Production Manager

About the Role

Lead a high-performing manufacturing team while driving safety, operational excellence, and continuous improvement in a dynamic food ingredients operation at IFF, a global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, and health & biosciences. This onsite role in Memphis, Tennessee is a key member of the Site Leadership Team, responsible for achieving excellence in safety, food safety, quality, service, cost performance, employee engagement, and continuous improvement.

The Production Manager provides strategic direction, operational leadership, and talent development while fostering a culture of accountability, ownership, teamwork, and operational excellence. The successful candidate will maintain a visible presence within the operation, engage employees at all levels, develop future leaders, and empower teams to consistently deliver business results.

Responsibilities

• Lead all aspects of daily manufacturing operations to achieve production, packaging, quality, customer service, and cost objectives.
• Coach, mentor, and develop supervisors, unit leaders, and production teams to strengthen capabilities, engagement, accountability, and succession readiness.
• Establish clear performance expectations and drive accountability through effective performance management, coaching, recognition, development planning, and corrective action when appropriate.
• Champion a culture where safety, food safety, quality, and compliance are fundamental to every operational decision and are embraced daily by all employees.
• Ensure compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Process Safety Management (PSM), environmental regulations, sanitation standards, Management of Change (MOC) processes, and company policies.
• Lead incident investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action implementation to improve operational reliability, reduce risk, and strengthen site performance.
• Drive operational excellence initiatives utilizing Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement methodologies to improve productivity, yield, throughput, efficiency, and overall operational performance.
• Monitor and improve key performance indicators including Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), downtime, capacity utilization, labor productivity, manufacturing costs, and service performance.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Environmental Health and Safety, and other stakeholders to achieve site objectives, solve operational challenges, and support continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Food Science, Operations Management, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive manufacturing experience, preferably within food, ingredients, chemical, or other regulated manufacturing environments.
• Minimum of 6 years of leadership experience managing production teams in a manufacturing setting.
• Demonstrated experience leading large operational teams, developing supervisors and frontline leaders, and building high-performance, accountable cultures.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, quality systems, HACCP, GMP, PSM, MOC, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Proven success leading Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Root Cause Failure Analysis, or similar continuous improvement initiatives that improve operational and financial performance.
• Experience managing operational budgets, fixed and variable costs, productivity initiatives, and performance metrics to achieve business goals.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, conflict resolution, and decision-making skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, hold others accountable with fairness and respect, and effectively collaborate across functions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt, or comparable continuous improvement certification.
• Leads by example, develops people, communicates effectively, takes initiative, solves problems proactively, and creates a culture where safety, quality, teamwork, and operational excellence thrive.
• Demonstrated success leading culture transformation initiatives focused on accountability, engagement, ownership, teamwork, and operational excellence.

Key Leadership Attributes

• Leads with accountability, ownership, and integrity.
• Demonstrates the courage to have candid conversations, address performance gaps, and recognize achievements.
• Develops and coaches future leaders while fostering employee engagement.
• Communicates effectively across all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrates emotional intelligence and sound judgment when resolving challenges and conflicts.
• Delegates effectively, follows through on commitments, and drives execution.
• Creates an environment where safety, quality, teamwork, trust, and continuous improvement thrive.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Paid vacation and holidays.
• 16 weeks paid parental leave (maternity and paternity).
• Annual bonus plan.
• Career development opportunities within a global company focused on innovation and sustainability.
• Inclusive and collaborative work environment where safety, development, and employee success are prioritized.

For your awareness, IFF has announced its intention to sell its Food Ingredients Business to CVC Capital Partners. The sale is currently expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The Food Ingredients business unit will remain part of IFF until close and, at such time, will transition to CVC Capital Partners.