Plant Manager (WA - Kent)

### Summary of Position The Plant Manager leads all day-to-day operations of MOJI Food’s Seattle food manufacturing site — a central kitchen/commissary producing items such as dumplings, buns, potstickers, noodles, and fillings. This is a hands-on, working plant-manager role with full accountability for the site: safety, food safety and quality, production output and efficiency, material supply, cost, and people. The Plant Manager directly leads the Production Manager and the Purchasing & Warehouse Manager, and provides functional oversight of quality/food safety, sanitation, and maintenance. Reporting to corporate operations leadership, the role translates company plans and demand into safe, compliant, efficient, and cost-controlled daily production. ### Key Responsibilities - Site Operations & Production - Own the full daily, weekly, and monthly operation of the plant; ensure production schedules are met on time, in full, and to specification. - Direct the Production Manager to plan labor, lines, and output against demand forecasts, store orders, and shipment schedules. - Balance throughput, yield, labor efficiency, and quality across all lines (dough/wrappers, fillings, forming, cooking/steaming/frying, packaging, freezing/cooling). - Resolve daily bottlenecks — staffing gaps, equipment downtime, material shortages — and keep the site running. - Lead seasonal, holiday, new-store, and large-order surge planning. - Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory Compliance - Hold the site accountable for FDA, USDA/FSIS (if applicable), Washington State Department of Agriculture, and local food-safety requirements. - Ensure GMP, HACCP, SSOP, allergen control, traceability, and sanitation programs are implemented and audit-ready at all times. - Lead the site through regulatory inspections, customer audits, third-party certifications, and mock recalls. - Champion a food-safety-first culture; stop production when safety or quality is at risk. - Cost, Budget & Financial Performance - Own the site operating budget and key cost drivers: labor cost, overtime, material and packaging waste, yield, utilities, and scrap. - Track and improve cost-per-unit, labor hours per unit, and waste/rework rates. - Partner with Finance on month-end close, variance analysis, and forecasting. - Identify and lead cost-reduction and efficiency-improvement projects. - People Leadership & Development - Lead, coach, and develop the Production Manager and Purchasing & Warehouse Manager, and through them the supervisors, leads, and hourly staff. - Build a stable, safe, respectful, and accountable workplace for a multilingual workforce (English /Chinese / Spanish). - Partner with HR on hiring, onboarding, scheduling, performance, discipline, retention, and employee relations. - Develop bench strength and cross-training so the site is not dependent on any single person. - Supply Chain, Materials & Inventory - Ensure, through the Purchasing & Warehouse Manager, that materials are sourced, received, stored, and staged so production never stops for lack of material. - Oversee inventory accuracy, FIFO/FEFO, cold-chain control, receiving, and finished-goods shipping to stores and the distribution network. - Coordinate with corporate purchasing and other state sites on supply, transfers, and standardization. - Maintenance, Facility & Safety - Ensure preventive maintenance, equipment uptime, and a clean, organized, 5S-standard facility. - Enforce OSHA / Washington L& I safety requirements, PPE, LOTO (where applicable), and chemical safety. - Lead incident investigation, root-cause analysis, and corrective action; drive down recordable injuries. - Reporting & Continuous Improvement - Report site performance (safety, food safety, output, quality, cost, delivery, people) to corporate operations leadership. - Use data to find trends, set targets, and drive continuous improvement. - Support capital planning, capacity expansion, automation, and new-product scale-up. Qualifications - 8+…