What are the responsibilities and job description for the Plant Manager position at DSJ Global?
Job Title: Plant Manager
Location: Allentown, PA
About the Company: We are an innovative pet health & wellness brand that delivers personalized meal plans on a subscription basis. Our recipes are developed by leading animal nutritionists and are made with only real, human-grade ingredients... and nothing artificial! We have lofty goals to make every dog in the country healthier and every pet parent happier. This is an exciting opportunity to join a VC-backed, high-growth, e-commerce startup and have an outsized impact in an extremely fast-paced environment. Plus, you get to think about dogs all day!
Who You Are: You are an experienced food manufacturing leader with a track record of safety, quality, and meeting production targets. You are able to work cross-functionally with product innovation, strategic operations, and customer experience teams to ensure customers receive top-quality products. You know the importance of lean manufacturing systems in optimizing plant operations and take leadership in continuous improvement. You understand how to create a positive and inclusive culture alongside rapid growth and can put processes in place to foster personal and professional development for all employees. You have a "can do" attitude, a true ownership mindset, and are excited to have an outsized impact at a lean and fast-growing organization.
Job Description:
- Establish plant goals, develop strategies, oversee all aspects of plant operations, and report on performance across all areas of responsibility.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to achieve manufacturing excellence and embed a lean culture.
- Implement and maintain a safe work environment for all employees.
- Oversee food processing, packaging, and shipping/receiving of frozen products to ensure timely and efficient production of high-quality products.
- Foster a customer-focused mindset within the plant.
- Support food safety and product quality initiatives to ensure safe and defect-free products.
- Provide leadership to maintenance and QA functions by ensuring managers are engaging their teams in appropriate dialogue, action planning, and executing to plan.
- Maintain high employee engagement, communicate factory strategy, successes, and challenges, and cultivate our culture within the operation.
- Help coordinate shift patterns and labor scheduling to ensure the plant runs smoothly and efficiently.
- Work collaboratively with team members from various business functions, interact directly with senior leadership, and host the company's partners and investors during site visits.
Requirements:
- Minimum 4-7 years of senior manufacturing leadership experience.
- Minimum 4 years of people management experience.
- Project management experience.
- Understanding of lean manufacturing principles and systems.
- Expertise in supply chain and business systems (e.g., ERP, MRP).
- Strong knowledge of food safety programs (e.g., HAACP, SQF, BRC, cGMP).
- Experience hiring for senior plant leadership positions (e.g., QA, maintenance, team leads) preferred.
- Experience working in meat (or pet food) processing/production preferred.
- Bachelor's degree required, degree in Engineering or Food Science preferred, MBA preferred.
- Dog lovers a plus!
Compensation & Benefits:
- Leading compensation (salary bonus).
- Top-tier health benefits with national coverage (medical, dental, vision).
- Relocation assistance available if applicable.
- Employee discounts on our products!
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