Job Description
Job Overview:
Plant Manager, Dallas, Texas
Lead the team behind the crunch.
Rudolph Foods has been making crunchy snacks since 1955, and we are still family-owned. We even have our own holiday: National Pork Rind Appreciation Day, celebrated every Super Bowl Sunday. Our Dallas plant is looking for a Plant Manager who is ready to lead a high-performing team and build on that legacy.
Our plants operate like the large snack manufacturers you already know: high volume, fast-paced, and always moving. The Dallas plant runs 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, with fryers, high-speed packaging lines, and seasoning areas all working together. It is an energizing environment for a leader who wants to make a difference, and our people take real pride in what they make.
This role is for a leader who competes to win the right way, never at the expense of safety, people, or our culture.
About the role
- Lead about 180 to 200 team members across three shifts, with five direct reports
- Report to the VP of Operations
- Occasional travel, less than 25 percent of the time
- Pay range: $140,000 to $170,000 per year, depending on experience
Responsibilities
- Lead daily operations across production, packaging, receiving, and shipping, with a focus on safety, quality, food safety, customer service and cost
- Anticipate issues and address them proactively, using real-time data to eliminate waste and improve performance
- Maintain a visible presence on the floor across all shifts
- Develop leaders at every level, from leads and supervisors to managers
- Manage the plant budget, labor and equipment performance, including OEE
- Lead food safety, environmental and ethical audit readiness, including SMETA
- Build a culture where employees feel respected, heard, and proud of their work
- Set a clear plant strategy that connects to company goals, and lead change that sticks
- Partner with R&D and QA to launch new products and processes smoothly, from production trials through stable, high-quality production on every shift
What makes you a great fit
- A drive to improve every process you touch
- A competitive spirit, balanced with real care for people, safety and culture
- Composure and sound judgment when the pace picks up
- A habit of recognizing the team before yourself
- A proactive approach to problems, always preferring to prevent the fire over fighting it
- Optimism and enthusiasm that lift the team, even when the pace is high
- Sharp critical thinking, paired with the ability to see the big picture
- Comfort with change, and a record of driving it successfully
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in business management, operations, engineering, food science, or a related field (equivalent experience considered)
- At least 8 years of manufacturing leadership in a high-volume food or snack plant, leading a three-shift workforce and several levels of leaders
- Proven ability to turn around an underperforming manufacturing plant by improving safety, quality, productivity, employee engagement, and financial performance.
- Working knowledge of SQF, HACCP, GMP, AIB, USDA, and OSHA, plus ethical audit programs such as SMETA
- Strong skills with budgets, data, and continuous improvement
- Track record of building and executing strategy and leading successful change
- Preferred: snack food experience, 3 or more years as a plant manager, general manager or operations director, PCQI certification, and Lean or Six Sigma training
Our environment
Our plant is energetic and hands-on. You will spend much of your time on the production floor near high-speed packaging machines, fryers, and seasoning areas, where hearing protection, safety shoes, and hairnets are standard gear. You will also have an office for planning, budgeting, and administrative work. Our team members find the pace rewarding, and we are committed to making Dallas a place people are proud to be part of.
What we offer
- Annual bonus target of 20 percent of base salary, with a maximum of 30 percent
- Medical, dental, and vision benefits
- 401 (k) retirement plan and company match
- Vacation, Holiday, and Sick time
- Real ownership of Dallas, with the support of the VP of Operations to make improvements that matter. A family-owned company with a long history, a real opportunity to shape a plant and its people, and a commitment to developing its leaders.
Rudolph Foods is an equal opportunity employer.
