At Frank James-Baxter, we are on a journey to transform the cocoa and chocolate industry. As the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, our actions truly shape the future of our industry. We are a business-to-business company, serving the entire food sector, from the cocoa bean to the finest chocolate product. We are a company with a purpose, we believe in doing well by doing good and reinvesting in the communities we operate. We have a long-standing commitment to sustainability and our goal is to shape a sustainable cocoa and chocolate future. We are headquartered in Zurich, and have more than ⚠,⚠ passionate Employees working in more than ⚠ countries worldwide. We are very proud of who we are and what we do. And of course, we are always looking for talented people to help us have a positive impact on our industry and beyond!

About the role

The Plant Manager directs, plans, organizes, develops & controls all activities in order to meet production goals, whilst complying with Quality Assurance and customer requirements, rules, laws, and regulations.

Key responsibilities include

• Leading, directing, controlling coordinating and managing the day-to-day activities of the plant.
• Setting the short and medium-term strategy for the plant to achieve financial and operating objectives as defined by the corporate business plan and Operations and Supply Chain strategy.
• Based in Malle, Belgium, you will lead a team of approximately ⚠ people through ⚠ direct line managers (Supply chain, QA, Maintenance, Production, Continuous Improvement : your Local Management Team).
• Monitoring the cost and effectiveness of production activities to optimize resources, prioritize spending, and achieve volume, quality, and manufacturing standards by securing a safe and healthy work environment. Set, and monitor the performance of the plant against standards and targets in areas such as safety, health and environment, quality assurance and food safety, manufacturing standards, cost control (budget process, controlling, measurement, and KPI management), legal compliance, and human resource management.
• Allocating labor and capital resources to maximize productivity. Research, evaluate, and recommend investments in technology, capital, equipment, systems, or other assets that will enhance the plant's production capabilities.
• Leading, directing, evaluating, and developing a team of functional and operational managers or other professionals to ensure that the plant meets its established targets and standards.
• Demonstrating customer-centricity and a hands on mindset in the factory.

• You have a Master degree in e.g. Civil or Bio Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Electro-Mechanics Engineering and a minimum of ⚠ years' experience (at least ⚠ years' experience as a Plant Manager)
• You are a strong Change Manager and manage business results through KPI's. You are flexible and adapt easily to a constant changing environment
• You have strong business acumen and excellent motivational leadership skills. You focus on coaching and staff development;
• You have strong networking and presentation skills and communicate at all levels within a multicultural environment;
• You have excellent negotiation, organization & planning skills; you are analytical and strategic and have a project management mindset.
• You anticipate, understand, and respond to the needs of internal and external customers
• You combine decisiveness with strong business ethics
• You are a truly positive, engaging and charismatic leader
• You are a self-starter and work autonomously. You are a great team player too.
• You are proficient with MS Office;
• You are an expert in world-class manufacturing methodologies, you embrace LEAN and adopt a ‘right-first-time'- mentality
• You are passionate about providing excellent service
• You are a true problem solver
• You have an innovative approach and are able to challenge existing processes
• You are ideally perfectly bilingual: Dutch / English (fluent English is a must)