The Company

We are working with an ambitious new player in the food manufacturing industry, building a state-of-the-art production facility from the ground up. As we prepare to launch operations, we're looking for a hands-on and experienced Site Operations Manager to lead our factory through this exciting start-up phase and beyond.

In this pivotal leadership role, you'll oversee Manufacturing, Maintenance, Capital Projects, and Warehousing/Logistics, with a strong emphasis on compliance, safety, and continuous improvement. You’ll be instrumental in shaping our operational culture, embedding best practices, and ensuring our site runs efficiently and safely while delivering high-quality products. This is a rare opportunity to make your mark from day one and help define the future of a growing business.

The Role

Reporting to the Managing Director, your role will be responsible for:

• Lead the commissioning, ramp-up, and operational readiness of a new food manufacturing site.
• Establish core site processes, systems, and procedures from the ground up, ensuring alignment with business objectives and regulatory requirements.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing site operations team across production, maintenance, engineering, and logistics.
• Support and lead an operations-based teams across production, maintenance, warehouse & dispatch, sustainability & safety to achieve/exceed KPI’s and deliver on productivity targets and operational improvement.
• Develop and implement strategies to scale operations in line with company growth, empowering and supporting direct reports to meet increasing operational demands.
• Manage inbound and outbound logistics, warehouse operations, and inventory control to support smooth and timely product flow.
• Lead, motivate, and engage teams across manufacturing, engineering, and procurement to achieve individual, team, and site objectives.
• Foster a culture of business improvement to ensure continuous results and performance enhancement.
• Promote a safety-first culture across the site, ensuring that WH&S processes are in place, including induction, training, and safety programs.
• Develop, track, and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) including labour optimization, overtime, OEE, throughput rates, and inventory

Your Background

In order to be successful in this role you will have:

• Proven experience (5+ years) in a Operations Manager, Manufacturing Manager or Production Manager position or similar leadership role in food manufacturing or FMCG.
• Demonstrated success in building and developing strong leadership teams within a manufacturing plant, driving accountability, engagement, and high performance.
• A collaborative leader who inspires and empowers teams, with a track record of leading high-performing groups through change and growth.
• Experience leading cultural transformation initiatives, creating a positive, safe, and inclusive workplace that values teamwork and continuous improvement.
• Experience managing capital projects and/or commissioning new equipment or facilities is highly regarded, especially in fast-paced manufacturing settings.
• Strong continuous improvement background with a good grasp of sophisticated continuous improvement methodologies such as LEAN / Six Sigma and 5Y problem-solving tools.
• Good commercial acumen, able to understand and manage finances with the ability to identify the key cost drivers in a fast-paced food plant.
• Strong communication, coaching, consultation and negotiation skills with an ability to engage and influence internal stakeholders.

What’s On Offer

This is a rare opportunity to join a dynamic and fast-growing organisation at a pivotal moment in its journey. You’ll play a key leadership role in shaping the future of the business, with the chance to make a genuine impact from day one. This role will challenge and grow your operational, commercial, engineering, and leadership capabilities—positioning you strongly for future executive-level opportunities.

In return, you’ll be offered a competitive remuneration package including base salary, superannuation, and performance-based bonus.

If you would like to discuss this opportunity further you can contact Maurice Tranchina at Blackbook Executive on 03 9823 7413.