Plant Manager

Job Title: Plant Manager

Location: Allentown, PA

About the Company: We are an innovative pet health & wellness brand that delivers personalized meal plans on a subscription basis. Our recipes are developed by leading animal nutritionists and are made with only real, human-grade ingredients... and nothing artificial! We have lofty goals to make every dog in the country healthier and every pet parent happier. This is an exciting opportunity to join a VC-backed, high-growth, e-commerce startup and have an outsized impact in an extremely fast-paced environment. Plus, you get to think about dogs all day!

Who You Are: You are an experienced food manufacturing leader with a track record of safety, quality, and meeting production targets. You are able to work cross-functionally with product innovation, strategic operations, and customer experience teams to ensure customers receive top-quality products. You know the importance of lean manufacturing systems in optimizing plant operations and take leadership in continuous improvement. You understand how to create a positive and inclusive culture alongside rapid growth and can put processes in place to foster personal and professional development for all employees. You have a "can do" attitude, a true ownership mindset, and are excited to have an outsized impact at a lean and fast-growing organization.

Job Description:

• Establish plant goals, develop strategies, oversee all aspects of plant operations, and report on performance across all areas of responsibility.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to achieve manufacturing excellence and embed a lean culture.
• Implement and maintain a safe work environment for all employees.
• Oversee food processing, packaging, and shipping/receiving of frozen products to ensure timely and efficient production of high-quality products.
• Foster a customer-focused mindset within the plant.
• Support food safety and product quality initiatives to ensure safe and defect-free products.
• Provide leadership to maintenance and QA functions by ensuring managers are engaging their teams in appropriate dialogue, action planning, and executing to plan.
• Maintain high employee engagement, communicate factory strategy, successes, and challenges, and cultivate our culture within the operation.
• Help coordinate shift patterns and labor scheduling to ensure the plant runs smoothly and efficiently.
• Work collaboratively with team members from various business functions, interact directly with senior leadership, and host the company's partners and investors during site visits.

Requirements:

• Minimum 4-7 years of senior manufacturing leadership experience.
• Minimum 4 years of people management experience.
• Project management experience.
• Understanding of lean manufacturing principles and systems.
• Expertise in supply chain and business systems (e.g., ERP, MRP).
• Strong knowledge of food safety programs (e.g., HAACP, SQF, BRC, cGMP).
• Experience hiring for senior plant leadership positions (e.g., QA, maintenance, team leads) preferred.
• Experience working in meat (or pet food) processing/production preferred.
• Bachelor's degree required, degree in Engineering or Food Science preferred, MBA preferred.
• Dog lovers a plus!

Compensation & Benefits:

• Leading compensation (salary + bonus).
• Top-tier health benefits with national coverage (medical, dental, vision).
• Relocation assistance available if applicable.
• Employee discounts on our products!

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