Production Lead (1st Shift)

The Original Cakerie•Aurora, CO

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Dessert Holdings is seeking a Production Lead for its Aurora, Colorado food manufacturing plant. The position oversees and produces safe, quality food according to production standards and required timelines, while ensuring employee and product safety and quality. The role requires understanding and applying Quality Management Systems, including SQF, HACCP, and GMP, and promptly notifying a supervisor or other authority about observed food safety or quality issues. The Production Lead enforces safety requirements, monitors food safety and quality, and leads 10–40 employees to meet production goals with minimal waste and downtime. Responsibilities include organizing staffing, training and qualifying employees, setting up and operating production lines, maintaining accurate production records and system entries, monitoring performance metrics, and coordinating maintenance support. The role also supports sanitation, 5S, standard work, and continuous improvement. The listed schedule is 1st shift, 3:00 AM–3:00 PM. The hourly wage range is $20.60–$25.60. The work involves standing for extended periods, lifting up to 50 pounds with assistance as needed, repetitive motions, and exposure to heat, cold, chemicals, food allergens, loud noise, and moving mechanical parts.

Requirements

Prior experience in a manufacturing environment and/or a leadership role.
Ability to read, write, and complete production documentation in English or Spanish.
Basic math skills and proficiency with batch sheets, formulas, and specifications.
Basic equipment knowledge, including operation and first-level troubleshooting.
Strong verbal communication skills.
Ability to work overtime and weekends as needed.
Ability to stand for extended periods and lift up to 50 pounds with assistance as needed.
Ability to perform repetitive motions, including grasping, pushing or pulling, bending, kneeling, and reaching.
Ability to work around heat, cold, chemicals, food allergens, loud noise, and moving mechanical parts.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual English/Spanish ability.
Prior experience leading teams or supervising production lines.

Responsibilities

Enforce safety rules, including PPE, machine guarding, and LOTO requirements; perform start-of-shift and in-process safety checks.
Stop production and promptly escalate safety hazards; report incidents, near-misses, hazards, abnormalities, and unsafe conditions.
Coach employees on safe work practices and ensure required safety training is completed and documented.
Ensure compliance with SQF, HACCP, GMP, allergen, sanitation, and hygiene standards.
Conduct, document, and verify quality checks, including weights, temperatures, labels, lot codes, and visual standards.
Verify batch sheets, formulas, build sheets, raw material usage, FIFO, and traceability at start-up and changeovers.
Escalate and quarantine product affected by quality or food safety issues and support investigations, rework, and corrective actions.
Lead, coach, and organize 10–40 employees to meet hourly and daily production goals while minimizing waste and downtime.
Hold team members accountable for safety, quality, and operations on the assigned line.
Establish and maintain standard line staffing, verify coverage at start-up, breaks, and changeovers, and escalate staffing gaps.
Train and cross-train employees and verify task qualifications and certifications.
Set up production lines to standard configurations and support start-ups, changeovers, and shift handoffs.
Maintain accurate, real-time production documentation and system entries, including D365, Hour-by-Hour boards, Centerlines, CID's, and pre-op inspections.
Monitor and communicate KPIs such as efficiency, throughput, waste, and downtime, and follow downtime escalation procedures.
Operate equipment, perform basic troubleshooting, and request maintenance support when issues exceed the role's scope.
Create and track maintenance work requests in Maintenance and submit and track maintenance work orders in eMaintenance.
Maintain housekeeping, sanitation, and GMP standards; support 5S, standard work, and continuous improvement activities.
Communicate priorities, issues, and abnormalities to supervision and support investigations and corrective actions.