Senior Production Manager

Foods you love. Brands you trust. And a career that empowers you to grow. 
 
At Nestlé USA, we’re all working towards the same goal – to delight and deliver for our consumers. With a rich portfolio of beloved brands, including DiGiorno, Toll House, and Coffee mate, in 97% of U.S. households, we have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to be there for every moment in our consumers’ lives.

 

Joining Nestlé means becoming part of an inclusive workplace that inspires innovation, encourages strategic thinking and creativity, and celebrates your achievements. No matter where you work within the organization, you are empowered to challenge the status quo, embrace risk-taking, and pioneer new ideas. Our supportive and collaborative environment encourages bold ambitions and continuous learning so that everyone can grow and thrive.
 
This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

 

 

Position Summary

The Senior Production Manager partners with the Plant Manager to lead site operations and deliver department objectives including Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and Environmental performance (SQCD(E)). This role is accountable for ensuring the production plan is achieved on time, developing empowered teams, standard ways of working, and meeting all internal and external compliance requirements. The Senior Production Manager drives World Class Manufacturing performance by leading continuous improvement, eliminating waste, and enabling TPM/Autonomy development across production, maintenance, and sanitation.

 

Responsibilities:

 

Safety, Quality, and Compliance

• Lead site/area operations to deliver SQCD(E) targets by ensuring safe work practices, product quality, and compliance with all applicable food safety and regulatory requirements.
• Escalate operational risks and obstacles promptly to the Plant Manager with recommended countermeasures; drive timely decisions to protect safety, quality, and service.

 

Production Planning and Execution

• Ensure the production plan is fully achieved on time through effective scheduling, labor and material utilization, and real-time issue escalation and resolution.

 

World Class Manufacturing (WCM), TPM/Autonomy, and Continuous Improvement

• Set and communicate a World Class Manufacturing (WCM) vision, leveraging benchmarking, and translate expectations into shop-floor standards, behaviors, and results.
• Establish and sustain effective leadership and management routines (daily management, reviews, and escalation) for the local leadership team to enable agile decision-making and accountability.
• Lead TPM/Autonomy implementation across Integrated Work Groups (IWGs), developing capability, standard work, and engagement to sustain performance improvements.
• Drive the Autonomous Maintenance (AM) journey by defining the pace of autonomy evolution, embedding AM activities into daily routines, building AM competencies, and coaching leaders on expected behaviors by AM step.
• Lead continuous improvement and loss elimination using structured problem solving (PDCA/DMAIC) and foster a risk-aware culture by considering risk in decisions, sharing learnings, and driving clear ownership for results.

 

Digital and Future-Ready Operations

• Drive a digital/connected worker strategy for operations in partnership with corporate teams, including implementation planning, risk/cost evaluation, communication, and change adoption.
• Advance future-ready operations by supporting automation and piloting new tools/systems (e.g., remote monitoring) that improve safety, quality, flexibility, and cost competitiveness.

 

Cross-Functional Leadership and Projects

• Lead manufacturing execution for innovation and renovation projects, ensuring cross-functional alignment, production readiness, and successful start-up and ramp-up performance.
• Collaborate cross-functionally (Quality, Maintenance, Engineering/ME, Supply Chain, R&D) to simplify processes, strengthen use of integrated business systems, and ensure designs are manufacturable, testable, and maintainable at target cost.

 

People Leadership and Communication

• Develop and coach management staff and hourly teams to build technical, leadership, and autonomy capabilities; reinforce standard work and accountability.
• Routine off shift visibility. (second and third)

 

Documentation and Reporting

• Maintain required operational documentation (production, sanitation, and compliance records) to meet departmental and audit requirements.
• Prepare and deliver period-end operations summaries (includin