Job particulars
- Job title
- Factory Manager
- Hiring organisation
- s Expand Recruitment Services
- Location
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Employment type
- Contract
- Work arrangement
- On-site
- Industry
- Production
- Level
- Management
- Experience
- 4+ years
- Posted
- 21 Oct 2026
- Closing date
- 1 Nov 2026
Key responsibilities
- Operations, Production & Capacity Planning.
- Direct daily operations across honey processing, nut roasting, and peanut butter blending/filling lines to meet production schedules, volume targets, and delivery deadlines.
- Maximize Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), minimize downtime, and oversee preventive/corrective maintenance for processing machinery, steam, power, and plant utilities.
- Monitor raw material mass-balance and batch conversion yields (raw materials honey/peanuts to finished goods) to eliminate waste, product giveaway, and rejections.
- Quality, Food Safety & Regulatory Compliance.
- Enforce strict compliance with ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000, HACCP, and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) across all processing, sanitation, and storage areas.
- Maintain 100% compliance with KEBS, DOSHS, OSHA, and NEMA; lead internal/external quality audits and ensure on-time closure of Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPAs).
- Supply Chain, Inventory & Cost Management.
- Manage operational budgets, direct labor costs, and utility consumption to lower unit production costs without compromising safety or quality.
- Partner with Procurement and Stores to align stock levels of raw honey, groundnuts, and packaging materials with seasonal smallholder sourcing variations.
- Leadership, Team Capability & Analytics.
- Direct and develop production, quality, maintenance, and warehouse teams; optimize shift structures and labor allocation to control overtime.
- Foster a Kaizen/5S culture, track plant KPIs (OEE, Scrap %, Cost/Unit, OTIF), and participate in CAPEX planning and line expansion projects.
Candidate requirements
- Academic & Work Experience.
- Bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Technology, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Bioprocessing, or a closely related field.
- A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline is an added advantage.
- Professional certification in HACCP, ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000 Lead Auditor, or Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt) is highly advantageous.
- 7–10 Years of progressive FMCG/food processing operational experience in East Africa, with at least 4+ years in a senior plant management role.
- Key Competencies & Leadership Attributes.
- Deep, practical working knowledge of KEBS certification protocols, ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000, HACCP principles, and Kenyan OSHA/NEMA statutory requirements.
- Strong grounding in Lean Manufacturing principles, 5S workplace organization, Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).
- Hands-on experience using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems (e. g., SAP, Business Central, Sage) for shop-floor tracking, inventory control, and operational reporting.
- Ability to interpret cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) breakdowns, operational variances, line utility costs, and factory financial statements.
- Combines high-level operational planning with an active shop-floor presence to troubleshoot machine, process, and line bottlenecks swiftly.
- Rigorous commitment to uncompromising food safety standards, ethical workforce management, and full regulatory compliance.
- Calm under pressure, capable of making sound operational tradeoffs between production speed, unit cost, and quality.
- Strong communication and coaching skills to engage, motivate, and upskill shop-floor technicians, machine operators, and line supervisors.
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Hiring organisation
s Expand Recruitment Services