Director of Operations

Job Title: Director of Operations

Location: Welland, ON (Onsite)

Salary: $120,000-$130,000/year + Significant Stock Options

Industry: Agri-Tech / Food Manufacturing

Kelly Services is proud to partner with a fast-growing agri-tech scale-up in Welland, ON that is transforming sustainable food production. We are recruiting a hands-on, highly operational Director of Operations to lead facility performance during a time of rapid growth and expansion. This role is ideal for a resilient, detail-oriented leader with a strong sense of urgency, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a passion for building and optimizing operations in a dynamic environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee daily operations including production, quality control, planning, labor management, facility maintenance, and plant performance reporting.
• Balance inputs, throughput, and demand to maximize operational efficiency.
• Manage full P&L responsibility for facility operations.
• Lead plant expansion efforts with strong focus on strategy, project management, and on-time project delivery.
• Lead the S&OP process to ensure production capacity aligns with sales demand.
• Oversee production of finished goods and coordinate logistics to ensure on-time, daily fulfillment of customer orders.
• Manage farm inventory and key vendor relationships.
• Champion safety and environmental compliance, ensuring adherence to all health and safety regulations.
• Create, implement, and maintain SOPs and lead employee training programs.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 5 years of Operations Leadership experience in a medium or large facility; experience in food manufacturing is strongly preferred.
• University or College degree.
• Proven experience leading teams in facilities management and manufacturing.
• Strong procurement and negotiation abilities.
• Self-starter with the ability to motivate teams to achieve time-sensitive, cost-conscious goals.
• Strong financial acumen with full P&L ownership experience.

Traits for Success:

• Strong attention to detail
• Sense of urgency
• Entrepreneurial, build-as-you-go mentality
• Hands-on operator willing to be active on the production floor
• Ability to adapt quickly in a scale-up environment

Why Kelly®?

As a worker today, it’s up to you to take charge of your career and look for opportunities to learn, grow and achieve your potential. Helping you find what’s next is what we’re all about. We know what’s going on in the evolving world of work—just ask the nearly 500,000 people we employ each year. Connecting with us means getting the support, guidance and opportunities needed to take your career where you may have never imagined.

This position is currently available.

About Kelly®

At Kelly, we’re always thinking about what’s next and advising job seekers on new ways of working to reach their full potential. In fact, we’re a leading advocate for temporary/non-traditional workstyles, because we believe they allow flexibility and tremendous growth opportunities that enable a better way to work and live. Connecting great people with great companies is what we do best and our employment opportunities span a wide variety of workstyles, skill levels and industries around the world.

Kelly is an equal opportunity employer committed to employing a diverse workforce and providing accommodations for people with disabilities in all parts of the hiring process as required under its Employment Accommodation Policy. Kelly will work with applicants to meet accommodation needs that are made known to Kelly in advance.