Guided Search Partners (GSP)
Guided Search Partners is an Executive Search firm built on Trust, Transparency, Specialization, and Long-term Relationships.
We connect high-performing professionals with organizations that value people, performance, and growth, helping leaders find roles where they can make an impact and build meaningful careers.

About the Opportunity
We’re supporting a search for a Plant Manager with a large automotive manufacturing operation in South Carolina. This leader will take responsibility for a complex, 1,000+ employee operation currently undergoing a significant turnaround and production ramp. The mandate is to stabilize the workforce, strengthen leadership accountability, scale production, and rebuild customer confidence while managing the demands of a highly visible automotive operation.

What You’ll Do
You’ll lead a large-scale automotive manufacturing operation through a critical period of recovery and production growth.

Key areas of focus include:

• Lead operations across a 500,000-square-foot, three-building manufacturing facility
• Provide leadership for a workforce of more than 1,000 employees
• Guide approximately 35+ leaders, including department and senior managers
• Lead approximately 15 direct reports
• Stabilize staffing and reduce workforce turnover
• Strengthen leadership accountability and team effectiveness
• Support a major automotive production ramp from current volumes to several thousand units
• Rebuild and maintain customer confidence
• Lead effectively in a high-pressure, customer-facing environment
• Support major product launches and production ramp activity
• Maintain focus on quality for highly visible, appearance-critical products
• Lead injection molding and assembly operations
• Manage material-flow challenges across the multi-building facility
• Support reliable production while addressing technical staffing constraints
• Partner with plant leadership and technical leadership throughout the turnaround

Who You Are
You are a proven large-plant manufacturing leader with experience taking responsibility for complex operations during periods of turnaround, high customer pressure, or significant production growth.

You understand the demands of leading a large automotive workforce and can stabilize teams, strengthen accountability, improve retention, and rebuild confidence with both employees and customers.

You are comfortable operating in an intense environment that requires significant leadership presence, long hours, and potential off-hours escalation.

Preferred Experience & Attributes
• Proven leadership of a manufacturing facility with at least 500 employees
• Experience leading an organization approaching 1,000 employees strongly preferred
• Documented turnaround experience in a distressed, underperforming, or high-stress operation
• Strong automotive manufacturing background
• Major launch or production-ramp experience
• Strong customer-facing leadership experience
• Experience working directly with a demanding automotive OEM strongly preferred
• Experience stabilizing staffing and reducing turnover
• Demonstrated ability to strengthen leadership accountability
• Experience rebuilding employee and customer confidence
• Experience manufacturing complex, appearance-critical products
• Injection molding plant leadership strongly preferred
• Experience with large-scale automotive interiors strongly preferred
• Experience with complex launches strongly preferred
• Two-shot or multi-material molding exposure is relevant
• Injection molding experience may be flexible for an exceptional leader with comparable large-scale automotive manufacturing experience
• Resilience and leadership presence in high-pressure environments
• Genuine long-term interest in relocating to South Carolina

Why This Role Matters
This is a critical turnaround and growth leadership role within a large automotive manufacturing operation. The incoming Plant Manager will have the opportunity to improve workforce stability, strengthen leadership performance, support a major production ramp, and rebuild customer confidence while making a visible impact on a complex operation. The site has improving interim leadership, a recently hired Technical Manager with strong process capability, committed ownership, and an OEM customer invested in the plant’s recovery.