Plant Superintendent - RTE Protein

Our client is a leading U.S. manufacturer of ready-to-eat (RTE) protein products, supplying high-quality products to major retail, foodservice, and national restaurant customers across the country.

With a strong reputation for food safety, operational excellence, innovation, and continuous investment in its people and manufacturing capabilities, the company is continuing to strengthen its production leadership team.

As part of this growth, we have been retained to recruit an experienced Plant Superintendent to provide leadership across production operations at one of the company's high-volume manufacturing facilities.

This is an excellent opportunity for a production leader who thrives in a fast-paced, 24/7 manufacturing environment and has a proven track record of driving safety, quality, productivity, and employee engagement.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Plant Superintendent will have responsibility for overseeing day-to-day production operations across the facility, ensuring production targets are consistently achieved while maintaining the highest standards of safety, food quality, and operational performance.

You will lead and develop a team of Production Supervisors and frontline employees, working closely with Maintenance, Engineering, FSQA, Warehouse, and Human Resources to ensure the plant operates safely, efficiently, and to customer expectations.

The successful candidate will be a highly visible leader on the production floor, capable of identifying opportunities for improvement, holding teams accountable to performance standards, and developing the next generation of manufacturing leaders.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and direction across daily production operations within a high-volume RTE manufacturing facility.
• Lead, coach, and develop Production Supervisors, Team Leaders, and hourly production employees.
• Ensure production schedules, volume requirements, labor targets, and customer commitments are consistently achieved.
• Monitor key production KPIs including yield, throughput, labor efficiency, downtime, waste, OEE, and production attainment.
• Drive a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with company safety policies and OSHA requirements.
• Ensure all production activities comply with USDA, FSIS, HACCP, GMP, SQF, and company food safety and quality standards.
• Partner closely with FSQA to maintain the highest standards of product quality, sanitation, and food safety.
• Work collaboratively with Maintenance and Engineering to minimize downtime and improve equipment reliability.
• Identify production bottlenecks and implement corrective actions to improve throughput, efficiency, and overall plant performance.
• Drive Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, and Operational Excellence initiatives across production.
• Ensure standardized work processes and operating procedures are consistently followed across all shifts.
• Support workforce planning, labor utilization, scheduling, and employee development initiatives.
• Conduct regular production floor walks and proactively address operational issues.
• Lead investigations into production deviations, performance issues, and safety incidents, implementing sustainable corrective actions.
• Support capital projects, equipment installations, line expansions, and process improvement initiatives.
• Develop a culture of accountability, teamwork, communication, and continuous improvement across the production organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Operations Management, Engineering, Business, Food Science, or a related field preferred.
• 5+ years of progressive production or operations leadership experience within RTE, poultry, meat processing, food manufacturing, or another high-volume manufacturing environment.
• Previous experience leading production teams within a USDA-inspected manufacturing facility strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple production lines and large hourly workforces in a 24/7 operation.
• Strong understanding of RTE manufacturing processes, production planning, food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.
• Knowledge of USDA, FSIS, HACCP, GMP, SQF, OSHA, and other applicable manufacturing standards.
• Proven track record of improving productivity, yield, labor efficiency, throughput, and overall plant performance.
• Experience implementing Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, Six Sigma, or Operational Excellence methodologies.
• Strong people leadership and employee development skills.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and organizational abilities.
• Bilingual English/Spanish skills are highly desirable.