Project Manager, Production

Our client is a globally celebrated, multi-billion dollar agricultural conglomerate and a premier market leader in premium food, grain, and protein supply chain solutions. Serving as a crucial pillar in regional food security and high-quality food distribution, they are launching an exciting, high-growth downstream business initiative in Malaysia. This venture focuses on establishing a state-of-the-art, small-to-medium scale central processing kitchen dedicated to providing custom-portion, value-added protein solutions to premium restaurant chains, hospitality clients, and B2B culinary partners.

The Project Manager / Production Specialist will hold full "greenfield-to-run" operational accountability for this new downstream venture. In the initial phase, you will drive the physical setup of the facility—from scouting locations and defining optimized shopfloor layouts to securing municipal licenses, sourcing advanced meat-cutting equipment, and establishing standard cold-chain protocols. Once operational, you will transition into a hands-on plant manager, directing daily butchery production, ensuring premium quality/portion consistency, leading a technical production crew, and managing seamless logistics to B2B clients.

1. Greenfield Facility Setup & Launch Management

• Site Acquisition & Licensing: Identify, evaluate, and secure an optimal light-industrial space or commercial central kitchen. Manage the end-to-end municipal licensing, environmental, and health department certification processes.
  

• Layout Design: Plan and execute a highly efficient, hygienic facility layout (defining clear zones for raw intake, cutting stations, flash-freezing, dry/cold storage, packaging, and sanitization).
  

• Equipment Procurement: Source, negotiate, and oversee the installation of advanced protein-processing machinery, specialized cutting tools, cold storage rooms, and vacuum-packaging stations.
  

2. Production Management, Portioning & Quality Control

• Butchery Execution: Oversee and establish strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) for high-yield meat cutting, slicing, custom portioning, and handling.
  

• Workflow Optimization: Direct daily production schedules to ensure the timely fulfillment of specialized B2B customer orders while keeping waste/scrap rates to an absolute minimum.
  

• Portion Standardization: Enforce rigorous portion-control and cut-consistency standards to maintain the premium reputation of the brand.
  

3. Food Safety, Compliance & Cold-Chain Integrity

• Regulatory Compliance: Establish, monitor, and enforce strict hygiene, sanitization, and food safety standards based on HACCP, GMP, and local Halal guidelines.
  

• Cold-Chain Maintenance: Ensure absolute temperature control and cold-chain validation across raw material receiving, in-process cutting, final packaging, and delivery.
  

• Audit Readiness: Build a culture of absolute cleanliness, keeping the plant permanently ready for sudden regulatory, client, or internal safety audits.
  

4. Supply Chain, Inventory & B2B Fulfillment

• Inventory Control: Monitor and manage raw material buffer stocks and finished goods inventory levels to prevent outages or excess waste.
  

• Logistics Alignment: Partner with the Sales and Logistics teams to coordinate delivery schedules, managing lead times to guarantee that restaurant clients receive freshly prepared orders on schedule.
  

5. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Crew Recruitment: Recruit, hire, and onboard a skilled, disciplined production team, including specialized butchers, kitchen assistants, and packers.
  

• Skills Training: Train, coach, and evaluate staff on safe machine handling, precise knife skills, defensive cutting safety, and strict hygiene protocols.
  

Education & Domain Expertise

• Education: Diploma or Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, Hospitality, Culinary Arts, or a related technical discipline.
  

• Industrial Background: Minimum of 5+ years of hands-on operational experience within a meat-processing plant, commercial butchery operation, high-output central kitchen, or food manufacturing facility.
  

• Technical Mastery: Deep, practical knowledge of commercial butchery, protein portion-control systems, cold storage engineering, vacuum-packaging technology, and high-yield cutting equipment.
  

• Compliance Foundations: Solid understanding of food safety management structures, local municipal health regulations, HACCP principles, and local Halal compliance requirements.
  

Personal & Leadership Attributes

• The "Builder" Mindset: Proven track record or strong capacity for setting up a food facility or production line from scratch (including layout design and machinery sourcing).
  

• Hands-on execution: A leader who thrives on the processing floor, willing to roll up their sleeves, work alongside the team, and physically validate quality standards (not a desktop-only role).
  

• Agility & Problem Solving: Extremely resilient, resourceful, and capable of operating successfully in a fast-paced, high-autonomy startup environment.