Regional Director of Operations

Position Profile

Location: Pennsylvania

Position Title: Plant Manager

The Opportunity:

This is a high-impact, turnaround-oriented Plant Manager opportunity within a flagship manufacturing operation. The Plant Manager will step into a facility that is operationally critical to the business, highly visible to customers, and central to future growth initiatives. This role is not about maintaining the status quo—it is about stabilizing performance, correcting systemic issues, and leading a comprehensive transformation across safety, quality, service, and culture.

The individual who succeeds in this role will directly influence customer confidence, employee engagement, and financial performance. With safety incidents and quality metrics trending in the wrong direction, the Plant Manager will be empowered to drive meaningful change—implementing lean manufacturing fundamentals, rebuilding discipline on the floor, and creating sustainable operating systems that support long-term excellence. This role offers the opportunity to leave a lasting operational footprint on a core facility that represents the company to its most important customers.

The Company:

The organization operates in a highly demanding manufacturing environment serving sophisticated, high-volume customers with exacting requirements. The business is in an active phase of operational transformation, investing in equipment transfers, process improvements, and continuous improvement initiatives across its manufacturing network.

This flagship site plays a critical role in customer engagement and is frequently used for tours and walkthroughs, making operational credibility, safety discipline, and presentation essential. The company values hands-on leadership, accountability, and operational rigor, recognizing that manufacturing excellence is a key differentiator in a volatile market environment shaped by supply chain disruption and rising customer expectations.

The Boss:

The Plant Manager will report into senior operations leadership with oversight responsibility across multiple facilities. The leader to whom this role reports is deeply engaged in day-to-day operations and is seeking a Plant Manager who can function as a true change agent—someone who takes ownership, challenges entrenched behaviors, and leads transformation from the front. The role interfaces closely with quality, sales, and executive leadership.

The Position:

The Plant Manager is responsible for end-to-end plant leadership, including safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people. This role requires balancing immediate stabilization needs with longer-term cultural and operational transformation. The Plant Manager will be expected to lead daily execution while simultaneously building lean systems, improving engagement, and restoring operational discipline across the facility.

In addition to internal leadership responsibilities, the Plant Manager will serve as a visible representative of the operation during customer visits and cross-functional collaboration with sales and technical teams. Financial accountability, including plant-level P&L ownership, is a core element of the role.

Essential Functions (Other duties may be assigned):

• Lead all plant operations with full accountability for safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance
• Drive a lean manufacturing transformation, including visual management systems, daily accountability boards, skill matrices, and 5S
• Improve safety performance in a high-risk manufacturing environment through behavioral-based safety and engagement
• Partner closely with Quality to reverse negative trends and ensure corrective actions address true root causes
• Establish and enforce standard work, policies, and procedures across the facility
• Own plant financial performance, including cost control and P&L accountability
• Support equipment and technology transfers from other facilities within the network
• Serve as a primary host for customer visits and facility tours, effectively representing manufacturing capabilities
• Collaborate with Sales and technical teams to support customer demands and service expectations
• Build a culture of accountability, problem-solving, and continuous improvement

Qualifications:

• Proven experience leading a manufacturing facility in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment
• Demonstrated success as a change leader in turnaround or transformation situations
• Strong working knowledge of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement methodologies
• Experience managing safety in complex or hazardous manufacturing environments
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence behavior on the production floor
• Financial acumen with experience managing plant-level performance metrics
• Comfort engaging with customers, executives, and external stakeholders

Education and Experience:

• Significant leadership experience in manufacturing operations
• Background in technically complex manufacturing environments
• Experience operating within a multi-site manufacturing network preferred

Competencies:

• Change leadership and resilience
• Root-cause problem-solving mindset
• Strong operational discipline and execution focus
• Clear, direct communication and visible leadership presence
• Ability to balance urgency with sustainability
• Customer-focused operational thinking
• People leadership and culture-building capability

Work Environment:

This role operates in a demanding manufacturing environment with elevated safety risk and high operational tempo. The Plant Manager is expected to maintain a strong on-floor presence, actively engage employees at all levels, and lead both daily execution and long-term improvement initiatives.

Compensation:

Competitive and aligned with senior-level manufacturing leadership roles within the organization.