About the role
barry callebaut is a global organization poised for growth, committed to sustainability and innovation. The plant manager holds a pivotal position in managing the manufacturing facility's daily operations and planning long‐term developments. Responsibilities encompass leading plant safety and environmental performance, optimizing production processes, ensuring quality standards, managing budgets, and promoting operational excellence.
key responsibilities
- leadership: translate business strategy into digestible messaging and lead the team proactively to motivate to deliver exceptional results.
- vision: collaborate with the production department to define strategies for best‐in‐class manufacturing practices. Drive initiatives to enhance efficiency, quality, and safety standards in line with company goals.
- budget: define and manage the plant's budget objectives, ensuring alignment with company guidelines. Take accountability for budget adherence and performance, optimizing resource usage and controlling costs effectively (p&l ownership, financials and performance indicators).
- production: ensure adherence to production plans, optimizing factors to minimize costs and meet targets. Manage third‐party manufacturing relationships to align with production plans effectively.
- human resources/team management: develop and empower the plant's workforce, fostering a culture of motivation and competence development. Recruit, manage, and develop team members, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
- maintenance: oversee maintenance activities to ensure optimal performance of plant assets. Collaborate with engineering to drive technical improvements, aligning with operational objectives.
- quality: uphold defined quality standards, ensuring compliance with regulations and certifications. Take accountability for product quality and safety within production operations.
- technological process: execute production processes according to technical standards, optimizing efficiency and quality. Drive alignment with new technologies to enhance competitiveness within the plant.
- continuous improvement: facilitate improvement proposals and project development to enhance production cycle organization. Drive the development of the plant's industrial system through continuous improvement initiatives.
- safety and environment: ensure compliance with safety, environmental, and food regulations, implementing necessary measures to uphold standards. Prioritize safety initiatives and mitigate environmental risks effectively to ensure human health and safety within the plant. Accountable for ensuring safe, environmentally compliant operations and fostering a strong safety and sustainability culture across the plant.
about you
- you're a proven plant manager or senior manufacturing leader with 10+ years of experience in food manufacturing or the cpg industry, leading high‐volume, high‐complexity operations with strong safety, quality, and compliance requirements.
- you hold a bachelor's degree in engineering, business, or a related field; a postgraduate qualification is a strong plus.
- you have a proven track record of driving operational excellence, improving efficiency, cost, quality, and safety through structured continuous improvement.
- you bring strong financial and p&l ownership experience, with the ability to manage budgets, kpis, and resource optimization effectively.
- you are comfortable leading in multinational, matrix organizations and collaborating across functions such as operations, planning, hr, and engineering.
- you are a people‐centric leader who develops, motivates, and inspires diverse teams, including experience working within unionised environments.
- you demonstrate solid change‐management capabilities, successfully leading transformations and implementing new technologies with minimal disruption.
- you have deep operational understanding of manufacturing processes; experience in food, cocoa, chocolate, or related industries is highly desirable.
- you have strong professional proficiency in english (b2+); additional languages are an advantage.
- you lead with integrity, customer focus, and a sustainability mindset, setting the tone for a safe, compliant, and high‐performance plant culture.
what you can expect from barry callebaut
- competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package
- environment that welcomes workplace flexibility
- an atmosphere where diversity is embraced, and inclusivity is second nature. We call it #onebc! Just ask our champions with the americas women's forum and the racial equality forum!
- ability to grow personally and professionally within an organization that values development and internal career growth
- be part of our mission in making sustainability the norm through forever chocolate with priorities centred around prospering farmers, zero child labour, carbon and forest positive, and creating 100% sustainable ingredients in all of our products.
eeo statement
at barry callebaut, we are committed to diversity & inclusion. United by our strong values, we thrive on the diversity of who we are, where we come from, what we've experienced and how we think. We are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where people can truly be themselves, grow to their full potential and feel they belong. #onebc - diverse people, sustainable growth.
#j-18808-ljbffr