Application Instructions:
If this role resonates with you, complete this 10-minute survey and email your resume along with a brief explanation of why you are a strong fit for the role to [email protected]. Use “Production Manager” as the subject line. Only candidates who follow the steps above will be considered.
About the Company:
Backpacker’s Pantry and Astronaut Foods are united by a passion for innovation, adventure, and exceptional food. Backpacker’s Pantry has fueled outdoor adventures since 1951 with high-quality freeze-dried meals, while Astronaut Foods has brought the excitement of space exploration to consumers since 1974. Based in Boulder, Colorado, American Outdoor Products is building on these iconic brands while expanding its capabilities as a specialty food manufacturer. We are committed to producing safe, high-quality products, operating responsibly, and building the systems and discipline required for long-term growth.
What You Will Do:
The Production Manager leads the people, processes, and daily execution of our manufacturing operation. Reporting to the VP of Operations, this role owns production performance from schedule execution through finished output, including team leadership, labor efficiency, throughput, safety, quality execution, and continuous improvement. This is not a desk-only management role. You will be highly present on the production floor, use data to identify problems, hold yourself and others accountable for results, and build repeatable processes. You will know when to move quickly, when to stop and solve the root cause, and how to balance daily execution with building a stronger operation for the future. You will work closely with Quality, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and Warehouse/Fulfilment teams to ensure production commitments are met safely, efficiently, and consistently as we work toward expanding our manufacturing capabilities.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own execution of the daily and weekly production schedule, including staffing, line assignments, material readiness, output performance, and recovery plans when production falls behind.
- Lead, coach, and develop production employees by setting clear expectations, providing timely feedback, addressing attendance or performance issues, and building a culture of accountability and teamwork.
- Own production KPIs, including schedule attainment, throughput, labor efficiency, downtime, scrap, yield, rework, changeover performance, overtime, and safety; review results regularly and ensure corrective actions are completed.
- Manage production labor and controllable costs, including staffing levels, overtime, temporary labor, production supplies, waste, and departmental spending.
- Translate demand requirements into a practical production plan that balances customer priorities, labor, material availability, equipment capacity, sanitation, allergen controls, and food-safety requirements.
- Analyze capacity, labor requirements, equipment utilization, and operational constraints to recommend changes to staffing, shifts, equipment, facility layout, or capital investment.
- Maintain a safe production environment by enforcing safety procedures, identifying and correcting hazards, investigating incidents and near misses, and ensuring corrective actions are sustained.
- Own the implementation and consistent use of production SOPs, standard work, logbooks, batch records, training materials, and documentation required for GMP compliance and lot traceability.
- Ensure production transactions and records are complete, accurate, and timely, including labor reporting, material consumption, production completions, yields, work-in-process, and lot information.
- Lead measurable continuous-improvement initiatives using root-cause analysis, standard work, lean manufacturing, and 5S to improve output, labor efficiency, yield, changeovers, cost, and workplace organization.
- Ensure line setups, material staging, production runs, changeovers, allergen controls, sanitation activities, and production records are completed correctly and on time.
- Partner with Maintenance to prioritize preventive maintenance, coordinate planned downtime, respond to equipment failures, and eliminate recurring equipment-related losses.
- Partner with Quality while maintaining clear production accountability for procedural adherence, employee compliance, deviation containment, corrective actions, documentation, and prevention of recurring quality or food-safety issues.
- Own production-floor readiness for SQF certification, including training, documentation, employee adherence, audit preparation, and closure of production-related findings.
- Maintain production areas in a clean, organized, safe, and audit-ready condition, with required materials, tools, and supplies available and properly controlled.
- Lead production readiness for new products and contract-manufacturing programs, including production trials, equipment capability, labor requirements, standard rates, training, documentation, and launch-risk identification.
What Success Looks Like:
- Production schedules are consistently achieved, and misses are identified early with clear recovery plans.
- The production team understands expectations, is trained to standard, and is held accountable for safety, quality, attendance, and performance.
- Labor efficiency, throughput, yield, downtime, and waste improve through disciplined use of data and corrective action.
- Production records, lot traceability, GMP practices, and QA-related requirements are consistently accurate and audit-ready.
- The department operates with clear standards, strong floor leadership, and repeatable processes that support growth.
Who You Are:
You are a hands-on manufacturing leader who takes ownership of results and is comfortable leading from the floor. You communicate directly, follow through on commitments, and do not allow recurring problems to become accepted operating conditions. You can balance urgency with discipline, coach a diverse frontline team, and use data to turn operational problems into measurable improvements. You are energized by building a stronger production operation, developing people, and creating the standards and accountability required to scale responsibly.
Qualifications:
- 5+ years of progressive production leadership experience in food, beverage, or another regulated CPG manufacturing environment.
- Strong working knowledge of GMPs, food-safety practices, sanitation, allergen controls, lot traceability, and production documentation.
- Experience with NetSuite or similar ERP, production-reporting, inventory, RF Smart WMS or similar, and maintenance-management systems.
- Proficiency with Excel or Google Sheets and the ability to maintain clear operational reporting.
- Working knowledge of lean manufacturing, 5S, and standard work preferred.
- Ability to work on the production floor for extended periods and lift or move up to 50 pounds.
- Ability to work in a typical food-manufacturing environment, including exposure to noise, temperature variation, and production equipment.
- Spanish-language proficiency with the ability to communicate with Spanish-speaking employees.
- Availability to support early starts, evenings, weekends, shutdowns, or urgent production needs.
- Forklift certification is preferred.
- Must be legally authorized to work in the United States on an ongoing basis without sponsorship.
Benefits:
- Salary: $80,000-$100,000/year, depending on experience.
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
- Unlimited paid time off.
- Paid holidays.
- 401(K) retirement plan.
- Product stipend and access to industry deals.
Pay: $80,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- 10-minute survey: https://go.cultureindex.com/p/xWInKnxCZ4
Work Location: In person
