Senior Production Manager, Food Manufacturing & Scale-Ups

MiLa is seeking a hands-on, tech-savvy Production Manager to lead daily production execution, schedule delivery, frontline leadership, and operational discipline in a fast-growing food manufacturing environment.

This role owns safe, efficient, on-time production while partnering with FSQA, Materials, Maintenance, Sanitation, Planning, R&D, and Supply Chain. MiLa needs a flexible, data-driven leader who can use ERP/MRP systems, production data, and floor-level discipline to support fast scale-ups, new product launches, production trials, and process changes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead daily production across lines, shifts, and production areas.
• Execute the production schedule safely, efficiently, and to quality standards.
• Ensure lines are labor-ready, material-ready, equipment-ready, sanitation-ready, and quality-ready.
• Use ERP/MRP systems to support production scheduling, material readiness, labor planning, production reporting, and issue escalation.
• Own production KPIs: safety, quality, output, schedule attainment, labor efficiency, yield, downtime, waste, rework, and first-pass quality.
• Support rapid scale-ups, new product introductions, production trials, process testing, and equipment start-ups.
• Use production data to identify losses, prioritize actions, and improve performance.
• Partner with Materials, FSQA, Maintenance, Sanitation, Planning, and R&D to remove barriers to execution.
• Ensure accurate production reporting for output, downtime, labor, material usage, scrap, rework, and losses.
• Build standard work for start-ups, changeovers, staffing, production checks, downtime tracking, trials, and end-of-shift closeout.
• Coach and develop supervisors, leads, and frontline employees.
• Maintain strong GMP, safety, 5S, housekeeping, and food safety discipline.
• Build a culture of safety, quality, urgency, accountability, flexibility, technology adoption, and teamwork.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of production, manufacturing, or operations leadership experience.
• 3+ years leading supervisors, leads, or frontline production teams.
• Experience in food, CPG, manufacturing, or high-volume production.
• Strong hands-on experience using ERP/MRP systems to support production scheduling, material availability, production reporting, inventory consumption, and operational decision-making.
• Tech-savvy leader with ability to use production data, dashboards, spreadsheets, ERP/MRP systems, and digital tools to manage performance.
• Experience in fast-changing environments with scale-ups, product trials, shifting priorities, or new product launches.
• Strong knowledge of production scheduling, labor planning, line performance, downtime, yield, waste, and throughput.
• Ability to use data to solve problems and improve performance.
• Strong knowledge of GMPs, food safety, sanitation, safety, and quality standards.
• Strong communication, coaching, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Ability to work on the production floor in refrigerated/frozen environments.
• Flexible availability to support multiple shifts, weekends, trials, start-ups, and urgent production needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Business, Engineering, Food Science, Supply Chain, or related field.
• Experience in frozen food, meat/poultry, dumplings, prepared meals, USDA/FDA-regulated food manufacturing, or CPG.
• Experience with forming, cooking, freezing, packaging, or high-speed food production lines.
• Experience with ERP/MRP platforms, production dashboards, labor tracking, downtime tracking, digital production boards, or manufacturing execution systems.
• Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, Kaizen, 5S, or continuous improvement experience.

Success Measures

• Schedule delivered safely, consistently, and efficiently.
• Lines start on time with labor, materials, equipment, sanitation, and QA readiness confirmed.
• ERP/MRP usage improves production readiness, material coordination, and reporting accuracy.
• Output, labor efficiency, schedule attainment, and first-pass quality improve.
• Downtime, waste, rework, scrap, and production losses are reduced.
• Scale-ups, trials, and new products are executed with fewer disruptions.
• Production decisions are data-driven.
• Supervisors and leads become stronger frontline leaders.
• Production floor operates with discipline, urgency, ownership, technology adoption, and teamwork.

Location/Travel, Work Environment, & Physical Requirements

• 100% on-site at our facility in Sumner, WA
• Must be comfortable working around raw meat/poultry, dough, sauces, frozen products, sanitation chemicals, equipment, and cold environments.
• Must be available to support audits, inspections, urgent quality issues, multiple shifts, and occasional weekend or off-shift needs.