Production Manager (Food & Beverage) – Nairobi at Talent Grid Africa

This role is ideal for a professional with strong experience in manufacturing operations, production planning, food safety compliance, and team leadership. The Production Manager will play a critical role in ensuring efficient production processes, maintaining high quality standards, and driving operational excellence across the production function.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee and coordinate daily production operations to ensure efficiency and productivity
• Champion and maintain a strong health and safety culture within the production environment
• Monitor safety performance and maintain compliance with safety and quality standards
• Ensure adherence to product recipes, formulas, and food safety requirements
• Organize production schedules and planning to achieve on-time, in-full (OTIF) delivery of customer orders
• Monitor production performance through dashboards and defined KPIs
• Analyse ingredient consumption and investigate variances against technical ratios and budgets
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance productivity, food safety, and workflow efficiency
• Support preventive and predictive maintenance activities for production equipment
• Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) on equipment failures and implement long-term corrective actions
• Manage spare parts inventory and coordinate maintenance budgets and third-party services
• Supervise and lead production teams including Production Operators, Cleaners, and the Production Supervisor
• Support recruitment, onboarding, training, and performance evaluation of the production team
• Prepare weekly reports on production plans, raw material stock levels, team planning, and key operational KPIs

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Processing, Agro-Industrial Technology, Manufacturing, or a related field
• Knowledge of bakery products or similar food production environments is an added advantage
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in production or manufacturing operations
• At least 5 years’ experience in a management role, leading teams and overseeing production activities