Senior Co-Manufacturing Manager

Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA•Arlington, VA

8d•$168,000 - $230,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This role will be part of a new 50:50 joint venture for Nestlé's waters and premium beverages. This position requires an onsite presence in Arlington, VA, Tuesday-Thursday when not traveling. The primary purpose of this role is to manage business relationship and serve as the main point of contact for Co-Manufacturing sites including all technical, operational, commercial and financial aspects of a group of contract manufacturers, while also recognizing and driving opportunity for growth through innovation and renovation project ideation and execution. This role requires an entrepreneurial mindset with an ability to work collaboratively with the commercial/marketing side of the business in an ambiguous space; thinking creatively to explore new product portfolios and processes, discover new manufacturing capability and technology, and work in an accelerated manner that allows the company to continuously win with the consumer.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Food Science, Business Administration, or related fields required.
Multi-disciplinary Expert in Co-Manufacturing.
Ability to prioritize and manage multiple demands & projects in an extremely fast paced, high pressure environment.
Proven ability to work autonomously/Self-motivated.
Highly developed critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Drive issues to resolution.
Strong verbal, written, and analytical skills.
Ability to build relationships and communicate across multiple levels of organizations (internal & external to Nestlé). Need to be able to represent Nestlé as the single point of contact within the Co-Manufacturing sites, providing leadership and guidance across all aspects of the business.
Demonstrated ability to lead, coach and develop teams, including building talent capability, reinforcing accountability and creating a culture of ownership and high performance.
Working knowledge of finance and operational costing.
Knowledge of SAP, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
Broad technical skills and understanding with an End-to-End mindset in: Manufacturing process and product interaction, Product development process and procedures, Material Handling, Finished Goods Management, Quality Assurance, Industrial Engineering/Operations Excellence/Loss analysis, Business Financial accumen.
Commercial/Marketing understanding and/or experience.
Enabling growth and profitability through commercial business partnership.
Professional curiosity to drive innovation throughout product portfolios. Ability to operate in an entrepreneurial space.
Know yourself. Understanding of your skills and abilities within the organization and strong existing relationships to leverage to drive business results.
Minimum 8-10 years technical or manufacturing experience preferred.
Preferred experience in CPG product, process or packaging development and/or commercialization.
Preferred experience leading a cross-functional project team to bring a product to market.
Experience successfully leading large scale or high visibility strategic Co-Manufacturing initiatives.
Experience successfully executing site onboarding and management of multiple sites manufacturing for different Nestlé OpCos, manufacturing processes or spend levels.
Preferred experience leading and developing direct or matrixed teams, creating clarity on priorities and driving sustained performance through coaching accountability and ownership.
Travel required: approximately 50% (will vary depending on workload) to various Co-Manufacturing site and corporate locations.

Responsibilities

Responsible for business relationship and main point of contact for Co-Man sites (technical, operational, commercial and financial). Responsible for ensuring site adherence/compliance to all Contracts, Agreements and Co-Manufacturing Standard.
Manage all operational and technical aspects at a group of Contract manufacturing sites, including ensuring supply (planning through invoice), compliance with Nestlé Quality policies and procedures (example QA HACCP and GMP's), management of Nestlé product specific information (product specifications, material specifications, certifications, etc), maintenance of SOP's and training.
Provide strong onsite support for managing operations as the main point of contact working directly with site leadership and Nestlé cross functional teams.
Ensure that a continuous improvement plan is in place to provide the lowest total delivered costs within the agreed to quality parameters.
Ensure proper startup of new products at facilities including all required production related documentation being complete and available to co-manufacturer, achieving agreed upon timelines and compliance with Nestlé requirements.
Ensure performance targets for assigned sites are being adhered to, including attainment, budgeting, costs (e.g. usage, PPV, tolling), savings targets, monthly variance reconciliation, consumer complaint reduction and first time right.
Serve as the primary point of contact and liaison between the co-manufacturer and key internal interfaces to drive innovation & renovation concepts and project execution.
Provide project leadership to coordinate cross-functional activities at contract manufacturer to ensure project is executed against timelines and budgets (PRO).
Have a professional curiosity and entrepreneurial mindset to drive innovation throughout product portfolios and manufacturing processes in contract manufacturing sites.
Have a broad technical skillset and end-to-end understanding of manufacturing processes along with strong cross-functional relationships to leverage through project execution and routine business practices.
Ensure all co-manufacturers are fully compliant with Nestlé requirements and contract manufacturing agreements.
Foster relationships with existing contract manufacturers and be able to establish new working relationships when new contract manufacturers are brought into the network.
Lead, coach and develop the team by setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, building capabilities and enabling strong execution across business priorities.
Management responsibility for significant segment(s) of individual OpCo or overall Co-Manufacturing strategy.
Build a winning culture by driving accountability, promoting business ownership and fostering a high-performance mindset across the team and key cross-functional partners.
Drive clarity on goals and priorities by aligning team objectives with business needs, ensuring focus on the highest-impact activities and reinforcing ownership of results.