Plant Director

Ventura Foods • Birmingham, AL

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Plant Director leads the end-to-end performance of the manufacturing plant and distribution operations. The role is responsible for building an engaged, accountable organization that safely produces compliant, high-quality products at the required service, cost, and volume. It balances daily execution with long-term capability building through reliability, capital planning, continuous improvement, data-driven management, and cross-functional partnership.

The Plant Director oversees production, warehousing, and distribution across all shifts; owns the site operating plan, forecasts, and controllable spending; and ensures food safety, product quality, sanitation, and regulatory compliance. The position leads the site’s EHS system, maintenance and asset-reliability strategy, capital roadmap, people development, and operational excellence program. It also partners across functions to balance capacity, inventory, service, and cost, and supports business continuity, crisis readiness, external relationships, and transparent communication of site performance and risks.

The role is onsite in Birmingham. Typical shifts are 8–12 hours per day, with additional unscheduled time after hours and on weekends potentially required. The employee must wear required personal protective equipment. The work environment may include outdoor or adverse temperature conditions, operational chemicals, fumes, food allergens, confined or dark spaces, and heights above 18 feet. Travel is up to 5%.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing experience, including significant leadership of multi-function operations.
• Demonstrated ownership of plant safety, food safety and quality, customer service, budgets, cost improvement, workforce planning, maintenance/reliability, capital projects, and KPI management.
• Enterprise-minded manufacturing leadership, strong business judgment, and ability to convert strategy into disciplined plant execution.
• Working knowledge of food-safety systems, preventive controls, GMPs, sanitation, allergen management, quality systems, EHS, maintenance and reliability, capital delivery, production planning, warehousing, and distribution.
• Skill in financial analysis, root-cause problem solving, lean management, organizational development, labor and employee relations, crisis leadership, and change management.
• Ability to use ERP/MES systems, production and quality data, visual management, and performance analytics to make timely decisions.
• Clear communication with frontline employees, executives, customers, regulators, and external partners.
• Willingness to travel up to 5%.
• Sufficient physical strength and dexterity for required tasks, including intermittent sitting, standing, walking, climbing, squatting, kneeling, pushing, and pulling; occasional lifting and/or moving of up to 50 pounds or more with assistance may be required.
• Willingness and ability to wear required personal protective equipment.
• Ability to work typical shifts of 8–12 hours per day and additional unscheduled after-hours and weekend time when required.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or relevant graduate degree.
• Food or beverage manufacturing experience.
• Experience in high-volume or automated operations.
• Lean or Six Sigma experience.
• HACCP experience.
• PCQI qualification when assigned responsibility requires it.
• SQF, BRCGS, or other GFSI-scheme experience.

Responsibilities

• Direct production, warehousing, and distribution execution across all shifts, translating demand into achievable plans and using daily management routines to meet schedule attainment, case fill, order fill, and customer commitments.
• Own the site operating plan, forecasts, and controllable spending; improve conversion cost, labor productivity, material usage, utilities, destroyed product, overhead, inventory, and working capital while protecting safety, quality, service, and long-term capability.
• Ensure food safety, product quality, sanitation, allergen, traceability, recall, and preventive-control programs meet company, customer, FDA, and applicable regulatory requirements; maintain audit readiness and escalate material risks promptly.
• Lead the site safety, health, and environmental management system, including visible safety leadership, employee participation, hazard identification and control, training, emergency preparedness, contractor safety, incident investigation, and corrective action.
• Establish the asset-care and reliability strategy, including preventive and predictive maintenance, spare-parts discipline, utilities, facilities, and grounds; improve OEE and downtime performance and maintain safe, reliable plant infrastructure.
• Develop and execute the site capital roadmap; build business cases and manage scope, budget, schedule, change control, safe installation, commissioning, and benefits realization for capital and engineering projects.
• Select, coach, develop, and retain the leadership team and frontline workforce; set goals, strengthen technical capability, conduct talent and succession reviews, administer policies consistently, and promote an inclusive, high-accountability culture.
• Build a fact-based continuous-improvement system using Lean problem solving, standard work, visual management, and verified savings; sponsor loss elimination, automation, digital tools, and data-quality improvements and sustain gains.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality, R&D, Engineering, Sales, Finance, and HR to balance capacity, inventory, service, and cost.
• Govern plant trials, product transfers, and launches to support safe, capable, and profitable scale-up.
• Maintain business continuity and crisis-response readiness; manage environmental obligations and relationships with regulators, customers, suppliers, contractors, carriers, emergency responders, and community stakeholders; communicate site performance and risks transparently.

Benefits

• Medical, prescription, dental, and vision coverage beginning on the first day for eligible employees.
• Profit sharing and 401(k) matching after eligible criteria are met.
• Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays.
• Employee appreciation events.
• Employee assistance programs.
• Annual bonus based on the incentive program terms and conditions.
• Career growth opportunities.
• Competitive compensation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director