Director of Milk Plant, Processing, & Blending

Position Summary

Steuben Foods is seeking a Director of Milk Plant, Processing, & Blending to lead the Blending, Processing, and Milk Plant departments. This position is responsible for operational leadership, continuous improvement, technical and process leadership, commercialization support, food safety and quality compliance, talent development, and financial management. The role partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, and R&D to support manufacturing performance and business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Set department goals, operating plans, and performance expectations.
• Monitor production, labor, yield, downtime, quality, and cost performance and take corrective action when targets are missed.
• Optimize labor, materials, utilities, equipment, and production capacity.
• Ensure production readiness and execution of scheduled operations.
• Drive reduction of waste, product loss, downtime, and operating costs.

Continuous Improvement

• Set and track improvement goals for Blending, Processing, and Milk Plant operations.
• Lead improvement initiatives and ensure improvements are implemented and sustained.
• Develop and prioritize projects based on safety, quality, capacity, efficiency, and cost.
• Use performance data to identify improvement opportunities.

Commercialization & Customer Support

• Serve as the operations lead for new business and product opportunities affecting Blending and Processing.
• Evaluate manufacturability, capacity, equipment capability, process requirements, and operational risks.
• Support customer visits, technical discussions, trials, audits, and operational reviews.
• Lead operational readiness and cross-functional execution for new product launches.
• Coordinate plant trials, validation, startup, and transition to commercial production.

Technical & Process Leadership

• Provide technical leadership and serve as the escalation point for complex processing issues.
• Lead root cause investigations and process optimization efforts.
• Support process design, equipment changes, validation, and implementation of new technologies.
• Partner with R&D and Engineering on process and equipment development.

Food Safety, Quality & Safety

• Maintain compliance with food safety, quality, regulatory, customer, and company requirements.
• Maintain audit readiness and support FDA, USDA, Kosher, SQF, customer, and regulatory inspections.
• Partner with Quality on deviations, non-conformances, complaints, and corrective actions.
• Lead safety performance, incident investigations, risk assessments, and corrective actions.

Leadership & Talent Development

• Coach and develop direct reports and build leadership capability throughout the departments.
• Set performance expectations, conduct reviews, and establish development plans.
• Support succession planning, workforce planning, engagement, and retention.

Financial & Capital Management

• Develop and manage departmental budgets and control spending.
• Identify cost savings and productivity opportunities.
• Develop business cases and track return on investment for major initiatives.
• Partner with Engineering on capital projects, equipment selection, commissioning, startup, and facility expansion.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Dairy Science, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of manufacturing leadership experience in food, beverage, dairy, pharmaceutical, aseptic, or related industries.
• 5+ years of people management experience.
• Experience with low-acid aseptic processing, beverage processing, dairy processing, or another regulated process environment.
• Experience leading continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives.
• Working knowledge of GMPs, HACCP, SQF, Kosher, USDA, FDA requirements, food safety, and EHS requirements.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, budgeting, and business skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree.
• Lean or Six Sigma certification.
• Better Process Control School certification.
• Commercialization experience.
• Capital project experience.

Technical Knowledge

• Thermal processing, HTST/UHT processing, aseptic processing, sterilization, and process controls.
• Product formulation, ingredient handling, product transfer, dairy receiving, and processing systems.
• CIP systems and process automation.
• Lean manufacturing, Kaizen, TPM, Six Sigma, and Operational Excellence methodologies.

Schedule

Monday through Friday, with off-shift, weekend, and holiday support as needed based on production, customer, startup, commercialization, and capital project requirements.

Apply

Apply online at www.steubenfoods.com/career