About the Role Position SummaryThe Production Manager leads all beverage and dry blend operations at the Columbus manufacturing site, driving operational performance, compliance with food safety and regulatory standards, and facility growth. This role establishes systems supporting safety, quality, service, cost efficiency, and employee development, while building future supervisory leadership. Strong cross-functional collaboration is required. Reports to the Plant Manager.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities - Operational & Production Leadership
- Direct daily production activities for beverage and dry blend operations, ensuring safety, quality, delivery, and productivity targets are met.
- Oversee all manufacturing processes (processing, blending, filling, packaging, sanitation, finished goods), and ensure effective communication, shift handoffs, and escalation routines.
- Collaborate with Planning, Logistics, Quality, Maintenance, and other teams to resolve constraints and meet customer requirements.
- Execute production schedules through effective labor planning and resource allocation.
- People Leadership & Development
- Recruit, train, coach, and develop production staff and future leaders, fostering engagement, accountability, and a culture of continuous improvement.
- Build organizational capability through mentoring, structured expectations, and performance management, supporting succession planning.
- Food Safety, Quality & Compliance
- Ensure compliance with GMP, HACCP, FDA, SQF, and customer/regulatory requirements; maintain audit readiness through documentation, training, and process control.
- Partner with Quality to resolve issues, implement corrective actions, and drive continuous improvement in quality systems.
- Continuous Improvement & Equipment Ownership
- Lead initiatives to improve efficiency, reduce downtime and waste, and enhance productivity, safety, and quality using Lean Manufacturing and performance metrics.
- Support standard work, visual management, KPI tracking, and daily management systems.
- Partner with Maintenance to improve equipment reliability, preventive maintenance, and support new equipment commissioning and process optimization.
- Safety Leadership
- Champion a safety-first culture, ensuring compliance with OSHA, company safety policies, PPE, and safe operating procedures.
- Lead incident investigations, corrective actions, and proactive risk reduction activities.
About You Required Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Engineering, Manufacturing, Business, Operations Management, or related field preferred.
- Equivalent combination of education and progressive manufacturing leadership experience considered.
- With a Bachelor's degree, must have a minimum 5 years manufacturing experience with at least 2 years of experience in food and/or beverage manufacturing.
- With an Associate's degree, must have a minimum 7 years manufacturing experience with at least 2 years of experience in food and/or beverage manufacturing.
- With a High School Diploma/GED, must have a minimum 10 years manufacturing experience with at least 2 years of experience in food and/or beverage manufacturing.
- Minimum 3 years production leadership experience required. Experience leading supervisors, leads, or multi-functional production teams preferred.
- HACCP certification is required.
- Ability to lead, coach, develop, and hold teams accountable.
- Strong employee engagement and communication skills.
- Ability to develop future leaders.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, production systems, and performance management.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a rapidly changing environment.
- Strong troubleshooting and root cause analysis capability.
Cross-Functional Collaboration - Ability to work effectively with Quality, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Engineering, Commercial, and Product Development partners.
- Ability to balance customer requirements with operational capability.
- Knowledge of food manufacturing equipment, sanitation practices, production processes, and regulatory expectations.
- Ability to learn and support multiple manufacturing technologies.
- Understands production cost drivers, labor utilization, efficiency, yield, waste reduction, and operational KPIs.
Preferred Experience - Candidates with the below additional experience will be prioritized: - Beverage processing, dry blending, packaging, or ingredient manufacturing.
- SQF, HACCP, GMP, FDA-regulated environments.
- Lean Manufacturing / Continuous Improvement programs.
- New product introduction or commercialization environments.
- Production scheduling and capacity planning.
- Equipment startup, process improvement, and operational scaling.
What We Offer Become part of our open and transparent culture. It will give you the opportunity to flourish and to develop inspiring experiences that contribute to the health and well-being of consumers in 160 countries around the world. Putting our employees in focus fuels our strong company growth above market rates and makes us an excellent place to develop your career.
Come join us and embark on a fascinating journey with Symrise. If you feel that you fit the above criteria, then please apply by using our online application system. Your application will be treated confidentially.
