Bakery Production Manager

Position: Bakery Production Manager

Location: Chicago, IL area

Qualifications

• High School diploma with 7 years of Bakery Production Management experience or a Degree in Food Science with 3 years of Bakery Production experience.
• Bakery Management experience in a high-volume, from-scratch, commercial Bakery: formula ownership, batch scaling, dough temperature, hydration, proofing, baking, cooling.
• Hands-on experience with Commercial sheeting lines, industrial mixers, tunnel ovens, cooling/freezing systems, metal detection, and packaging operations.
• Strong working knowledge of AIB, SQF, BRC, HACCP, FDA, FSMA, GMP, Allergen controls, Traceability, and Food Safety Audit requirements.
• Bilingual (English / Spanish) is a plus.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day Bakery production from mixing through packaging, ensuring products consistently meet formula, quality, yield, and customer specifications.
• Lead production crews across mixing, forming, proofing, baking, cooling/freezing, packaging, and the Tzatziki production lane.
• Maintain strict compliance with SQF, HACCP, FDA/FSMA, Halal, GMP, allergen, traceability, metal-detection, and customer food-safety programs.
• Monitor and adjust formulas, dough conditions, equipment parameters, proofing, and oven profiles within approved specifications; troubleshoot production issues and coordinate corrective actions.
• Control production scheduling, material readiness, batch sizes, staffing, waste, rework, downtime, and overall line efficiency, coordinating with QA, Maintenance, Sanitation, Warehouse, and Shipping.
• Ensure accurate and timely completion of batch sheets, waste logs, changeover records, training records, deviation reports, metal-detection verification, and daily production reports.
• Build a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, training, audit readiness, and knowledge transfer, ensuring the department can consistently operate to standard.