Director of Operations

The Oregon Fruit Company; Salem (OR); In loco; USD 130.000 - 190.000; Tempo pieno

Descrizione del lavoro

The Oregon Fruit Company in Salem is looking for an operations leader to own the plant from day one, overseeing production, warehouse and maintenance across shifts in a union environment. You’ll spot waste, reduce downtime, and drive cost improvements while partnering with the VP of Operations.

You’ll build safety culture (SQF/GFSI, HACCP), manage throughput and OEE, and lead Lean and root-cause projects. This role grows with you as you mentor supervisors and navigate change with the union.

Competenze

• 7–10 years of progressive operations leadership in food or beverage manufacturing.
• 3+ years leading at the manager or director level.

Mansioni

• Safety and food safety first across all shifts (SQF/GFSI, HACCP, GMP, OSHA).
• Own throughput, yield, OEE, labor efficiency, and conversion cost; explain impacts on P&L.
• Lead Lean and root-cause initiatives to deliver measurable results.
• Help drive plant-wide changes and new systems while bringing people along.
• Coach and develop supervisors and managers and build a succession bench within the Teamsters framework.
• Oversee reliability, preventive maintenance, uptime, and capital projects to grow capacity.

Conoscenze

Operations leadership

Lean Six Sigma

Safety culture

Union experience

Budget & P&L

Team leadership

Descrizione del lavoro

You see the bottleneck before anyone mentions it. Then you fix it.

Oregon Fruit Company is a Salem fruit processor whose products go to home kitchens, foodservice operators, and craft breweries across the country. We’re growing, and we’re putting in new systems, including a new ERP, to support that growth. We need an operations leader who takes ownership of the plant from day one.

The role

You’ll lead production, warehouse, and maintenance at our Salem facility, across multiple shifts in a unionized environment. You’ll report to our VP of Operations and be a true partner to them. When you spot a problem, you show up with a plan to fix it. You won’t wait for someone to hand you a list of priorities. You’ll walk the floor, read the numbers, and find the waste, downtime, and cost that others have stopped noticing.

Who you are

• You find the fix before you’re asked. You walk the floor, spot the waste or downtime everyone else has learned to live with, and bring a plan to fix it.
• You lead change by bringing people with you. You know lasting improvement comes from earning trust with supervisors, operators, and the union, not from pushing new rules on them.
• You’re always building your skills. You take feedback well, keep learning, and want a role where your responsibilities grow as your results do.

What you’ll own

• Safety and food safety first. You’ll build a culture where everyone, on every shift, owns safety and audit readiness (SQF/GFSI, HACCP, GMP, OSHA).
• The numbers. You’ll own throughput, yield, OEE, labor efficiency, and conversion cost, and explain what each one means for the P&L.
• Continuous improvement. You’ll lead Lean and root-cause work that delivers measurable results.
• Change. You’ll help lead a plant through new systems and new ways of working, and bring people along instead of pushing changes on them.
• People. You’ll coach and develop supervisors and managers and build the bench that takes over after you. You’ll work fairly and consistently within our Teamsters agreement, in partnership with People & Culture.
• Reliability and growth. You’ll own preventive maintenance, uptime, and the capital projects that bring new capacity and products online.
• Have 7–10 years of progressive operations leadership in food or beverage manufacturing, including 3+ years leading at the manager or director level
• Have led production, warehouse, and maintenance together in a multi-shift, high-volume plant
• Have union experience (strongly preferred)
• Treat a plan as something you build and improve as you go
• Want a role where the scope grows as you do

Nice to have: fruit, produce, or ingredient processing experience; HACCP, PCQI, or SQF certification; a Lean Six Sigma Green or Black Belt; Spanish proficiency.

Why Oregon Fruit

• You’ll have a real seat at the table, a team that wants to get better, and a plant with plenty of room to improve. This is a role where you can leave your mark.

Oregon Fruit Company is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to diversity in the workplace. We encourage applications from qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.