Production Manager - Poultry

We are partnering with a leading poultry processing company to identify an experienced Production Manager to provide operational leadership across a high-volume poultry processing facility.

This is a key leadership position responsible for overseeing daily production activities, driving operational performance, developing frontline leadership, and ensuring the facility consistently meets its targets for safety, quality, yield, productivity, efficiency, and on-time production.

The successful candidate will work closely with Operations, Maintenance, FSQA, Engineering, HR, and senior plant leadership to optimize production performance and create a safe, efficient, and high-performing manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage day-to-day production operations across the poultry processing facility.
• Ensure production schedules are achieved while maintaining the highest standards of food safety, product quality, employee safety, yield, and efficiency.
• Manage, coach, and develop Production Superintendents, Supervisors, and frontline production employees.
• Establish clear performance expectations and drive accountability across production teams.
• Monitor key production KPIs including throughput, yield, labor efficiency, downtime, OEE, waste, quality, and productivity.
• Partner closely with FSQA to ensure compliance with USDA, HACCP, GMP, food safety, and customer requirements.
• Work collaboratively with Maintenance and Engineering to minimize equipment downtime and improve line reliability.
• Identify opportunities to improve production flow, labor utilization, line balancing, automation, and overall plant efficiency.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on reducing costs, improving productivity, and maximizing operational performance.
• Ensure production areas maintain high standards of sanitation, housekeeping, safety, and regulatory compliance.
• Support workforce planning, staffing, training, and development to ensure production departments are appropriately resourced.
• Analyze production data and develop corrective action plans when performance falls below expectations.
• Participate in capital projects, equipment installations, process improvements, and new product introductions.
• Work closely with Planning and Supply Chain to ensure production schedules are aligned with raw material availability and customer demand.
• Manage labor and operating costs within established budgets.
• Promote a culture of safety, accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence across the facility.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be an experienced production leader with a strong background in poultry processing, meat processing, food manufacturing, or another high-volume protein production environment.

You will ideally bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Operations, Food Science, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline is preferred.
• 5+ years of progressive production leadership experience within poultry, meat, protein, or high-volume food manufacturing.
• Proven experience managing production teams within a large-scale processing facility.
• Strong understanding of poultry processing operations, production flow, yields, labor management, and manufacturing KPIs.
• Experience leading Supervisors, Superintendents, and hourly production teams.
• Strong knowledge of USDA, HACCP, GMP, food safety, and workplace safety requirements.
• Demonstrated success improving throughput, labor efficiency, yield, downtime, and overall production performance.
• Strong problem-solving and data-driven decision-making skills.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Maintenance, Engineering, FSQA, HR, and Supply Chain.
• Strong leadership and communication skills with the ability to motivate teams in a fast-paced production environment.
• Comfortable working in a high-volume, temperature-controlled manufacturing environment and operating on a flexible schedule when required.

What the Role Offers

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced production leader to join a leading and growing poultry processor and take ownership of a critical production function within a high-volume manufacturing facility.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to make a measurable impact on plant efficiency, throughput, yield, labor performance, food safety, and operational excellence, while developing a strong team and progressing within a growing organization.