Plant Manager, Zundert

At Barry Callebaut, 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 12,000 passionate employees working in more than 40 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 We are currently hiring for a seasoned Plant Manager to lead a cross‑functional team including production, safety, quality assurance, maintenance and logistics that oversees daily operations of the food production facility. Your primary responsibility is to ensure that products are manufactured safely, efficiently, and to the highest quality standards while meeting production targets.

Key Responsibilities include

Foster a "zero‑injury" culture through regular safety audits and training

Recruit, train, and mentor a diverse workforce, ensuring high engagement during high‑pressure peak seasons

Ensure the facility is always "audit‑ready" for bodies like the FSSC

Maintain and enforce Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans

Modernize and oversee digital traceability systems to ensure rapid response in the event of a product recall

Ensure quality of daily/weekly schedules to meet customer demand while minimizing changeover times and waste

Monitor Overall Equipment Effectiveness and foster culture of continuous improvement

Manage the plant budget, labour costs, and raw material yields to ensure profitability

Move the plant from reactive repairs to predictive maintenance

Deliver BC Sustainability roadmap, circular economy, 0 Landfill

Lead implementation of BCOS in the factory

Represent the management in the Works Council

About You

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Engineering, or Business Administration

Previous relevant experience of managing a sizeable and/or multi‑site manufacturing plant(s) in the food&beverage industry

Certification in HACCP, SQF, or Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt)&experience in methodologies like IWS are a plus

Strategic thinker– ability to envision the future of the factory in terms of portfolio, production capabilities, go for zero priorities&people

Strong Leadership skills– ability to lead&grow diverse profiles in the management team and beyond

Resilient change agent

Able to resolve conflicts of different scales

Ability to challenge team members on performance when not in line with expectations

Crisis Management experience– ability to take the lead in crisis situations

Strong Commercial Acumen

Excellent Stakeholder Communication– ability to effectively report KPIs to executive leadership while maintaining a presence on the factory floor

Strong attention to detail

Sound Financial Acumen– brings P&L&Business Case understanding

At Barry Callebaut, we are committed to Diversity&Inclusion. United by our strong values, we thrive on the diversity of who we are, where we come from, what we’ve experienced and how we think. We are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where people can truly be themselves, grow to their full potential and feel they belong.

#oneBC - Diverse People, Sustainable Growth.

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