Food Production Manager

We are looking for an experienced Food Production Manager to take responsibility for manufacturing performance across a food production operation. The role will oversee production planning, people, productivity, food safety, equipment performance, quality and cost while ensuring that customer and business requirements are consistently met.

The successful candidate will work closely with Quality, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Procurement, Engineering and Warehouse teams to maintain reliable production and continuously improve manufacturing performance. This is a hands-on management position requiring strong operational judgement and experience managing production in a regulated or high-volume environment.

Key Responsibilities

Own day-to-day production performance across assigned manufacturing areas.

Develop production plans based on demand, available capacity, materials and workforce.

Manage production supervisors, operators and shift teams.

Monitor output, yield, labour productivity, downtime and production efficiency.

Ensure production activities comply with food-safety, hygiene and quality requirements.

Investigate production losses, recurring process problems and deviations.

Lead initiatives to reduce waste, scrap, rework and unplanned downtime.

Work with Maintenance and Engineering to improve equipment reliability and line availability.

Coordinate with Supply Chain and Procurement to address material availability and production constraints.

Review production KPIs and establish corrective and improvement actions.

Manage production budgets, labour requirements and operating costs.

Introduce standardized work procedures and improve manufacturing processes.

Support audits, inspections and investigations relating to production operations.

Coach supervisors and employees and develop a strong production-management structure.

Contribute to capital-investment and factory-improvement projects.