Senior Plant Production Leader - Dairy & Cheese (Allendale, MI)

Energy Jobline ZR; United (WV); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Relocation package

Medical/dental/vision coverage

Life insurance

401(k) plan

Profit-sharing

Job summary

Leprino is seeking a Plant Production Manager for its Allendale, Michigan facility to lead cheese, nutrition, and processing teams, aligning production with supply chain, maintenance, and quality. You will set operational cadence, optimize staffing, and drive safety and sanitation readiness across shifts.

The role requires 12+ years in food manufacturing, 5+ years in progressive leadership, SAP proficiency, and prior Plant Manager experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Dairy Technology, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in food manufacturing with broad exposure to production and sanitation.
• 5+ years of progressive leadership, including direct leadership of department managers.
• Proficiency using manufacturing systems and SAP.
• Prior Plant Production Manager or Plant Manager experience in a food facility.
• Direct leadership over other people managers; frontline-only leadership is not enough.

Responsibilities

• Lead plant-wide production across cheese, nutrition, and processing teams to hit daily plans.
• Develop and mentor department managers and supervisors.
• Set daily and weekly operating cadence: direction setting, shift handoffs, escalation, follow-ups.
• Build the site production plan with supply chain, maintenance, and quality.
• Decide run strategy and staffing based on capacity and equipment readiness.
• Review yields, losses, downtime, and sanitation; assign actions with owners and dates.
• Partner with maintenance on downtime reviews and shutdown planning to stabilize throughput.
• Oversee sanitation and food safety readiness, including microbiological controls.
• Lead safety routines and learning after incidents to drive improvements.
• Plan and track labor and department budgets, balancing cost, service, and quality.
• Write and refresh leader standard work and training plans for consistency.
• Build collaborative relationships across the plant to solve problems early.

Skills

Leadership

Operations management

Team development

Continuous improvement

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Dairy Technology, or related field

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

SAP

Manufacturing systems

ERP systems

Job description

Leprino is seeking a Plant Production Manager for its Allendale, Michigan facility to lead cheese, nutrition, and processing teams, aligning production with supply chain, maintenance, and quality. You will set operational cadence, optimize staffing, and drive safety and sanitation readiness across shifts.

The role requires 12+ years in food manufacturing, 5+ years in progressive leadership, SAP proficiency, and prior Plant Manager experience.