Overview
About MetaBrand
MetaBrand is an independent beverage formulation, product development, and manufacturing company helping emerging and established brands take innovative beverages from concept through commercial production.
We operate a fast-paced manufacturing environment across multiple products, customers, formulations, SKUs, and packaging formats. As MetaBrand continues to expand its manufacturing capabilities and operations, we are building a strong production leadership team capable of supporting our continued growth.
Position Objective
Serve as the Production Manager’s trusted operational partner and key second-in-command, providing hands-on leadership across daily beverage manufacturing operations. The Assistant Production Manager will help ensure production, staffing, inventory, sanitation, maintenance, documentation, and regulatory requirements are effectively executed while developing the experience and operational knowledge necessary to assume increasing facility-level leadership responsibility.
Position Summary
MetaBrand is seeking an experienced, hands-on Assistant Production Manager to help lead our beverage manufacturing operations.
This is an excellent opportunity for a skilled and successful Beverage Production Supervisor who is ready to take the next step into production management and a higher level of responsibility.
Reporting to the Production Manager, the Assistant Production Manager will take an active leadership role across production, staffing, inventory, shipping and receiving, equipment maintenance, production documentation, sanitation, and regulatory compliance.
The successful candidate should already have strong frontline manufacturing leadership experience and be ready to expand into production planning, resource allocation, inventory management, staffing, maintenance coordination, regulatory compliance, and overall facility operations.
Because this position is responsible for effectively leading and developing a diverse production workforce, candidates must be bilingual in English and Spanish and able to communicate effectively in both languages in a manufacturing environment.
This position provides an opportunity to develop into independent facility-level production leadership as MetaBrand continues to expand its manufacturing operations.
Key Responsibilities
- Assist the Production Manager with daily beverage batching, processing, filling, packaging, and manufacturing operations.
- Serve as a key operational resource to the Production Manager and provide leadership when the Production Manager is supporting other operational priorities.
- Provide hands-on leadership to production supervisors, leads, operators, and manufacturing personnel.
- Independently manage assigned production lines, shifts, and operational responsibilities.
- Coordinate multiple production lines and multiple shifts to achieve production schedules and customer commitments.
- Assist with production scheduling and allocation of personnel, equipment, materials, and manufacturing resources.
- Determine staffing requirements and ensure adequate coverage for production, sanitation, warehouse, and related activities.
- Train, develop, schedule, and hold production personnel accountable for safety, quality, productivity, attendance, sanitation, and GMP compliance.
- Communicate production expectations, procedures, safety requirements, training, and performance feedback effectively in English and Spanish.
- Manage raw materials, packaging components, work-in-process, and finished-goods inventory.
- Oversee shipping, receiving, material staging, lot control, FIFO/FEFO, and inventory reconciliation.
- Maintain accurate product and material traceability.
- Coordinate preventive maintenance, equipment troubleshooting, repairs, and production downtime.
- Ensure accurate completion of batch records, production documentation, inventory transactions, maintenance records, and sanitation records.
- Manage and verify production sanitation activities, including CIP and COP, changeovers, and pre-operational readiness.
- Ensure compliance with FDA, TTB, GMP/cGMP, SQF, HACCP/Food Safety Plan, sanitation, allergen-control, and traceability requirements.
- Maintain production operations in a continuous state of audit readiness.
- Monitor production efficiency, throughput, yields, labor utilization, downtime, and waste.
- Identify staffing, equipment, material, scheduling, and production issues and implement practical solutions.
- Support pilot production, new-product commercialization, scale-up, and new manufacturing processes.
- Participate in continuous-improvement initiatives to increase capacity, efficiency, quality, and operational reliability.
- Assume increasing responsibility for production and facility operations as experience and demonstrated performance warrant.
Required Qualifications
Applicants must meet the following minimum requirements:
- Minimum 3 years of direct beverage manufacturing experience – required.
- Prior experience as a Beverage Production Supervisor, Manufacturing Supervisor, Shift Supervisor, Production Lead, Assistant Production Manager, or comparable beverage manufacturing leadership position.
- Demonstrated success supervising production employees and achieving production goals.
