Head of Toll Manufacturing

Hub Cycle; Avignon; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Hubcycle in Avignon, France, seeks a hands-on industrial expert to own manufacturing operations and grow a global contract‑manufacturing network. You will act as the bridge between product teams, sourcing and factories, driving scale-up, quality and cost targets on a fast timeline.

You will lead a hands-on, owner-like approach to build a pilot lab, manage process transfers, and travel to partner sites worldwide to ensure reliability and rapid response for customers.

Qualifications

• At least 7 years of experience in industrial production or contract manufacturing within food or nutraceutical ingredients.
• Deep understanding of multiple processes (drying, extraction, milling, concentration, fermentation).
• Proven plant-level expertise: equipment, throughput, yields, changeovers, hygiene.

Responsibilities

• Own manufacturing operations and act as service-minded hub for speed and reliability.
• Build, onboard and grow a contract manufacturing network across Europe and beyond.
• Drive cost, lead time, yield and quality across partner portfolio.

Skills

Industrial production

Process engineering

Contract manufacturing

Pilot scale-up

Quality systems

English fluent

Sourcing network

Job description

Job & mission

• Own manufacturing operations at Hubcycle & manage overall capabilities and planning. That means running manufacturing like a service business: obsess over responsiveness, speed-to-quote, speed-to-sample and on-time delivery so our sales teams and clients always get fast, reliable answers.
• Be the technical bridge between our product, sourcing and quality teams and the factories that produce for us.
• Bring and activate your own network of contract manufacturers / factories (Europe being the priority at first)— matched to our product types and categories (functional botanicals, juice concentrates, spices & herbs, vanilla, etc.) and to the regions where we source and sell.
• Grow that network over time: select, qualify, onboard, animate and develop manufacturing partners across the globe.
• Drive manufacturing performance: cost, lead time, yield, quality and reliability across the partner portfolio.
• Write, negotiate and maintain rigorous specifications and cahiers des charges for every product, ensuring quality, yield, cost and food-safety targets are met.
• Use deep factory know-how to anticipate issues — process feasibility, equipment fit, bottlenecks, scale-up risks — before they hit production.
• Pilot industrial transfers: take products from recipe/lab to validated, repeatable industrial-scale manufacturing.
• Create, equip, manage and grow an industrial pilot lab in our offices to test, de-risk and accelerate the scaling of new products.
• Stay relentlessly client-oriented: turn customer needs and deadlines into quick, concrete production solutions, and keep stakeholders informed at every step.
• Travel to manufacturing sites worldwide to audit, troubleshoot, qualify and build strong partner relationships on the ground.

We expect you to take full ownership of how our products get made — from the spec sheet to the production line. You bring the industrial expertise; we give you the raw materials, the partners and the mandate to build what you need to scale faster.

What we need you to be

Here’s what we’ve learned matters most for this role, and why we’re being upfront about it:

1. Plugged into a manufacturing network.

You arrive with an existing, activable network of contract manufacturers and / or factories — relevant to our product categories and to our sourcing and selling regions. You know which plant / tool can make what (and why), where, and how to get them to say yes.

2. Business-oriented, with a service mindset.

You think like someone running a business, not a back-office. You’re obsessed with customer service, reactivity and speed: fast quotes, fast samples, fast solutions. When a client or a sales rep needs an answer, you make it happen quickly and reliably.

3. A true factory person.

You’ve run or deeply understood industrial production — not from a desk, but from the shop floor. You know how a plant breathes: equipment, throughput, yields, changeovers, hygiene, maintenance. You can walk into a partner’s factory and immediately see what will work and what won’t.

4. A specification and scale-up expert.

You can translate a product into a precise, robust cahier des charges, and you know how to take it from pilot to full industrial scale without nasty surprises. Process transfer is your home turf.

5. A builder, not just a manager.

Creating a pilot lab from scratch excites you. You’re hands‑on, resourceful and pragmatic — you’d rather build the capability than wait for it. You operate like an owner, anticipating problems instead of reacting to them.

6. A pragmatic believer in co-products.

You don’t need to be a circular‑economy activist, but if you think by‑products are second‑class inputs, this isn’t the right fit. You see the technical and commercial edge in what others discard.

The team around you

You operate with strong autonomy, but you will never walk alone. You have Hubcycle’s full ecosystem behind you: category experts, sourcing specialists, quality assurance, product development, logistics and finance. As the pilot lab and partner network grow, your performance may trigger additional hires to support you. You will report directly to the CEO, who is highly involved and supportive on technical and operational matters.

Skills needed

We are looking for a hands‑on industrial expert who can take ownership of our manufacturing network from day one.

Fundamentals

• At least 7 years of experience in industrial production, process engineering or contract/toll manufacturing management in food or nutraceutical ingredients.
• Experience across multiple processes (drying, extraction, milling, concentration, fermentation, etc.) or product categories.
• Proven plant‑level expertise: you understand industrial equipment, processes, yields and constraints, and have spent real time on factory floors.
• Hands‑on experience scaling products from lab/pilot to industrial scale and leading process transfers.
• Experience managing or coordinating external manufacturing partners, including audits and troubleshooting on site.
• Solid knowledge of food‑safety and quality frameworks (HACCP, FSSC 22000 or equivalent).
• Fluent in English.
• Committed. You're ready to jump in the next international flight to sort‑out any critical plant issue.
• Autonomous, hands‑on and entrepreneurial — you operate like a business owner, not an employee.

Bonus

• Experience designing or building a pilot / pre‑industrial lab or pilot line.
• Additional languages beyond English (French, Spanish, Mandarin…) to ease relationships with global partners.
• Circular‑economy awareness — not required, but appreciated.

Conditions

• Contract: Full‑time employee (CDI).
• Starting date: ASAP.
• Location: On‑site at Hubcycle HQ in Avignon, France — where the industrial pilot lab will be built. Frequent international travel to manufacturing partners is expected.
• Salary: Competitive package, fine‑tuned based on your experience and profile.

Why us

• Huge positive impact: every ton of ingredient we scale saves about 6 tons of CO2. The faster you help us scale, the more carbon we save.
• Pioneer mindset. We are building a completely new business model where contract manufacturing is at the core of the added value. You will be on the field, and one of our main man / woman. You will feel it. Your successes will have a huge impact on the company.
• Hubcycle is the biggest upcycled food‑ingredient supplier: already validated at scale by key clients and suppliers.
• Values: we are pragmatic and humble — no start-up bullshit — yet bold and aiming for peak performance.

The hiring process

1. 30 mins — your background, technical expertise and motivation.
2. 60 mins — deep dive into your industrial track record, specs and scale‑up experience.
3. 60 mins — business case: on Site presentation on how would you approach your first 90 days on a few specific products & manufacturing challenges.
4. Fourth & last step: reference check + final alignment on terms.

The whole process takes about 3 weeks. We answer and provide feedback to every candidate. If you have specific needs for the interviews, let us know.

You bring the industrial expertise, we bring the products and the partners. Let’s make it happen.

The Hubcycle team.