3rd-Shift Operations Leader: Safety, Growth, Impact

General Mills, Inc; Cedar Rapids (IA); On-site; USD 71,000 - 107,000; Full time

Job summary

General Mills, Inc. in Cedar Rapids, IA, is seeking an Operations Team Leader for the 3rd shift (11pm–7am) to guide the shift, foster a safe and collaborative environment, and drive sustainable performance across safety, quality, and cost.

You will lead the shift daily, set priorities, coach team members, and ensure the Run and Improve results while integrating systems and data to inform decision‑making.

Qualifications

• 1 year manufacturing or frontline leadership experience
• Demonstrated leadership and working in a highly collaborative environment
• Success in driving results through process and teamwork
• Proven success reducing losses and improving performance in a manufacturing setting
• Demonstrated technical capability and knowledge of unit operations and machinery (at least one production platform)
• Skilled at communicating between work groups, cross-functional resources, and other members of the plant
• Foundational knowledge of data analysis systems (examples: SAP, Maximo, Manufacturing Analytics, MQIS) and decision making for results

Responsibilities

• Lead food and human safety through Safety 2.0 leadership principles and standards.
• Cultivate Human Safety Culture that reduces risk to our people and communities by increasing capability to proactively discuss, identify and control risk.
• Cultivate Food Safety Culture that is committed to manufacturing safe food that is compliant with policy and regulatory requirements.
• Role model Engaging Leader behaviors.
• Develop and implement strategies to maximize shift team effectiveness (communication and collaboration).
• Provide clear individual priorities and team goals to deliver platform priorities.
• Cultivate a positive and supportive team environment to foster employee engagement and retention, including dedicated "floor time" with the team.
• Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing development and demonstrate a willingness to receive and action feedback for performance improvement.
• Drive sustainable performance improvement through coaching, development, and capability building of the shift team.
• Driving System Utilization (DSU)
• Support the creation and execution of the platform improvement plan.
• Daily Direction Setting (DDS)
• Responsible for the execution, results and process health of Shift DDS, inclusive of changeovers.
• Operations Foundational Systems: Responsible to integrate operations foundation systems to secure equipment basic conditions (CIL/CL/DH) across the shift.
• Produce safe quality product by running to target specification.
• Learning System: Responsible for the delivery of the shift learning plan.
• Identify skill gaps, develop training plans and track employee progress.
• Gain working knowledge to collect, analyze and interpret manufacturing data to make informed decisions (overuse, performance).
• Build a comprehensive understanding of the production system, equipment and the product transformation process.
• Develop strong understanding of inventory management principles, material specifications, quality control procedures, and traceability systems for Ingredients, Materials and Finished Products.
• Deepen understanding of daily management and process ownership across the team (examples: DH, CL, CIL, etc.).
• Secure fluency of Theory of Operation (TOO) and Problem-Solving tools and processes (IR, UPS, QCO).
• Increase proficiency in labor and creating, maintaining, and utilizing a training/skills matrix to identify skill gaps, develop training plans and track employee progress.

Skills

1 year manufacturing leadership

Demonstrated leadership

Process improvement

Safety & performance

Data analysis systems (SAP, Maximo, MQ

Tools

Unit operations knowledge

Job description

General Mills, Inc. in Cedar Rapids, IA, is seeking an Operations Team Leader for the 3rd shift (11pm–7am) to guide the shift, foster a safe and collaborative environment, and drive sustainable performance across safety, quality, and cost.

You will lead the shift daily, set priorities, coach team members, and ensure the Run and Improve results while integrating systems and data to inform decision‑making.