- Motivation and capability to advance from frontline supervision into broader production-management responsibilities.
- Experience supervising multiple production lines and/or multiple shifts.
- Practical working experience with FDA, TTB, GMP/cGMP, and SQF requirements.
- Experience with beverage batching, blending, processing, filling, packaging, and production changeovers.
- Experience with CIP and COP sanitation systems.
- Strong inventory management, lot-control, traceability, shipping, and receiving experience.
- Experience coordinating equipment maintenance and preventive maintenance.
- Exceptional resource planning, production scheduling, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to anticipate and meet production staffing requirements, including shift coverage and changing production demands.
- Experience with ERP, MRP, inventory management, or production planning systems.
- Strong production documentation and manufacturing recordkeeping skills.
- Strong mechanical aptitude and production troubleshooting capabilities.
- Ability to make sound operational decisions with increasing independence.
- Strong employee leadership, coaching, communication, and accountability skills.
- Bilingual English & Spanish required — must be able to effectively speak, understand, and communicate workplace and production information in both languages.
- Ability to work flexible hours and support multiple shifts, evenings, and weekends as production schedules require.
Preferred Qualifications
- 5+ years of beverage manufacturing experience.
- 2+ years of successful production supervisory experience.
- Contract beverage manufacturing or co-packing experience.
- Experience managing multiple customers, products, formulas, and SKUs simultaneously.
- Experience with functional beverages, energy drinks, sports drinks, RTDs, shots, or similar products.
- Experience with hot-fill, cold-fill, tunnel pasteurization, or other commercial beverage processing technologies.
- Experience supporting new-product commercialization, pilot production, and scale-up.
- HACCP, PCQI, SQF, GMP, sanitation, Lean Manufacturing, 5S, or related training.
- Experience participating in FDA, SQF, customer, or other manufacturing audits.
Who This Opportunity Is For
This position is particularly well suited for a strong beverage Production Supervisor who has proven they can run a shift and is ready to learn how to run an operation.
You may already be responsible for people, production lines, changeovers, downtime, sanitation, and daily output. Your next step is gaining broader responsibility for production planning, staffing, inventory, maintenance, regulatory compliance, resource management, and overall manufacturing performance.
We are looking for someone who:
- Has earned a reputation as a strong, dependable production leader.
- Understands beverage manufacturing from the production floor up.
- Is bilingual in English and Spanish and can effectively lead, train, coach, and communicate with employees in both languages.
- Wants greater responsibility, authority, and accountability.
- Can transition from managing a shift to managing broader manufacturing operations.
- Has the judgment to make decisions without requiring constant direction.
- Anticipates problems rather than waiting for them to happen.
- Can develop and lead production employees and supervisors.
- Understands that safety, quality, compliance, efficiency, and customer commitments must work together.
- Wants a career path toward facility-level manufacturing leadership.
Growth Opportunity
The Assistant Production Manager will work closely with the Production Manager to develop comprehensive knowledge of MetaBrand’s production systems, equipment, personnel, scheduling, sanitation programs, inventory controls, maintenance requirements, and regulatory responsibilities.
As MetaBrand’s manufacturing operations continue to expand, the successful candidate will have the opportunity to take on increasingly independent responsibility for the day-to-day operation of a MetaBrand manufacturing facility.
Our objective is to develop a production leader who can progress from successfully supervising production activities to taking ownership of a broader manufacturing operation.
Advancement will be based on demonstrated performance, leadership ability, technical competency, operational judgment, and the needs of the business.
Success in This Position
Success means becoming the Production Manager’s trusted operational partner while progressing from an accomplished frontline production leader into a well-rounded manufacturing manager capable of coordinating people, production lines, staffing, materials, equipment, maintenance, sanitation, inventory, documentation, compliance, and scheduling as one integrated operation.
The ideal candidate is an experienced beverage manufacturing supervisor who knows how to run a production floor and is ready for the opportunity to develop the skills, judgment, and responsibility required to lead a manufacturing facility.
MetaBrand is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Pay: $50,574.43 - $60,906.84 per year
Experience:
- Beverage Manufacturing : 5 years (Preferred)
- Production management: 3 years (Preferred)
Language:
Work Location: In person
