Position Title: Plant Head – (Edible Oils, Fats, Margarine or Refinery Operations)

Location: Kiambu, Kenya

Reporting To: Operations – Head

• Refinery Managers

• Fractionation Manager

• Oils Packing Manager

• Fats & Margarine Production Manager

• Utilities & Engineering Manager

• QA/QC Manager

• Planning Manager

• Lean / Continuous Improvement Leads

To provide strategic and operational leadership for the entire refinery, oils, fats and margarine manufacturing business by ensuring world-class levels of safety, quality, cost, delivery, inventory optimization, asset utilization and people capability development while delivering business profitability targets.

• Crude oil refining

• Fractionation

• Oils production

• Fats manufacturing

• Margarine manufacturing

• Packaging operations

• Utilities and engineering

• RM PM inventory management

• Continuous improvement and Lean transformation

The role is accountable for delivering operational excellence while maintaining the highest standards of food safety, product quality, environmental compliance and employee engagement.

• Business Leadership: Lead DRT operations, manufacturing performance, profitability, EBITDA growth, and long-term capacity/investment strategies.

• Manufacturing Excellence: Optimize refinery, fractionation, packing, throughput, OEE, reliability, and production plan adherence.

• Supply Chain & Inventory: Optimize raw materials, WIP and finished goods, inventory turnover, working capital, and stock accuracy.

• Cost Management: Control manufacturing, labor, utilities, maintenance, logistics costs, and drive yield and cost-per-MT improvements.

• Refinery & Yield Optimization: Improve refining efficiency, reduce oil losses, and optimize chemical, steam and energy consumption.

• Quality & Food Safety: Ensure food safety compliance, First Time Right production, and reduction of complaints, rework and rejections.

• Engineering & Utilities: Drive equipment reliability, preventive/predictive maintenance, plant uptime, and utility efficiency.

• Lean & Continuous Improvement: Lead Lean, TPM, Kaizen, OEE and waste-reduction initiatives to improve productivity and efficiency.

• People Leadership: Build high-performing teams, develop talent and succession pipelines, and drive employee engagement.

• Health, Safety & Environment: Promote a zero-harm culture and ensure statutory, safety and environmental compliance.

• Project Leadership: Lead strategic capital projects, ensuring timely delivery, budget adherence and targeted ROI.

Bachelor’s Degree in one of the following:

• Chemical Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

• Food Process Engineering

• Master’s Degree (MBA, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Excellence)

• Professional certifications in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma or TPM

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

• TPM Practitioner

• ISO 9001 Lead Auditor

• ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000

• 15 years experience in FMCG manufacturing.

• Candidates currently serving in roles such as Plant Head, Refinery Manager, Head of Manufacturing, Factory General Manager, or Operations Head are encouraged to apply.

Strong expertise in edible oil refining, fractionation, hydrogenation, interesterification, margarine manufacturing, blending, quality management, utilities, energy optimization, yield & inventory improvement, SAP ERP, S&OP, Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Kaizen, OEE, and continuous improvement.

Strategic thinking, business & commercial acumen, change leadership, people development, stakeholder management, results orientation, operational excellence, financial acumen, and data-driven decision-making.

• 200+ employees

• Multiple production lines

• Annual production exceeding 100,000 MT

• Multi-product FMCG manufacturing environment