Senior Manufacturing Manager

Job Purpose

At Unilever, our products reach billions of people every day through trusted brands that make everyday life better. We’re looking for an exceptional Manufacturing Manager – Processing to help lead one of our most strategic manufacturing operations in North America.

Based in Jefferson City, Missouri—Unilever’s largest BW & PC manufacturing facility in North America—this role offers a unique opportunity to lead both our highly automated Personal Care Liquids operation and a groundbreaking new Betaines facility. Reporting directly to the Factory Director, you’ll lead a talented team of Manufacturing Business Leads, Supervisors, Area Leads, and frontline manufacturing professionals. You will be accountable for safety, quality, productivity, people development, and operational performance across both Processing and the new Betaines operation.

• Champion an industry-leading safety culture, ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements and site safety programs, including Process Safety Management (PSM), LOTO, risk assessments, and environmental standards.
• Drive world‑class quality and manufacturing excellence through standardized work, capability building, and operational discipline.
• Deliver operational reliability, efficiency, productivity, and cost targets through Unilever Manufacturing System (UMS) principles.

• Partner with global stakeholders across the Betaines network to optimize planning, feedstock procurement, inventory, and distribution strategies.

• Own key performance metrics including productivity, asset utilization, operational waste, batch cycle performance, quality, cost, and service.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives and focused improvement projects that unlock efficiency and growth.
• Partner closely with Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, Procurement, and Planning teams to achieve factory and business objectives.

• Develop, coach, and inspire leaders and frontline teams to achieve their full potential.
• Foster a culture of accountability, engagement, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Strengthen organizational capability through effective hiring, talent development, succession planning, and performance management.

• Bachelor’s degree, Engineering or a related STEM discipline preferred.
• 7-10+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience in a complex manufacturing, chemical processing, consumer products, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, or similar environment.
• Proven success leading large teams and delivering operational results through others.
• Experience driving safety, quality, productivity, reliability, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to analyze performance, solve complex problems, and execute strategic plans.
• Demonstrated ability to influence across functions and lead through periods of transformation and change.
• Exceptional communication, coaching, and team development skills.
• Flexibility to support a 24/7 manufacturing operation as business needs require.

The pay range for this position is $119,400 to $179,000. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.

This position is bonus eligible.

This position is LTI eligible.

Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of…