Manufacturing Director (East) - Beverage Manufacturing

Position Summary

The Director, Manufacturing is a key leadership role responsible for overseeing multiple manufacturing facilities across the United States: Hendersonville, NC ; Seabrook, NJ ; Sparta, MI. Reporting to the Vice President, Manufacturing, this position serves as the critical link between corporate manufacturing strategy and plant-level execution. This role is accountable for driving operational excellence, ensuring alignment of plant performance with company objectives, and leading plant leadership teams to achieve safety, quality, service, and cost targets.

Primary Responsibilities

• Translate corporate manufacturing strategy into actionable plans across assigned plants, ensuring alignment with business goals

• Drive consistent execution of operational priorities related to safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance across all sites

• Partner with the VP, Manufacturing to support long-term capacity planning, capital deployment, and network optimization

• Ensure operational consistency through standardization of processes, KPIs, and best practices across facilities

• Oversee performance of multiple plants, ensuring achievement of KPIs including OEE, cost per unit, service levels, and first-run quality

• Review plant-level financials, budgets, and forecasts; drive accountability for meeting P&L commitments

• Identify gaps in performance and lead cross-site problem-solving and corrective action plans

• Monitor capacity utilization and workforce planning to meet current and future demand

• Champion Lean Manufacturing, TPM, and continuous improvement initiatives across all facilities

• Drive cost reduction, waste elimination, and productivity improvements

• Facilitate benchmarking and sharing of best practices between plants

• Support capital project prioritization and execution to improve efficiency and throughput

• Ensure all facilities maintain compliance with OSHA, food safety (SQF, HACCP, FSMA), and regulatory requirements

• Promote a strong safety culture and lead initiatives to reduce incidents (OIR/LTIR)

• Ensure product quality standards are consistently achieved and sustained across all plants

• Reinforce a culture of accountability for food safety and product integrity

• Lead, coach, and develop Plant Managers to strengthen leadership capabilities and build a strong succession pipeline

• Partner with HR and senior leadership to drive talent development, engagement, and retention strategies

• Foster a high-performance, results-oriented culture across sites

• Act as a key liaison between plants and corporate functions (Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Finance, HR)

• Ensure alignment between plant operations and broader organizational priorities

• Support customer satisfaction and service excellence through strong execution

Additional Responsibilities

• Provides regular updates to VP, Manufacturing on plant performance, risks, and opportunities

• Supports special projects, transformation initiatives, and network expansion activities

• Performs other duties as assigned

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Directly manages Plant Managers across multiple facilities

• Coaches and develops leaders to drive performance and engagement

• Ensures alignment of goals, objectives, and performance expectations across sites

• Supports hiring, performance management, and succession planning efforts

Education And Experience

• Minimum Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Food Science, Operations, or related field
  • 10–15 years of progressive manufacturing experience in food, beverage, or CPG environments
  • 5+ years of leadership experience managing multiple sites or large-scale operations
  • Strong background in Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement, and operational excellence
  • Proven ability to lead and influence teams across multiple locations
  • Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets and P&L performance

• Preferred Qualifications:

  • MBA or advanced degree in a related field
  • Experience in multi-site manufacturing network optimization
  • Background in high-speed food or beverage manufacturing
  • Experience with capital project management and large-scale operational transformations
  • Demonstrated success leading change in complex, fast-paced environments