Plant Manager

Overview

The Plant Manager leads through a disciplined operating model, aligning cross-functional teams to deliver business results, develop organizational capability, and embed safety, continuous improvement, and operational excellence as fundamental ways of working.

Responsibilities

Site Leadership & Business Ownership

• Lead the Site Leadership Team as a unified, accountable leadership system that drives business performance, workforce engagement, and a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Own full site P&L performance while ensuring uncompromising commitment to safety, food safety, quality, service, productivity, and financial results.
• Establish site vision, priorities, and goals aligned to enterprise strategies.
• Represent the site to corporate leadership and external stakeholders.

Safety, Quality & Compliance

• Create and sustain a zero-injury culture; ensure compliance with all safety, health, and environmental regulations.
• Serve as the site's senior leader accountable for food safety, quality systems, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure audit readiness and strong relationships with customers, auditors, and regulators.
• Foster a culture where safety, food safety, and quality are integrated into daily decision-making and operational execution.

Operations & Reliability

• Ensure safe, predictable, and reliable operations across all value streams and warehousing.
• Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to drive asset reliability and capital planning.
• Oversee production planning, scheduling adherence, and inventory management in partnership with Supply Chain.
• Drive improvements in OEE, uptime, and throughput.
• Ensure disciplined execution of daily management systems that improve reliability, responsiveness, and operational performance.

People, Culture & Capability

• Build a high-performance culture rooted in Marzetti Growth Behaviors and an Owner Mindset.
• Develop and coach plant leaders.
• Ensure strong succession planning and leadership pipeline across the site.
• Partner with HR to drive engagement, capability building, and workforce planning.
• Create an environment that attracts, develops, and retains diverse talent while building leadership capability across all levels of the organization.

Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Champion continuous improvement and operational excellence by developing problem-solving capability throughout the organization.
• Lead and sponsor breakthrough improvements to processes, technology, and operating models.
• Leverage benchmarking and best practices to keep the site competitive and innovative.

Cross-Functional & Enterprise Collaboration

• Build trusted partnerships with Quality, Engineering, Finance, Supply Chain, HR, Procurement, Commercial, and R&D to optimize business performance.
• Align site priorities with broader supply chain, customer, and enterprise needs.
• Participate in cross-site and enterprise initiatives to drive network performance.

Qualifications

• Progressive manufacturing leadership experience; food or beverage manufacturing preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, operations, or related field required or equivalent experience; MBA preferred.
• Proven success leading multiple value streams or functions.
• Strong financial acumen with full P&L responsibility.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through change while delivering results through operational metrics.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience, including leadership of salaried and hourly teams.
• Demonstrated success leading a large manufacturing operation with full P&L accountability.
• Experience leading organizational change and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Operational Excellence, or similar management systems.
• Experience in FDA/USDA regulated food manufacturing preferred (if applicable).

Working Conditions/Environment

This position operates primarily in a manufacturing environment and requires regular presence throughout production, warehouse, and support areas. The role requires the ability to walk the production floor, navigate manufacturing conditions, and engage directly with frontline employees. Occasional travel to other company locations, customers, suppliers, or corporate meetings may be required.