Production Operations Lead
24 days ago
Austin
Job Description The Opportunity: Lab Alley, a leading eCommerce chemical distribution company, is seeking a Production Operations Lead to drive efficiency, safety, and compliance across our production and facilities functions. This role is responsible for overseeing down-packing operations, managing automation maintenance, leading automation initiatives, and, in partnership with our Quality team, developing chemical technicians and production capabilities. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in production management, process optimization, and regulatory compliance, ensuring adherence to OSHA and chemical industry standards. This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in a fast-growing company, enhancing operational effectiveness while supporting Lab Alley's mission to deliver high-quality products with safety, precision, and innovation. Essential Responsibilities: Production Operations & Automation Leadership: Responsible for daily production activities, including production planning, down-packing, and workflow optimization, while driving the optimization of automation systems to enhance efficiency, improve product consistency, and reduce labor costs. Partner with inventory control and quality to ensure accuracy, and compliance with safety and quality standards, and stay current on automation technologies to apply them to production processes. Production Scheduling: Responsible for ensuring an optimal amount of product is ready for the Shipping team to package and send to customers. This involves navigating the complexities of diverse chemical types and the varied skill sets of our Chemical technician team. The role requires taking ownership of the down-packing/production schedule, working closely with the Shipping team, Inventory, and Supply Chain, and managing the transition between manual and automated down-packing efforts. Equipment Preventative Maintenance: Oversee the upkeep and performance of production equipment, ensuring it is properly maintained to reduce downtime, and establish and manage a preventative maintenance schedule for optimal functioning. Leadership, Team Development & Continuous Improvement: Along with the QC Inspectors, lead, mentor, and develop the production team, fostering a culture of accountability, safety, and continuous improvement. Drive continuous improvement initiatives, identifying inefficiencies and implementing solutions to streamline workflows, improve throughput, and reduce waste. Provide regular feedback, drive training, recognize achievements, and emphasize Lean, Six Sigma, or other process improvement methodologies to maintain high employee engagement. Lab Alley has multiple certification including Halal, RSPO, Organic, Kosher, ISO9001:2015 and this role will be responsible for the team adhering to requirements. Experience & Knowledge • 3+ years in a production/operations leadership role, preferably in an ecommerce, manufacturing, food production, or CPG environment, • Strong understanding of automation systems and experience implementing or managing automated production lines, • Demonstrated experience with production planning, workflow optimization, and process improvement initiatives, • Knowledge of preventative maintenance programs and experience overseeing production equipment, • Proven leadership and team development skills (e.g., hiring, coaching, performance management), • Working knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, or other process improvement methodologies, • Strong understanding of quality and safety standards in a production setting, • Excellent communication and collaboration skills across cross-functional teams (e.g., inventory, quality, customer care, facilities), • Spanish speaking, • Working knowledge on filling machines, calibration, and trouble shooting, • Background in high-volume or highly regulated industries (e.g., food, pharma, cosmetics, electronics), • Experience working in startup or scale-up environments Inc. 5000 recently awarded/recognized Lab Alley as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America! We are also one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in Austin, TX! We provide easy access to essential chemicals – on-budget, on-time, every time. Think Amazon for Chemicals! Our workplace culture: Our core values are an integral part of our success defining who we are. We bring our core values to life in everything we do at Lab Alley. Therefore, every hire is aligned with our core values: CARE: We care about people and take pride in our work. COMMITMENT: We believe success is characterized by our commitment to continuous improvement. GENUINE: We believe in being real, authentic, and direct with those around us. GROWTH: Lab Alley encourages continual learning and leads with curiosity. INITIATIVE: To be successful, we always strive to make things happen! INNOVATION: Lab Alley is driven by a relentless pursuit of innovation, constantly seeking new ideas, technologies, and approaches to enhance the experiences of our customers. WORK ETHIC: We believe a strong work ethic is about being fully engaged, resilient, and focused on tasks to ensure each project receives attention and consideration. We give back! With every purchase a customer makes through our eCommerce website, we work with Ecodrive to plant a tree. This helps reduce the carbon footprint, improves coastlines, improves socio-economic conditions and so much more. Read more about that here. Benefits Medical Dental Vision Short Term Disability Life & Accidental Death & Dismemberment Supplemental Health Insurance Wellness program Employee discount program 401k Paid time off Organized team events Professional development Career growth opportunities Schedule & reporting details: Full-time 40 hours per week with occasional overtime. 8-5 M-F Lab Alley uses E-Verify for all positions. Lab Alley does a background check for all positions. Reports to Director of Operations Don't meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that members from some under-represented groups are less likely to apply for jobs if they don't meet every single qualification. At Lab Alley, we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles, and we are excited about hearing from you. Lab Alley is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. Please note: Lab Alley is not accepting unsolicited resumes or candidate submissions from staffing agencies for this position. In the absence of a signed agreement with Lab Alley's People Operations leader, no fee will be paid for any candidates submitted by agencies. All unsolicited resumes will be considered the property of Lab Alley. Agencies should not reach out to our team members. To see if we are establishing new relationships with agencies you may send your information to Lab Alley uses E-verify for all hires.