Director, Operations / Operationeel Directeur

Village Farms; Groningen; On-site; EUR 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Village Farms International seeks a Director of Operations to lead the Drachten and Groningen facilities, unifying regional performance and driving GMP-compliant, scalable execution.

You will translate strategy into actionable plans, align cross-functional teams, and build robust operating systems to support growth and safety.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in multi-site regulated operations.
• Experience in cannabis, food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, or other GMP environments strongly preferred.
• PMP, Lean Six Sigma or related qualifications are assets.
• Experience with ERP optimization, automation, and data-driven performance management.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen with P&L accountability.
• Exceptional leadership, communication and stakeholder-engagement skills.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and translate strategy into measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead Drachten and Groningen as one regional operation with leadership to Cultivation, Production, Logistics, Facilities, and Quality teams.
• Translate business strategy and market priorities into clear operational plans and objectives.
• Establish consistent standards, operating rhythms, accountability, and decision rights.
• Build leadership alignment across both sites to ensure safe, efficient, compliant delivery.
• Identify risks, constraints, and performance gaps and implement timely corrective action.
• Integrate Cultivation, Production, Supply Chain, Maintenance, and supporting functions for end-to-end execution.
• Align production, capacity, materials, and resources with demand and customer requirements.
• Improve cross-functional planning and execution by managing dependencies and constraints.
• Build scalable operating practices and performance discipline for sustainable growth.
• Champion Lean and continuous-improvement methodologies across the operation.
• Establish KPIs, dashboards, and management reporting for visibility into performance and risks.
• Strengthen ERP, maintenance, and business intelligence systems to improve planning and control.
• Ensure GMP, quality and safety through deviations, CAPAs, and change controls.
• Own operating budgets and cost drivers; collaborate with Finance and Commercial on forecasting and planning.
• Develop high-performing leadership teams and foster cross-functional collaboration.

Skills

Leadership

Regulated manufacturing

Data-driven performance management

Lean Six Sigma

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic planning

Stakeholder engagement

Financial acumen

Problem solving

Change leadership

Education

Advanced degree in Business/Engineering

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Full Time Directors Groningen, Groningen, NL

Wat U Meebrengt

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The Opportunity

Village Farms International (Nasdaq: VFF) is a vertically integrated global leader in cannabis and plant-based consumer packaged goods, and sustainable innovation. As one of North America’s longest-standing -CEA operators built on decades of expertise, we’re a company where growers, innovators, and creators come together to shape the future of high performing plant-based brands, globally.

Joining Village Farms means joining a global team built on purpose, integrity, and ambition. Here, we grow people, ideas and possibilities.

We are seeking a Director, Operations to lead the performance, integration, and continued evolution of our Drachten and Groningen facilities. This is an opportunity for a builder, someone who understands what world-class operations look like, can identify the gap between current and future state, and is energized by leading the change. Reporting to the President, Global Operations, you will bring both sites together as a high-performing regional operation, translating business strategy into execution while strengthening leadership, enhancing GMP-focused systems, and driving safe, compliant, efficient, and scalable performance. Success in this role requires a hands‑on leader with strong systems thinking who can connect decisions, processes, and performance across functions to identify constraints, resolve root causes, and improve overall operational effectiveness. You will build an operation that is reliable, adaptable, customer‑focused, and positioned to support future growth.

What You’ll Do

Lead the Region

• Lead Drachten and Groningen as one connected regional operation, providing leadership to Cultivation, Primary and Secondary Production, Logistics & Supply Chain, Facilities, and Quality teams.
• Translate business strategy, customer demand, and market priorities into clear operational plans and execution objectives.
• Establish consistent standards, operating rhythms, accountability, decision rights, and performance expectations.
• Build strong leadership alignment across both sites and ensure operations deliver safely, efficiently, on time, and to quality and compliance standards.
• Identify emerging risks, constraints, and performance gaps and ensure timely corrective action.

Integrate the Value Chain

• Integrate Cultivation, Primary & Secondary Production, Supply Chain & Logistics, Maintenance, and supporting functions to deliver reliable end‑to‑end execution.
• Align production, capacity, materials, inventory, and resources with customer and market requirements.
• Enhance cross‑functional planning and execution by managing dependencies and constraints to optimize end‑to‑end operational performance.
• Build the flexibility required to respond effectively to changes in demand, product mix, customer requirements, and business priorities.

