Sr. Packaging Manager

fairlife, LLC is a Chicago-based nutrition company that creates great-tasting, nutrition-rich and dairy products to nourish consumers.

With nearly $3B in annual retail sales, fairlife’s portfolio of delicious, lactose-free, real dairy products includes: fairlife® ultra-filtered milk; Core Power® High Protein Shakes, a sports nutrition drink to support post-workout recovery; fairlife® nutrition plan™, a nutrition shake to support the journey to better health.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola company, fairlife, LLC has been recognized by both Fast Company and Nielsen for its industry leading innovation.

To learn more about fairlife and its complete line of products, please visit fairlife.com.

The construction of fairlife's manufacturing facility in Webster, NY is underway. This state-of-the-art, 750k sq ft, greenfield plant is expected to be operational in late 2025 and will lay the foundation for fairlife's next phase of growth as the leading dairy nutrition provider. While coupling the industry’s latest technologies and fairlife's operational excellence to build this world-class facility, fairlife plans to hire 250 new employees and bring in approximately 5 million lbs. of milk a day, with room to grow over the coming years. 

job purpose:   
The Senior Packaging Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, and performance of the Webster plant production and packaging department. As a critical member of the plant leadership team, this role oversees all operations from the bottle fillers through palletizing. The Sr. Packaging Manager is responsible for driving the business plan and strategic objectives while strengthening the fairlife culture through a continuous improvement mindset. This person will lead a team of managers, supervisors, technicians and operators through the coordination, administration, and day-to-day management of the packaging department. They will develop and implement internal operating protocol, policies, and procedures in accordance with established company policy. 

responsibilities: 

• Monitors and refines critical systems within the department, leveraging employee engagement, to continuously improve results in Safety, Quality Assurance, Productivity, and Cost.  Special emphasis will be placed on the effectiveness of fairlife operational work systems, as shift pass-offs, weekly focus team meetings, monthly playbook reviews, department alignment meetings, and quarterly business reviews among others to ensure broad understanding of business priorities at all levels of the organization. 
• Partners with upstream suppliers and downstream customers, both internal and external, to ensure the proper support of production plans and coordinate all resources needed to execute the schedule. 
• Responsible for people development in the areas of operational excellence, equipment ownership, lean manufacturing, continuous improvement methodologies, optimized package changeovers, and adherence to our human resources policies. 
• Responsible for the care and maintenance of packaging equipment and facilities cleaning, inspecting, lubrication (CIL) as well as coordination and development of preventative maintenance programs. 
• Reviews all nonconforming products and materials to determine and address root cause with internal and external stakeholders. 
• Monitors packaging department throughout shift to ensure adherence to GFSI and Good Manufacturing Practices 
• Track department expenses, ensure adherence to operating budget, provide input to budget development processes and capital project planning and execution. 
• Maintain performance records for trending and analysis in the key areas of safety, quality, production, and cost.   
• Able to manage and delegate competing priorities, meet short term goals while balancing long term objectives 
• Be an ambassador for the Webster site, representing the values, culture, and ethos of fairlife with internal and external stakeholders 
• Lead the team in executing against competing priorities in a fast-paced environment balancing tactical and strategic initiatives to meet business objectives 

 
skills/qualifications required: 

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, packaging, or related discipline required <