Production Manager

Blackbook Recruitment; Wollongong City Council; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Blackbook Recruitment's client, a well-established food production and manufacturing business in Wollongong, NSW, is seeking a Production Manager to own day-to-day manufacturing performance and drive continuous improvement across safety, quality and efficiency.

You will lead frontline teams, optimise labour and equipment utilization, and partner with maintenance, supply and purchasing to deliver plans and KPIs.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a Production Manager in FMCG or food manufacturing.
• Proven ability to lead frontline teams and drive performance via KPIs.
• Strong understanding of HACCP/ISO22000 and food safety standards.
• Demonstrated cross-functional collaboration and change leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day production across a high-volume operation.
• Act as operational deputy to the General Manager.
• Develop frontline teams and Team Leaders.
• Ensure production plans are delivered safely, efficiently and to specification.
• Drive improvements in labour utilisation, efficiency, waste and productivity.
• Monitor KPIs and use data to identify performance gaps.
• Implement root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Maintain high standards of food safety and compliance.

Skills

People leadership

Data-driven decisions

Operational KPIs

Change leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Food manufacturing knowledge

Job description

The Company

My client is a well-established organisation operating a growing food production and manufacturing function supporting a broader national service operation. With a strong focus on quality, operational efficiency and service delivery, an exciting opportunity has become available for a Production Manager to take ownership of day-to-day manufacturing performance and help shape the next stage of operational growth.

With ongoing investment across the operation and significant future development planned, this is an opportunity to join a business where you can have genuine influence over people, processes and performance.

This role is based in Wollongong, NSW.

The Role

Reporting into the General Manager, the responsibilities of the role include:

• Lead day-to-day production across a high-volume food manufacturing operation
• Act as the operational 2IC to the General Manager
• Lead and develop frontline production teams and Team Leaders
• Ensure production plans are delivered safely, efficiently and to specification
• Drive improvements across labour utilisation, efficiency, waste and productivity
• Develop and implement systems to improve visibility of production performance
• Monitor production KPIs and use data to identify performance gaps
• Drive continuous improvement across processes, equipment utilisation and workflow
• Maintain high standards across food safety, quality and compliance
• Work closely with Maintenance, Transport, Supply and Purchasing functions
• Identify operational issues and lead root‑cause analysis and corrective action
• Build a culture of accountability, ownership and continuous improvement

Your Background

In order to be successful in this role, you will be:

• An experienced Production Manager or senior Production Leader within FMCG or food manufacturing
• Experienced leading frontline production teams in a high-volume environment
• Strong technically, with a sound understanding of FMCG production practices and processes
• A proven people leader who can coach, develop and hold teams accountable
• Comfortable working across functions beyond production
• Experienced using operational KPIs and data to drive performance improvements
• Commercially and operationally minded, with a focus on efficiency and labour utilisation
• A hands‑on leader who enjoys being close to the operation
• Comfortable operating autonomously with the ability to make decisions and implement change
• A strong communicator who can build effective relationships across all levels of an organisation
• Food manufacturing, HACCP and/or ISO22000 experience would be highly regarded

What's On Offer

In return, you will be given the opportunity to take ownership of production performance within a growing food manufacturing operation, leading a frontline workforce and directly influencing key operational metrics.

This is a highly autonomous leadership position suited to a Production Manager who enjoys developing people, improving systems and turning operational strategy into tangible results. With further investment and growth planned, the role provides an opportunity to have a genuine impact on the future direction of the operation.