Senior Formulations Supervisor

Job Summary:
The Senior Formulations Supervisor is responsible for overseeing all formulation activities to ensure products are manufactured accurately, efficiently, and in compliance with established specifications. This role leads the formulation team, manages intermediate inventory levels to support production planning, and serves as the primary point of contact for identifying and resolving inventory discrepancies that impact formulation operations. The Senior Formulations Supervisor collaborates closely with Operations, Quality, Planning, Procurement, and R&D to ensure on-time production and continuous process improvement.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

Formulation Operations & Product Quality

• Oversee the formulation of finished goods and intermediates using equipment and processes including Pebble Mills, Coball Mills, Powder Inductors, Centrifuges, Reaction Flavors, Flavor Keys, Partitionings, Acids/Bases, and Concentrates.
• Support formulation requirements for Small Bulkings, Finishing, Dry Products, Fluid Premix, and Hops production departments.
• Determine the appropriate raw materials, lots, and containers to use based on product specifications, shelf life, potency, inventory availability, warehousing constraints, and conservation requirements.
• Ensure efficient and proper utilization of raw material extracts, diluents, additives, and other ingredients.
• Evaluate out-of-specification products and determine corrective actions, including additional mixing, heating, restir-and-resample activities, or formulation adjustments.
• Provide oversight and decision-making support for formulation adjustments and restir-and-resample activities across all shifts, including weekends when production schedules require.
• Adjust production job sizes as needed to accommodate inventory shortages, discrepancies, nonconforming materials, or other operational constraints.
• Coordinate the recall and transfer of materials from off-site warehouses to support formulation needs.

Inventory Management & Production Planning

• Monitor and manage inventory levels of intermediates to support production schedules and formulation requirements.
• Identify, investigate, and resolve inventory discrepancies that impact formulation operations.
• Partner with Production Planning and Scheduling teams to optimize inventory utilization and ensure material availability.
• Proactively communicate inventory concerns, material shortages, quality issues, and supply risks to Procurement, Purchasing, Logistics, and Inventory Management teams.
• Review the Master Production Extraction Schedule to determine raw material availability and support production planning decisions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Master Production Schedulers, Finishing Supervisors, Quality Control, Research & Development, Sensory, Customer Service, Procurement, and Product Management teams to meet customer commitments and shipping deadlines.
• Consult with R&D and Product Management to address product performance issues, specification concerns, and supply challenges.
• Participate in daily operations meetings to review production priorities, identify potential risks, and resolve issues that could impact order fulfillment or customer service.

Leadership & People Management

• Lead and develop the Formulations team to ensure accurate formulations, appropriate inventory usage, and compliance with operating procedures.
• Plan, assign, and balance daily and weekly workloads to meet production objectives.
• Establish performance goals and objectives aligned with company strategy and monitor progress throughout the year.
• Create and manage employee development plans, coaching activities, and succession planning initiatives.
• Address employee performance, attendance, and workplace concerns in a timely and professional manner.
• Assess departmental workload requirements and identify the skills and resources needed to support business objectives.
• Recruit, hire, onboard, and train employees to maintain a highly capable and engaged team.

Continuous Improvement & Compliance

• Utilize key performance metrics to drive daily operations, identify trends, and measure departmental performance.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective action initiatives to resolve operational challenges and improve efficiency.
• Develop, document, maintain, and improve standard operating procedures and work instructions.
• Promote standardized processes, continuous improvement initiatives, and best practices to enhance safety, quality, productivity, and consistency.

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree with 3+ years related experience as an individual contributor and 2+ years managerial experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Required

• Education in Supply Chain, Sciences, Manufacturing or Logistics.
• Previous experience managing direct reports
• Strong mathematical skills
• Proficient in MS office
• Strong organizational skills and detail orientation
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Service orientation

Desired

• Experience with tools such as Power BI, ERP, MRP and/or SAP
• Experience in manufacturing or manufacturing food industry

Working Conditions:

• On-call availability
• Sitting for extended periods of time
• Working at computer >80% of the time