Plant Manager - High Speed Beverage

A beverage manufacturer is seeking a Plant Manager to lead a high-speed, high-volume production facility operating in a 24/7 environment. You will have full site accountability for safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people performance while driving operational excellence across multiple automated production and packaging lines.

This role requires a proven operations leader who thrives in fast-paced manufacturing, understands high-speed processing and packaging environments, and can build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and performance.

What You Will Do

You will lead all plant operations including production, maintenance, quality, engineering, warehouse, and EHS functions.

You will own full P&L responsibility for the site, driving cost control, productivity improvements, and margin performance.

You will oversee high-speed automated lines with a focus on maximizing OEE, throughput, yield, and labor efficiency.

You will ensure compliance with all food safety, regulatory, and customer standards, maintaining a strong quality-first culture.

You will develop and execute the site's strategic plan, including capital projects, capacity expansion, and reliability initiatives.

You will lead, coach, and develop a cross-functional leadership team, building strong succession pipelines and a high-performance culture.

You will drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean manufacturing, structured problem-solving, and data-driven decision making.

You will serve as the senior on-site leader, fostering strong communication across shifts and departments while maintaining high employee engagement.

What You Will Bring

You will have 10+ years of progressive leadership experience within high-speed food, beverage, CPG, or similar automated manufacturing environments.

You will have prior experience leading a large facility with multiple lines and significant headcount.

You will demonstrate strong financial acumen with experience managing site budgets and capital investments.

You will bring deep knowledge of food safety systems (SQF, BRC, HACCP, GMP) and regulatory compliance.

You will have a track record of improving operational KPIs including safety performance, OEE, waste reduction, service levels, and labor productivity.

You will be a visible, hands-on leader with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization.