Human Resources Director – Food Manufacturing
Location: Wasco, CA
Salary: $130,000–$180,000 annually, depending on qualifications and experience
Schedule: Full-Time | On-Site
Industry: Food Manufacturing / Agriculture
Language: Bilingual English/Spanish Required
Employment Type: Direct Hire
Position Summary
Key Staffing is conducting a direct-hire search for an experienced Human Resources Director to join an established and growing food manufacturing organization in Wasco, California.
This is a senior-level HR leadership opportunity for an accomplished professional who can serve as both a strategic advisor to ownership and executive leadership and a hands-on leader of the Human Resources function.
The HR Director will be responsible for evaluating and strengthening the organization's HR infrastructure, developing and mentoring the HR team, establishing scalable processes, and ensuring HR strategies effectively support the needs of a fast-paced manufacturing operation.
The ideal candidate will bring significant HR leadership experience within food manufacturing, food processing, agriculture, agricultural processing, CPG, or a similarly complex labor-intensive environment and understand the unique challenges associated with supporting both hourly and salaried workforces.
This position requires a leader who is comfortable moving between the executive level and the plant floor—someone capable of advising ownership on organizational strategy while remaining connected to employees, supervisors, and operational leaders.
Key ResponsibilitiesExecutive & Strategic HR Leadership
- Serve as a trusted HR advisor and strategic partner to ownership and executive leadership.
- Provide guidance regarding workforce strategy, organizational structure, employee relations, compensation, leadership development, succession planning, and organizational risk.
- Translate business objectives into practical HR strategies that support operational performance and long-term organizational growth.
- Evaluate existing HR programs, policies, processes, and organizational structure and recommend improvements.
- Provide leadership with meaningful workforce insights and recommendations to support business decisions.
- Identify organizational risks and proactively develop solutions before issues impact operations.
- Support organizational change, growth initiatives, restructuring, and workforce planning as business needs evolve.
- Develop HR strategies that align people, performance, and culture with the organization's overall business objectives.
HR Team Development & Department Leadership
- Lead, develop, mentor, and strengthen the existing Human Resources team.
- Assess department responsibilities, capabilities, workflows, and opportunities for improvement.
- Establish clear expectations, accountability, processes, and performance standards within the HR department.
- Develop HR team members to increase their knowledge, independence, and ability to effectively support employees and operational leaders.
- Build an HR function that is responsive, consistent, approachable, and aligned with the needs of the organization.
- Create scalable HR processes and infrastructure capable of supporting continued organizational growth.
- Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, communication, documentation, and service delivery throughout the HR department.
Employee Relations & Leadership Support
- Serve as a senior resource for complex and sensitive employee-relations matters.
- Coach managers and supervisors regarding employee performance, communication, conflict resolution, disciplinary action, and leadership effectiveness.
- Conduct and/or oversee workplace investigations and recommend appropriate resolutions.
- Promote consistent application of company policies and employment practices throughout the organization.
- Develop strong working relationships with employees, supervisors, department leaders, and executives.
- Maintain an active presence within operations and build credibility across both frontline and leadership teams.
- Help strengthen employee engagement, communication, accountability, and workplace culture.
- Provide leadership with practical, compliant solutions to complex workforce challenges.
California Employment Law & Compliance
- Ensure HR practices remain compliant with California and federal employment laws and regulations.
- Provide guidance regarding wage-and-hour requirements, leaves of absence, accommodations, disciplinary practices, terminations, workplace investigations, and other employment matters.
- Maintain and continuously improve HR policies, procedures, employee handbooks, documentation, and recordkeeping practices.
- Partner with leadership to identify and mitigate employment-related risk.
- Support compliance requirements associated with a food manufacturing and agricultural workforce.
- Maintain current knowledge of regulatory developments and proactively implement necessary changes.
- Ensure employment practices are applied consistently across departments and employee populations.
Talent Acquisition, Retention & Workforce Planning
- Develop workforce strategies that support both current operational requirements and future organizational growth.
- Partner with department leaders to anticipate staffing and talent needs.
- Strengthen recruitment, selection, onboarding, and retention practices.
- Develop strategies to attract and retain qualified talent in a competitive labor market.
- Evaluate turnover trends and workforce data to identify opportunities for improved retention and employee engagement.
- Support leadership succession planning and development of internal talent.
- Identify critical positions and talent gaps and develop proactive workforce plans to address organizational needs.
Performance Management & Organizational Development
- Develop and strengthen performance-management processes across the organization.
- Partner with leaders to establish clear expectations, measurable goals, and accountability.
- Identify leadership and employee development needs and implement appropriate training initiatives.
- Develop programs that strengthen supervisor and management capabilities.
- Support succession planning and career-development initiatives.
- Help establish a culture focused on performance, communication, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Partner with executive leadership to identify organizational-development opportunities that support future growth.
HR Operations
- Provide oversight and strategic direction across core HR functions, including employee relations, recruitment, onboarding, compensation, benefits, performance management, training, compliance, and HR administration.
- Evaluate HR systems, reporting, documentation, and processes for effectiveness and efficiency.
- Develop and monitor meaningful HR metrics, including turnover, retention, recruiting activity, employee-relations trends, and other workforce indicators.
- Use HR data and workforce trends to provide actionable recommendations to executive leadership.
- Ensure employee information and HR documentation are maintained accurately and confidentially.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with operations, safety, payroll, finance, production, and other departments.
Qualifications & Requirements
- Bilingual English/Spanish required, with the ability to communicate effectively with employees and leadership in both languages.
- Significant progressive Human Resources experience, including experience in an HR leadership, senior management, or director-level capacity.
- HR leadership experience within food manufacturing, food processing, agriculture, agricultural processing, CPG, or a comparable high-volume manufacturing environment strongly desired.
- Demonstrated experience leading, developing, mentoring, and strengthening an HR team.
- Strong working knowledge of California employment law, wage-and-hour requirements, leaves of absence, accommodations, employee relations, workplace investigations, and HR compliance.
- Experience managing complex and sensitive employee-relations matters and providing guidance to managers and senior leadership.
- Demonstrated ability to serve as a strategic HR partner to ownership, C-suite executives, and/or senior operational leadership.
- Experience developing, implementing, and improving HR policies, procedures, programs, systems, and organizational infrastructure.
- Experience supporting a diverse workforce consisting of both hourly production employees and salaried professionals.
- Strong leadership, judgment, communication, relationship-building, and problem-solving abilities.
- Ability to balance strategic HR leadership with hands-on involvement in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related discipline preferred.
Professional Certification
Candidates should possess a recognized Human Resources certification, including one or more of the following:
- SHRM-CP – SHRM Certified Professional
- SHRM-SCP – SHRM Senior Certified Professional
- PHR – Professional in Human Resources
- SPHR – Senior Professional in Human Resources
- Comparable professional Human Resources certification may also be considered.
Ideal Leadership Profile
The successful candidate will be a credible, approachable, and decisive HR leader who understands that effective Human Resources leadership in a manufacturing environment requires both strategic thinking and a visible presence throughout the organization.
This individual should be equally comfortable presenting recommendations to ownership, advising executive leadership, coaching a department manager, developing an HR team member, and walking the production floor to understand employee and operational needs firsthand.
The organization is seeking someone who can evaluate where the HR function is today, identify where it needs to go, and develop the people, processes, leadership capabilities, and infrastructure necessary to get it there.
This person will not simply maintain existing HR practices. They will be expected to identify opportunities, develop solutions, strengthen the HR team, and help position the organization for continued growth.
Compensation
$130,000–$180,000 annually, depending on qualifications and experience.
Compensation within the range will be determined based on the candidate's depth of HR leadership experience, food manufacturing or related industry experience, California employment-law expertise, professional certifications, bilingual capabilities, and demonstrated ability to lead and develop an HR function.
This is a direct-hire opportunity. The selected candidate will be hired directly by our client.
About the Organization
Our client is an established, privately held California food manufacturing and agricultural organization with large-scale processing operations in the Central Valley.
The organization operates in a fast-paced production environment serving a diverse workforce and domestic and international markets. Continued growth and operational development have created an opportunity to further strengthen the Human Resources function and add an experienced HR leader who can help shape the organization's people strategy for its next stage of growth.
Why This Opportunity
This position offers an experienced HR professional the opportunity to have a meaningful impact beyond the day-to-day administration of Human Resources.
The HR Director will have the opportunity to develop and elevate the HR team, influence organizational strategy, strengthen HR infrastructure, partner closely with ownership and executive leadership, and help shape the long-term people strategy of an established Central Valley food manufacturing organization.
For an HR leader who enjoys both the strategic and hands-on sides of Human Resources, this position provides the opportunity to directly influence the continued development of the organization and its workforce.
Commitment to Diversity: As an equal opportunity employer committed to meeting the needs of a multi-generational and multicultural workforce, Key Staffing recognizes that a diverse staff, reflective of our community, is an integral and welcome part of a successful and ethical business. We hire local talent at all levels regardless of race, color, religion, age, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability and actively foster inclusion in all forms both within our company and across interactions with clients, candidates, and partners.
Pay: $130,000.00 - $180,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
