Operations Manager - Undercover Ingredients
About Undercover Ingredients
Undercover Ingredients operates as the ingredient manufacturer and sister company to the brand Undercover Snacks, which creates unbelievably better-for-you treats made from crispy quinoa and premium chocolate. Undercover’s Chocolate Quinoa Crisps are currently sold in over 25,000 retailers nationwide including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Costco and Kroger. In addition, United Airlines hands out millions of Undercover Crisps every month as one of their complimentary snacks. Undercover is in hyper-growth mode, as one of the fastest growing emerging snack brands in the country, and we are excited to welcome a few new exceptional team members to the Undercover family.
About the Role
We are looking for a highly motivated, organized leader with great communication skills to manage and scale our growing quinoa crisping operation within Undercover Ingredients. This role will own the day-to-day operation, production schedule, and material flow while building the people, systems, training, and processes needed to support continued growth.
The Operations Manager will be responsible for building a strong culture of safety, quality, teamwork, continuous learning, and accountability. This role will foster an environment where employees learn from one another, solve problems collaboratively, systematically test and validate process improvements, and share successful practices across shifts.
The quinoa operation runs 24/7 across four 12-hour shifts.. The Operations Manager will lead the production teams for each shift, working closely with the Weekend Production Managers, who have dotted-line responsibility to this role for quinoa operations.
This position will also work closely with the Director of Engineering to further develop, refine, and scale the quinoa manufacturing process, equipment, and overall operation.
Key Responsibilities
Operations & Scale-Up
· Lead daily quinoa production across the 24/7 operation, ensuring safety, quality, output, and schedule expectations are achieved.
· Further develop the standards, systems, staffing structure, and processes needed to scale the operation.
· Monitor throughput, downtime, yield, waste, labor efficiency, and equipment performance.
· Maintain consistent processes and expectations across all production shifts.
· Partner with the Director of Engineering to improve process capability, equipment reliability, capacity, and future expansion.
· Work closely with Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations leadership to resolve issues and improve performance.
Production Planning & Inventory
· Create and own the production schedule, balancing capacity, staffing, material availability, and business demand.
· Manage raw material and finished quinoa inventories to support production while maintaining appropriate inventory levels.
· Align quinoa production and inventory with demand from the chocolate manufacturing side of the business.
· Coordinate with Supply Chain and Operations on material requirements, shortages, priorities, and changing demand.
Team, Training & Culture
· Lead and develop Production Leads and Machine Operators with clear expectations and accountability.
· Build a structured training and qualification program, including onboarding, cross-training, SOPs, and work instructions.
· Develop Production Leads into strong frontline leaders who can train employees, troubleshoot issues, and lead their crews.
· Create an environment where employees share knowledge, solve problems together, and learn across shifts.
· Test process improvements in a disciplined way, measure results, and standardize successful practices.
· Reinforce a culture centered on safety, quality, teamwork, respect, and continuous improvement.
Safety & Quality
· Build and lead a strong safety program for the quinoa operation.
· Ensure compliance with GMPs, SQF, HACCP, company procedures, and workplace safety requirements.
· Maintain strong Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) practices and employee training.
· Lead safety training, observations, near-miss and incident investigations, and corrective actions.
· Partner with Quality on food safety, product quality, foreign material, sanitation, and process-control issues.
· Maintain high standards for housekeeping, equipment condition, and organization.
Process Improvement & Performance
· Use Redzone and production data to identify losses, variation, and improvement opportunities.
· Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for recurring production, quality, and equipment issues.
· Develop and maintain SOPs, process parameters, and standard work.
· Ensure improvements and lessons learned are communicated across all shifts.
· Ensure accurate production reporting in NetSuite, Redzone, and related systems.
· Establish and review key production KPIs to drive performance and accountability.
Basic Qualifications (BQs)
· 3+ years of manufacturing leadership experience leading hourly production teams in a hands-on production environment.
· Strong safety leadership with practical LOTO experience.
· Working knowledge of GMPs, HACCP, SQF, or similar food manufacturing requirements.
· Experience using ERP and production management systems.
· Strong understanding of manufacturing KPIs, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
· Strong leadership, communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
Preferred Qualifications (PQs)
· 5+ years of manufacturing experience, preferably in food, ingredients, or CPG.
· Experience leading multi-shift or 24/7 manufacturing operations.
· Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Food Science, or a related technical field.
· Experience scaling or launching a manufacturing operation or production process.
· Grain processing, milling, or bulk dry ingredient experience.
· Lean Manufacturing experience.
· Experience working with Engineering on process, equipment, or capacity improvements.
· Experience with Redzone and NetSuite.
· Experience in a high-growth manufacturing environment.
· launching a manufacturing operation or production process.
· Grain processing, milling, or bulk dry ingredient experience.
· Lean Manufacturing experience.
· Experience working with Engineering on process, equipment, or capacity improvements.
· Experience with Redzone and NetSuite.
· Experience in a high-growth manufacturing environment.
Work Environment
This is an on-site manufacturing leadership position in East Hanover, NJ. While the position is primarily Monday through Friday, the quinoa operation runs 24/7, and the Operations Manager is expected to maintain visibility across all shifts and provide support outside normal business hours when significant operational needs arise.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary and paid time off
- Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k)
- Casual, friendly, fun, fast-paced startup environment
- Opportunity to work closely with leadership and have a real impact on company growth
- Endless quantities of delicious, better-for-you chocolate snacks.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $100,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Have you worked for a food or CPG company setting up items and working with distributors and retailers?
Education:
Experience:
- CPG Sales operations support: 2 years (Required)
Ability to Commute:
- East Hanover, NJ 07936 (Required)
Work Location: In person
