General Manager

Lawson Williams; Auckland; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Lawson Williams is seeking a General Manager to lead a well-established New Zealand food processing business through its next phase of growth. You will oversee performance, implement strategic plans, and strengthen leadership disciplines across manufacturing, quality, supply chain and commercial functions.

The role requires senior leadership experience in food processing, a hands‑on approach, and the ability to work across boardroom and factory floors with owners and stakeholders for sustainable

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience within food processing.
• Experience managing a manufacturing operation or large business unit.
• Ability to translate strategy into practical action.
• Strong stakeholder engagement with owners, directors and customers.
• Comfort moving between boardroom and factory floor.

Responsibilities

• Oversee performance including revenue, profitability, budgets and operations.
• Develop and implement business plans with the directors.
• Strengthen leadership rhythm, KPIs and reporting across the business.
• Build capability and accountability within the leadership team.
• Improve production planning, yield, waste and manufacturing efficiency.
• Maintain strong food safety, quality, regulatory and health & safety standards.
• Drive continuous improvement as part of normal business activity.
• Ensure engineering, maintenance and capital investments support future needs.
• Strengthen supply chain, procurement, inventory and working capital management.
• Maintain relationships with key customers and support future opportunities.
• Identify business risks and ensure governance and reporting.

Skills

Senior leadership

Multi-functional leadership

Manufacturing performance

Continuous improvement

Commercial responsibility

Food safety knowledge

Job description

Lead an established New Zealand food processing business into its next phase of maturity, capability and sustainable growth.

• Established and successful business with more than 30 years of operation.
• Broad role across operations, people, commercial performance and improvement.
• Build capability, strengthen systems and prepare the business for future growth.

The Company

This is an established New Zealand food processing business with a history spanning more than 30 years.

It has built a strong reputation through long-standing customer relationships, capable people and a practical, hands‑on approach to manufacturing. It operates across multiple sites and has an integrated supply, manufacturing and commercial model.

Importantly, this isn't a turnaround situation.

The opportunity is to build on what already works, introduce greater structure and management discipline where needed, strengthen the leadership team, build strong stakeholder engagement and lead the business through future growth.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the directors, the General Manager will take overall responsibility for the performance and leadership of the business.

You will work closely with the owners and senior leadership team to turn strategic priorities into practical plans, strengthen business systems and ensure the different parts of the organisation work effectively together.

There is considerable breadth to the role. You will lead across manufacturing, quality and food safety, supply chain, engineering, commercial, finance and people.

The Role

You will have responsibility for:

• Overall business performance, including revenue, profitability, budgets and operational performance.
• Developing and implementing business plans alongside the directors.
• Strengthening the management rhythm, KPIs and performance reporting across the business.
• Building capability and accountability within the leadership team.
• Improving production planning, productivity, yield, waste, downtime and manufacturing efficiency.
• Maintaining strong food safety, quality, regulatory and health and safety standards.
• Developing continuous improvement as part of normal business activity.
• Ensuring engineering, maintenance and capital investment support future operational requirements.
• Strengthening supply chain, procurement, inventory and working capital management.
• Maintaining relationships with key customers and supporting future commercial opportunities.
• Identifying business risks and ensuring appropriate governance, controls and reporting are in place.

You will need to be comfortable moving between the boardroom and the factory floor. Some days will involve strategic planning and commercial decisions; others will involve understanding why a production issue is occurring, challenging a process or helping a manager work through a problem.

Skills and Experience

We are looking for an experienced food industry leader who understands what good manufacturing looks like and knows how to develop a business as it becomes larger and more complex.

You are likely to bring:

• Senior leadership experience within food processing.
• Responsibility for a manufacturing operation, site or significant business unit.
• Leadership of a multi‑functional management team.
• Strong understanding of production, manufacturing performance and continuous improvement.
• Commercial and financial responsibility.
• Experience working within food safety, quality and regulatory requirements.
• Experience developing managers and building leadership capability.
• Confidence working with owners, directors, senior customers and suppliers.
• The ability to translate strategy into practical action.

Previous General Manager experience would be preferred however we will also consider an experienced Operations Manager, Supply Chain, Site Manager, or Business Unit Manager or similar who has developed sufficiently broad commercial and leadership experience and is ready to step into a General Manager role.

You must already have the legal right to work in New Zealand to apply for this role.