational performance, developing leaders, strengthening equipment reliability, and building a sustainable culture of continuous improvement.

As Director of Food Manufacturing, you will oversee a sizeable, multi-building manufacturing operation with approximately 320 employees and production running across multiple shifts.

The operation includes high-speed manufacturing, processing, packaging, warehouse, maintenance, engineering and supporting functions. Production operates across multiple shifts, including a four-shift, 12-hour, 2-2-3 schedule.

The environment includes both established manufacturing assets and ongoing investment in expanded production capability. The source brief confirms oversight across two Van Buren plants and multiple manufacturing processes.

This is an opportunity for a leader who sees operational complexity as an opportunity to build, improve and elevate performance.

• Drive operational performance: Improve productivity, efficiency, cost, waste, service levels and overall plant performance.
• Lead from the floor: Maintain a strong presence throughout the operation, building relationships with leaders and employees while staying close to day-to-day execution.
• Strengthen leadership and accountability: Develop plant leadership, establish clear expectations and create consistent accountability across departments and shifts.
• Advance continuous improvement: Build and execute a practical continuous improvement roadmap that generates sustainable operating results.
• Improve equipment reliability: Partner closely with engineering and maintenance leadership to improve equipment performance, reliability and manufacturing capability.
• Champion safety and quality: Reinforce safe operations and product quality as foundational expectations throughout manufacturing.
• Build organizational capability: Develop frontline and salaried leaders while strengthening engagement and workforce stability.
• Support continued growth: Ensure manufacturing processes, people and infrastructure are prepared to scale with the organization's continued expansion.

We are looking for an experienced manufacturing executive who has progressively taken on larger and more complex operations throughout their career.

The strongest candidates will bring:

• Significant leadership experience within food manufacturing, which is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading multi-shift manufacturing operations.
• A strong record of improving operational performance, productivity and efficiency.
• Experience leading continuous improvement and operational excellence programs.
• Working knowledge of methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen or comparable continuous improvement approaches.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and KPI-driven management capabilities.
• Experience developing both frontline and salaried manufacturing leaders.
• A leadership style that is direct, accountable and…