Drive Operational Excellence

• Build and continuously improve operating systems, processes standards and capabilities required for safe, compliant, and reliable execution.
• Lead structured problem‑solving and root‑cause analysis to eliminate recurring issues and improve operational performance.
• Drive standardization, continuous improvement, and operational excellence initiatives that improve productivity, throughput, quality and cost performance across the operation.
• Establish scalable operating practices, and performance discipline that support sustainable growth.
• Champion Lean and continuous-improvement methodologies, fostering a culture of accountability, ownership and execution excellence.

Strengthen Systems and Infrastructure

• Establish clear operational KPIs, dashboards, and management reporting that provide visibility into performance, risks, opportunities and decision making.
• Strengthen use of ERP, production, maintenance, and business intelligence systems to improve planning, execution and operational control.
• Improve data integrity, process discipline, and systems adoption to ensure timely, accurate and actionable information.
• Simplify, standardize, and automate business processes and workflows to increase efficiency, consistency and scalability.
• Partner with Technology and cross‑functional teams to enhance system integration, reporting capabilities, traceability, and digital enablement across the operation.

Protect Quality, Compliance & Safety

• Ensure the operations consistently meet applicable GMP, regulatory, quality, safety, and operating standards.
• Partner closely with Quality on deviations, CAPAs, investigations, audits, and change controls, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure operational changes are appropriately assessed, documented, controlled, and sustainably implemented.
• Build and sustain a strong culture of GMP, quality, and safety by embedding these principles into operational decision‑making, leadership practices, training, and performance expectations.

Own Operational Financial Performance

• Manage operating budgets and key cost drivers.
• Establish clear visibility into labor, materials, waste, maintenance, productivity, and other operating costs while optimizing resource utilization and capacity.
• Identify and deliver sustainable cost and margin improvement opportunities without compromising safety, GMP compliance, quality or customer service.
• Participate in capital planning and develop business cases for operational investments and improvements.
• Partner with Finance and Commercial to strengthen forecasting, planning, budgeting and operational performance management.

Build Strong Leaders & Teams

• Build and develop high‑performing operational leadership teams.
• Strengthen cross‑functional ways of working and collaboration across Cultivation, Quality, Commercial, Finance, HR, and other key functions to improve overall operating capability.
• Create a culture of ownership, accountability, transparency, and collaboration.
• Coach leaders to think enterprise‑wide and lead effectively through growth and change.

What You Bring

• Relevant advanced education in Business Administration, Operations Management, Engineering, or a related discipline is preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience, including senior leadership responsibility for multi‑site operations in regulated manufacturing environments
• Experience in cannabis, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, or other highly regulated GMP manufacturing environments is strongly preferred.
• PMP, Lean Six Sigma, technical, engineering, or related qualifications are considered assets.
• Experience with ERP optimization, automation, data‑driven performance management, and operational transformation.
• Proven success leading complex, multi‑site operations in regulated environments.
• Strong experience building, scaling, and transforming operations.
• Deep expertise in operational excellence, supply chain strategy, planning, inventory management, and quality systems.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including operating‑budget and P&L accountability experience.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, collaboration, and stakeholder‑engagement skills with the ability to influence across functions, organizational levels, and regions.
• Demonstrated ability to use data and KPIs to identify problems, establish priorities, and drive measurable performance improvement.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, align diverse perspectives, solve complex problems, and translate strategy into measurable business outcomes.

Life at Village Farms

• At Village Farms International, you’re part of something bigger — a global organization where you can grow your career across brands, functions, and countries.
• We believe It Takes A Village, and we mean it.
• Our values guide every decision we make: Versatility | Innovation | Leadership | Loyalty | Accountability | Grit | Entrepreneurship
• What you do here matters — to our people, our products, and the customers we serve.
• We’ve got you covered with company-paid comprehensive benefits and education assistance to support your growth.

Ready to Grow With Us?

If you want to be part of something that has real impact - we’d love to meet you.