Operations Manager

Cohere Beauty is a diverse team of strategic collaborators, product innovators, R and D formulators, and manufacturing professionals. Built on beauty and rooted in quality, our promise is to collaborate, co-innovate, co-develop, and co-manufacture. Promoting diversity and sustainability through our facilities and supply chains, Cohere Beauty’s approach to social, safety, and environmental responsibility is grounded in a commitment to our employees, customers, and the communities where we live and work. At Cohere Beauty, we’re here for what’s next.

Job Summary The Operations Manager leads the day-to-day execution and performance of Production (filling and packaging), Maintenance, and Warehouse at Cohere Beauty’s Phoenix facility. This leader is accountable for safe, compliant, reliable and cost-effective operations; meeting customer commitments; developing strong department leaders; and sustaining a culture of ownership, operational discipline and continuous improvement. Reporting to the Site Leader, the Operations Manager translates business priorities into executable plans, makes timely operational decisions, and works closely with the separately managed Compounding function and other site partners to deliver results across safety, quality, delivery, cost and people.

Responsibilities

Operational Execution and Performance

• Lead Production, Maintenance and Warehouse leaders to execute daily and weekly plans, resolve constraints and achieve site operating objectives within the assigned functions.
• Establish disciplined daily management, shift handoffs, visual performance reviews, escalation and follow-through; ensure issues have owners, countermeasures and closure dates.
• Own filling and packaging performance, including schedule attainment, throughput, OEE/line efficiency, changeover execution, staffing and production readiness.
• Manage full-time and contingent labor, overtime and capacity to meet demand while improving productivity and controlling cost.
• Partner with Planning and Compounding to align material availability, bulk readiness, equipment capacity and production schedules; escalate trade-offs before they affect customers.
• Safety, quality and compliance
• Lead a proactive safety culture through floor presence, hazard identification, safe work practices, incident investigation and timely corrective action.
• Ensure operational compliance with applicable GMP, OSHA, customer requirements and documented procedures, including line clearance, material status control, traceability and accurate manufacturing records.
• Partner with Quality to investigate deviations, nonconformances and customer complaints, implement effective CAPA and support audits and regulatory inspections; Quality retains independent quality disposition authority.
• Reduce defects, scrap, rework and process variation through root cause analysis and preventive controls.

Maintenance and Asset Reliability

• Hold Maintenance accountable for preventive maintenance execution, equipment reliability, response to breakdowns and effective prioritization of corrective work.
• Use downtime and failure data to eliminate recurring losses; manage MRO spending, critical spare parts and external service providers.
• Partner with Engineering on equipment upgrades, commissioning, process improvements and capital projects.

Warehouse and Material Flow

• Oversee receiving, storage, inventory control, material staging and shipping to support uninterrupted manufacturing and on-time customer shipments.
• Drive inventory accuracy, cycle count discipline, FIFO/FEFO where applicable, ERP transaction accuracy and GMP-compliant storage and segregation.
• Improve material flow, space utilization, warehouse productivity and timely supply to both Compounding and packaging operations.

Financial Management and Continuous Improvement

• Own departmental budgets and controllable costs, including labor, overtime, maintenance and warehouse expenses; explain variances and implement recovery actions.
• Review performance against established labor and manufacturing standards; partner with Finance and relevant technical teams to validate and improve standards and identify margin opportunities.
• Lead structured continuous improvement using Lean, 5S, standard work, Kaizen, SMED and root cause problem-solving, with measurable and sustained results.
• Develop business cases for equipment, headcount and process investments, including expected return, risks and implementation requirements.

People Leadership and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Hire, coach, develop and hold department leaders accountable through clear goals, regular feedback, performance reviews, training and succession planning.
• Build supervisor capability to solve problems independently, manage performance and engage employees across shifts.
• Provide concise operational reporting, risks and recovery plans to the Site Leader; represent site operations when delegated.
• Partner with customer-facing teams on operational commitments, customer visits and audits; collaborate with other Cohere sites to share effective practices.

Minimum Education & Experience

• 8+ years of progressive manufacturing experience, including substantial leadership experience in a regulated or GMP-controlled environment.
• Demonstrated success leading supervisors or managers and delivering measurable improvements in safety, quality, delivery and cost; experience overseeing multiple operational functions strongly valued.
• Strong working knowledge of manufacturing execution, labor planning, equipment reliability, inventory management and cross-functional scheduling.
• Ability to manage budgets, analyze operating variances, interpret KPIs and develop practical corrective actions and investment proposals.
• Working knowledge of GMP documentation, deviations, CAPA, OSHA requirements and audit readiness.
• Proven Lean/continuous improvement capability and strong floor-based leadership, communication and decision-making skills.
• Proficiency with ERP systems, performance reporting tools and Microsoft Office.
• Bachelor’s degree in operations, engineering, supply chain or related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.

Preferred Knowledge, Certifications, Skills & Abilities

• Previous liquid filling and/or packaging experience preferred.
• Experience in cosmetics, personal care, OTC, pharmaceutical, food, medical device, or other regulated manufacturing environments.
• Advanced training in Quality Control Systems or related disciplines.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish highly desired.

We enthusiastically welcome your application, as we recognize the invaluable perspective, experience, and potential you possess. Apply with us today! Together, we win! #PHX1