Plant Director

Plant Director Food Manufacturing (Onsite)

Location : Greater Louisville, KY Industry : Global Food & Ingredients Manufacturing Operation : Large-scale, multi-line, 24 / 7 production facility

A global food manufacturing company is seeking a Plant Director to lead one of its most important production facilities. The organization produces a wide portfolio of food ingredients and finished goods serving retail, foodservice, and industrial customers.

This site is a high-volume, flagship operation supporting major accounts and supplying a significant portion of the company's North American network.

Large-scale multi-line operation producing both wet and dry food products

24 / 7 / multi-shift manufacturing environment

Union workforce

Hundreds of raw materials and finished good SKUs

Strong corporate functional support with on-site Quality, Safety, Engineering, CI, and Operations teams

The Plant Director serves as the senior leader for the site, responsible for driving operational excellence, cultural transformation, and strategic performance across all departments. This position leads a large team, oversees cross-functional operations, and plays a key role in driving continuous improvement, innovation, and major capital investments at the facility.

Own full-site performance across safety, quality, service, cost, and people.

Build and execute the plant's strategic plan, setting clear goals and performance standards.

Improve reliability and consistency across production lines and processes.

Lead a team across Operations, Quality, Safety, Maintenance, and Continuous Improvement.

Foster a positive, accountable, and collaborative culture across both hourly and salaried teams.

Support strong, constructive labor relations within a union environment.

Reduce process variation and improve throughput through structured CI methodologies.

Implement and leverage digital tools to enhance maintenance planning, performance tracking, and downtime analysis.

Strengthen problem-solving capability and decision-making across all levels of the plant.

Lead major capital projects, including upgrades to utilities, packaging systems, automation, and high-priority infrastructure.

Partner with engineering and corporate leadership to ensure projects deliver intended cost, capacity, and reliability benefits.

Advance automation and modern manufacturing practices across the facility.

Ensure full adherence to food safety, regulatory, and audit standards.

Address systemic quality or service issues through proactive root-cause analysis.

Drive a culture where safety and product integrity are non-negotiable.

Utilize enterprise systems (ERP, maintenance tracking, production management tools) for planning, decision-making, and performance measurement.

Support planned modernization of digital platforms and ensure adoption across teams.

Senior-level leadership in food or beverage process manufacturing with multi-line, high-volume operations.

Strong background in continuous improvement, operational turnaround, or performance transformation.

Experience overseeing multi-million-dollar capital projects and automation initiatives.

Deep understanding of food safety, quality systems, and regulatory compliance.

Hands-on leader with strong floor presence and high credibility with operations teams.

Able to rebuild culture, stabilize teams, and lead through change.

Skilled communicator who can align hourly teams, staff leaders, and corporate stakeholders.

Organized, execution-focused, and strong at setting expectations and driving accountability.

Leadership of a high-profile, flagship manufacturing site with global visibility.

Opportunity to shape a multi-year CI and modernization strategy.

Influence over major capital investments, automation, and plant transformation initiatives.

Competitive compensation and bonus structure. This role has extensive compensation and benefits inclusive of health, dental, vision, 401K and others. Target compensation is $200,000 220,000 base compensation with a healthy bonus as well. We are also equipped with a strong relocation package.