Vice President Manufacturing and Engineering

About Us

Foremost Farms USA is one of the largest, leading dairy cooperatives in the United States and a major dairy food and ingredients manufacturing business. We represent hundreds of Midwest dairy farmer members located in seven Midwest states, and we produce about 500 million pounds of cheese and 50 million pounds of butter in plants across our network every year. "We Bring Dairy to Life" in eight manufacturing plants across Wisconsin and Michigan and in our headquarters in Middleton (Madison), Wisconsin;

and we’re looking for employees who are innovative and aim for excellence in our wide variety of production, field and business roles. Join us!

JOB TITLE: Vice President Manufacturing and Engineering

POSITION TYPE: Full time

CLASSIFICATION: Exempt

The Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering will lead manufacturing performance and engineering capability to deliver safe, efficient, and standardized operations aligned with business strategy. This role is responsible for end‑to‑end operational performance across seven dairy processing plants, to deliver quality finished products that consistently meet the needs of our customers. The Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering collaborates extensively with internal interdisciplinary teams (Sales, Finance, Human Resources, R&D, EHS, etc.)

to ensure product composition, production methodologies and people management priorities are aligned and consistent with Foremost Farms USA protocol. This role is also responsible for developing and mentoring manufacturing and engineering leaders to effectively lead their teams in a manner that drives a positive culture and employee engagement. This is a senior leadership role that blends strategy, execution, and leadership.

• Mentor, coach and build plant leaders to enhance their performance and be a positive influence across the cooperative
• Drive results through positive coaching of our management operation systems (SCORE) to engage the plant teams and drive results in a sustainable manner. Adopt and lead the Pro Action methodology across all sites
• Drive a people‑centric culture of transparency and curiosity that engages teams to drive exceptional performance
• Partner with HR to assess plant leadership talent, developing active development plans and succession plans for each plant. Actively work to build a leadership pipeline
• Partner with HR to build and lead action plans to improve employee experience, engagement and satisfaction at each site
• Partner with HR to develop and support programs that contribute to a positive employee relations strategy

• Own overall manufacturing performance, ensuring compliance and standards on employee safety, food safety, quality, environmental, sustainability, cost, and productivity
• Drive continuous improvement, efficiency, and standardize best practices across facilities
• Ensure operations run reliably and predictably
• Develop departmental budgets, forecast expenses, and identify alternatives and cost savings
• Partner with Quality to drive transparent First Pass Quality results. Ultimately reducing losses/downgrades, minimizing customer complaints, and improving capability
• This role has oversight of and will adhere to the monitoring and/or verifying of control points occurs and that the required documentation is completed.

• Oversee manufacturing, automation and controls, maintenance reliability, and capital engineering
• In partnership with the Senior Director of Engineering, align the organization on a multi‑year capitalization plan for maintenance investment
• In partnership with the Director of Maintenance Reliability, ensure risk‑based maintenance plans and programs are in place to increase efficiency and quality across all plants

• Lead operational turnaround or scale‑up initiatives
• Modernize plants, systems and skill sets
• Act as a technical resource to address and help resolve inquiries and problems regarding production, quality, and work issues focusing on root cause
• In cooperation with commercial, R&D, and Quality, identify and implement…