Director, Co-Manufacturing

Position Summary

The Director, Co-Manufacturing is responsible for developing, managing, and optimizing Mama's Creations' external manufacturing network to support the company's growth strategy, customer commitments, and operational objectives. This position serves as the enterprise leader for all co-manufacturing relationships, ensuring external partners consistently deliver exceptional service, Grandma Quality, food safety compliance, cost performance, and capacity support.

The Director will build strategic partnerships with contract manufacturers, lead commercialization and capacity expansion initiatives, and ensure co-manufacturing operations align with Mama's values of Commit to Craftsmanship, Nurture Relationships, Honor Heritage, and deliver Grandma Quality.

This role requires a highly collaborative leader who can influence cross-functional partners across Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement, FSQA, R&D, Finance, Sales, and Customer Service while holding external manufacturing partners accountable for operational excellence and business results.

Position can be based in East Rutherford, NJ or Farmingdale, NY

Co-Manufacturer Strategy & Relationship Management

• Develop and execute the company's co-manufacturing strategy to support growth, innovation, customer requirements, and capacity needs.
• Identify, evaluate, qualify, negotiate, and onboard new co-manufacturing partners.
• Establish and maintain executive-level relationships with co-manufacturer leadership teams.
• Lead business reviews with co-manufacturing partners, focusing on performance, service, quality, cost, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure clear accountability, governance, and communication structures exist across all manufacturing partners.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for critical business, operational, quality, and supply issues.
• Relationship management and development of multi-site 3PL solution network.

Operational Performance

• Own service, inventory, capacity, quality, and cost performance across the co-manufacturing network.
• Establish performance metrics and scorecards to monitor supplier execution and compliance.
• Drive improvements in on-time delivery, schedule adherence, yield, waste reduction, and production efficiency.
• Partner with Supply Planning and Operations teams to align manufacturing capacity with demand forecasts and growth plans.
• Ensure co-manufacturers maintain appropriate labor, equipment, and material resources to support business requirements.

Commercialization & Product Launches

• Lead co-manufacturer activities associated with new product commercialization and customer-specific initiatives.
• Partner with Culinary Innovation, R&D, Operations, and FSQA teams to ensure successful product transfers and launches.
• Coordinate production trials, scale-up activities, process validations, and first-production runs.
• Ensure accurate production documentation, specifications, and operational readiness prior to launch.

Quality, Food Safety & Compliance

• Partner closely with FSQA to ensure all co-manufacturers consistently meet Mama's food safety, quality, regulatory, and customer requirements.
• Support supplier qualification, audit programs, CAPA activities, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with FDA, USDA, FSMA, HACCP, GMP, SQF, BRC, and customer-specific standards.
• Lead cross-functional response efforts related to quality events, recalls, customer complaints, or regulatory concerns.

Financial Management

• Own co-manufacturing budgets and financial performance.
• Collaborate with Procurement and Finance to negotiate manufacturing agreements and cost structures.
• Identify and execute productivity initiatives that improve margins while maintaining product quality and customer service.
• Evaluate capital and investment opportunities within the co-manufacturing network to support long-term growth.

Continuous Improvement

• Develop and implement operational excellence initiatives across manufacturing partners.
• Leverage KPIs, root-cause analysis, and performance reviews to drive sustainable improvement.
• Promote Lean Manufacturing, waste reduction, and process optimization opportunities throughout the network.
• Share best practices among co-manufacturing partners to elevate overall network performance.

Leadership & Talent Development

• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, trust, and continuous improvement.
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships that support enterprise business objectives.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to Operations leadership regarding network optimization and growth strategies

Success Metrics

• The Director, Co-Manufacturing will be measured on:
• Customer service levels
• OTIF (On-Time In-Full) performance
• Product quality performance
• Food safety compliance
• Network capacity utilization
• Manufacturing cost improvement
• Productivity savings
• Commercialization success rate
• Supplier scorecard performance
• Inventory performance
• Customer complaint trends
• EBITDA contribution from network optimization initiatives

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Business, or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing, supply chain, operations, or co-manufacturing leadership experience.
• Minimum 5 years managing contract manufacturers or external manufacturing networks.
• Experience within food manufacturing, refrigerated foods, CPG, or consumer packaged goods.
• Strong knowledge of FDA, USDA, FSMA, HACCP, GMP, SQF, and food manufacturing operations.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets, cost optimization, and productivity initiatives.
• Exceptional negotiation, relationship management, and influencing skills.

Preferred

• Experience in refrigerated, deli-prepared foods, protein, or fresh food manufacturing.
• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement certification.
• Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, or manufacturing network integrations.
• Bilingual English/Spanish.

Essential Physical Requirements

• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time to manufacturing partners and company facilities.
• Ability to work within food manufacturing environments, including refrigerated production areas.
• Ability to wear required PPE while conducting plant visits and audits.
• Ability to stand and walk production facilities for extended periods.