Vice President Operations

Judge Direct Placement is seeking a Vice President of Operations & Supply Chain in NY/PA area! Responsibilities: • Hands-on leadership role leading end to end operations including manufacturing, logistics, planning and customer service for a multi-site food manufacturing company. • Drive improvements in plant performance across quality, service, and cost, including optimizing manufacturing structures, culture, and required skill sets. • Manage and reduce manufacturing controlled costs (MCCs), including material losses and operational efficiency (OE). • Lead teams to deliver high-quality, reliable, and efficient manufacturing operations. • Identify and mitigate operational risks to ensure continuous supply and business continuity, proactively strengthening the supply chain through forward-looking risk management strategies. • Partner with sales and commercial teams to enhance demand planning accuracy, developing processes that account for business complexities such as seasonality, inventory builds, and workforce flexibility. • Establish clear expectations and hold leaders and teams accountable for performance outcomes. • Address capability gaps through targeted training and strategic talent acquisition. • Foster a culture of continuous learning and performance improvement. • Build and lead a unified, high-performing team, cultivating a positive, engaged, proactive, and customer-focused culture. Encourage innovation and empower employees to contribute ideas and drive impact across the organization. • Strengthen organizational confidence by leveraging past successes to continuously enhance supply chain and operational capabilities with a future-focused mindset. • Champion workplace safety and product quality initiatives. • Accelerate the execution of productivity and sustainability programs. • Collaborate effectively across functions, particularly with R&D, Quality, Procurement, Marketing, and global supply chain partners. Requirements: • Bachelor’s degree required • 15+ years experience progressive leadership in the food manufacturing industry • This executive will have grown up in manufacturing early in their career progressing through roles in production and manufacturing (ultimately becoming a Plant Manager then taking on multi-site manufacturing responsibilities). • This role will require a hands-on and highly-engaged VP. • Expertise and proven leadership in transformational/turn around experience is required • Expertise in Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, and continuous improvement methodologies is highly valued. • A thorough understanding of total-delivered cost and breadth of experience spanning supply chain functions to include planning, warehousing and delivery to customers (products are sold via retail channels). • A mix of big company experience paired with end-to-end operations and supply chain leadership at a smaller company is ideal.