Senior Production Operator — Dairy FMCG Leader

Thornton Tomasetti; Pokeno; On-site; NZD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Wellbeing support

Competitive rewards

Job summary

Abbott is a global healthcare leader with a base in New Zealand at the Pokeno plant, Waikato. This role leads and supports the team to achieve production targets while ensuring safety, quality, and environmental policies are followed. You will drive process improvements, coach staff and maintain accurate records across multiple processes.

The position requires a dairy processing qualification and 3–5 years in FMCG or spray drying, with a strong emphasis on compliance and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Management and supervision of plant teams in a dairy processing environment.
• Strong focus on safety, quality and regulatory compliance.
• Ability to identify and resolve process issues and optimise production.

Responsibilities

• Lead and support the team to achieve engagement and performance targets.
• Develop team capability through coaching and guidance.
• Deliver plant operational targets across multiple processes.
• Maximise outputs by effectively running and monitoring processes.
• Identify and resolve process issues through problem solving.

Skills

Team leadership

Coaching

Problem solving

Operational excellence

Education

NZ Diploma in Dairy Processing

Job description

Abbott is a global healthcare leader with a base in New Zealand at the Pokeno plant, Waikato. This role leads and supports the team to achieve production targets while ensuring safety, quality, and environmental policies are followed. You will drive process improvements, coach staff and maintain accurate records across multiple processes.

The position requires a dairy processing qualification and 3–5 years in FMCG or spray drying, with a strong emphasis on compliance and continuous improvement.