Manager, Functional Development

Foods you love. Brands you trust. And a career that empowers you to grow.
At Nestlé USA, we’re all working towards the same goal – to delight and deliver for our consumers. With a rich portfolio of beloved brands, including DiGiorno, Toll House, and Coffee mate, in 97% of U.S. households, we have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to be there for every moment in our consumers’ lives.

Joining Nestlé means becoming part of an inclusive workplace that inspires innovation, encourages strategic thinking and creativity, and celebrates your achievements. No matter where you work within the organization, you are empowered to challenge the status quo, embrace risk-taking, and pioneer new ideas. Our supportive and collaborative environment encourages bold ambitions and continuous learning so that everyone can grow and thrive.
This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

The Manager, Functional Development (Production, ME & SH&E) is responsible for leading the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of capability-building strategies for the Production, Manufacturing Excellence and Safety, Health & Environment functions within One Operations.

This role partners closely with ME and SH&E functional leaders, Heads of Manufacturing, HR Business Partners, and L&D to assess skill gaps, define targeted development plans, and deliver consistent, high-quality training and onboarding experiences across corporate and field/factory environments. The Manager ensures strong training foundations, effective SME partnerships, and alignment to enterprise standards and initiatives—while driving measurable improvements in workforce capability, operational excellence, safety compliance, and audit readiness.

This position is based out of Solon, OH.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead functional development strategy for the Production, ME and SH&E functions within One Operations. Assess current state and partner with HRBPs and functional leaders to define and execute targeted plans to close competency gaps.
• Partner with SMEs within SH&E to ensure key elements of their training—including LOTO, PPE, safety compliance, safety onboarding, and behavior-based safety programs—are maintained, accessible, current, and under governance to enable consistent training within the function and beyond.
• Partner with SMEs within Manufacturing Excellence to ensure key elements of their training—including standard work, CILs, TPM/Lean practices, operator onboarding and certification, and front-line leader development—are maintained, accessible, current, and under governance to enable consistent training within the function and beyond.
• Partner with SMEs to establish effective ways of working and clear content ownership, ensuring POKA and other digital work-instruction platforms remain current, governed, and accessible as the source of truth for functional skills.
• Design, implement, and continuously improve functional onboarding plans aligned to business needs, ensuring a consistent and effective new-hire experience across corporate and field locations.
• Develop and sustain functional capability frameworks, including competency matrices and role proficiency requirements, to define skill expectations and enable structured capability building for Production, ME and SH&E roles.
• Partner with SMEs to build capability in problem solving & root cause analysis (RCA), continuous improvement (Lean/TPM), reliability, systems thinking, change leadership, and management of change (MOC), ensuring this content stays current and governed.
• Contribute to and implement enterprise L&D initiatives (e.g., POKA, iLearn/GROW, Training Foundations, onboarding standards, CB App standards), ensuring effective adoption and governance within the Production, ME and SH&E functions.
• Ensure fulfillment of NAOOMI requirements and alignment of functional training programs to compliance and safety expectations.
• Ensure functional training programs include both Field and Corporate One Operations employees in scope, driving consistency and accessibility in capability development.
• Assess and track skill gaps, progression, and readiness; monitor and report on key metrics (e.g.,…