Plant Lead

About Kerry

Kerry is the world’s leading taste and nutrition partner for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.
Every day, we work behind the scenes with our customers to solve the world’s most complex food challenges through our diverse ingredients, technologies, and people. We do everything with passion and continuously innovate to create a future of uncompromisingly healthier, tastier, and more sustainable food.

Our ambition is to be our customers’ most valued partner, to create a world of sustainable nutrition, and to reach over two billion consumers with sustainable food solutions by 2030.

About the role

As Plant Lead, you are fully accountable for everything within the four walls of the manufacturing site. Your mission is to lead the plant in achieving targets across Safety, Quality, Service, Cost, and Sustainability. You also drive organisational health, productivity, asset performance, and community engagement, aligned with the broader business strategy.

You will develop and execute a strategic site plan, foster a culture of continuous improvement and empowerment, and ensure the team has the right capabilities to deliver operational excellence. You play a key role in driving digitalisation, automation, and change management across the site.

Key responsibilities

• Full ownership of site performance across safety, quality, service, cost, and sustainability.
• Deliver organisational health goals including leadership, simplification, and career development.
• Develop and implement a site strategy aligned with global and regional manufacturing strategies.
• Ensure flawless execution of FSQ and HSE standards and programmes.
• Embed a continuous improvement mindset and drive operational efficiency.
• Inspire and coach the site leadership team towards high performance.
• Responsible for recruitment, development, and training within agreed headcount budget.
• Build and execute a communication plan and lead change initiatives (automation/digitalisation).
• Analyse site performance data and prioritise improvements within the capital budget.
• Manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including customers and the local community.
• Develop and maintain a 5-year CapEx plan to ensure capacity meets customer demand.
• Contribute to NPD processes and assess manufacturing capabilities for new products.
• Collaborate with VP Manufacturing and other sites to share best practices.
• Partner with GIO functions (QSHE, Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement) to resolve performance issues.
• Work with Supply Chain to ensure customer satisfaction and OTIF.
• Support QSHE team in implementing standards and driving cultural change.
• Act as technical receiver for advanced manufacturing and automation initiatives.

Qualifications and skills

• University degree (Bachelor/Master), preferably in Food Science, Biotechnology, or Chemical Technology.
• Minimum 5 years of recent experience in food or food ingredients manufacturing.
• Strong understanding of food safety requirements, ideally with exposure to clinical, infant, and adult nutrition.
• Proven track record in Operational Excellence and building a continuous improvement culture.
• At least 5 years of experience leading multifunctional teams responsible for safety, quality, customer experience, asset reliability, and cost performance.
• Agile, fast-paced, and results-driven mindset.