Senior Manager, Contract Manufacturing

As a Senior Manager, Contract Manufacturing at The Farmer's Dog, you'll own the relationship with multiple manufacturing partners and serve as the intermediary between them and internal TFD stakeholders. While serving as their day-to-day point person, you'll also gain a deep understanding of their processes and needs. You'll use that information to drive improvement at the co-mans, work on long-term capital projects, and inform conversations on strategic capacity planning.

This role reports directly to the VP, Contract Manufacturing.

- External Relationship Management: Serve as the primary point of contact for manufacturing partners, from day-to-day contact to weekly calls and quarterly business reviews (QBRs). Establish and report critical metrics - including RFT, OTIF, cost per lb, yield, and complaint rates - to ensure data drives all decisions and partner accountability.

- Internal Relationship Management: Act as the liaison for the manufacturing partner within TFD, explaining capabilities and the reasoning behind decision making and prioritization. Collaborate cross-functionally with P&P, FSQR, R&D, and other groups to ensure all stakeholders have the information needed to be successful.

- Performance Improvement: Drive projects that improve throughput, performance, and product quality while simultaneously decreasing product cost. Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions for service or quality failures, and proactively identify and mitigate operational risks.

- Contracts and Capital: Work with legal and leadership to establish contract terms, advise on strategy, and review potential capital investments.

- Product Commercialization: Support projects from ideation through execution utilizing TFD's commercialization, qualification, and verification tenets. Collaborate with manufacturing partners, FSQR, R&D, and Commercialization to ensure all parties are aligned and prepared for launches.

- Capacity Management: Partner closely with planning to review capacity needs and commitments both short- and long-term. Influence decisions on where and how much to run with each partner based on a deep understanding of capabilities and metrics.

- You have 3-5 years of experience in the food or beverage manufacturing industry.

- You are skilled in plant operations management, engineering, supply chain, distribution, consulting, and/or procurement.

- You have experience in MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access) and Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms).

- You possess outstanding project management and problem-solving skills, with the ability to think creatively and drive results.

- You are comfortable collaborating with cross-functional teams including Supply Chain, Finance, Accounting, Planning, Procurement, and FSQR.

- You thrive in fast-paced settings and bring an assertive, proactive approach to your work.

- You have a desire to approach work as a continuous learning opportunity.

- You have experience with negotiation and contract manufacturing development (preferred).

- You are able to thrive in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, naturally curious and proactive self-starter, constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and solutions

- You're an owner, have excellent problem-solving skills and can prioritize tasks effectively, with a strong attention to detail

- You are detail-oriented and proactive, you thrive as a self-starter and excel in managing multiple projects simultaneously

- You're a skilled communicator and have the ability to absorb and distill complexity into simple terms to drive decision making.