Senior Operations Manager - Onsite

About Antelope:

Antelope is an omnichannel pet consumer platform that was founded in August 2021 with the mission to elevate the lives of pets by delivering the highest quality products across all pet products and services via a buy-and-build strategy. “Ante” means to increase the stakes or consideration of, and “lope” means to leap with bounding steps together. Antelope is elevating the standards of pet care by buying, building, and growing high-quality, natural pet brands. The company is backed by Alpine Investors and have made five acquisitions so far (Bocce’s Bakery, Diggin’ Your Dog / Super Snouts, Doggo, My Perfect Pet and Ark Naturals), and they’re just getting started! Antelope has plans to acquire 5-15 additional all-natural, high-quality brands to become the one-stop shop for pet parents.

Overview:

Antelope is hiring a Sr. Operations Manager for our My Perfect Pet manufacturing facility and office.  This role will own the daily operation of the Sulphur Springs facility. You’ll run the production schedule end-to-end, lead the floor team, keep SOPs tight, and deliver safe, high-quality product on time, every time—while driving continuous improvement in safety, quality, cost, and service. This is an on-the-floor leadership role with full accountability for people, plan, and performance. This role will be full-time and onsite.

Responsibilities:

• Own daily plant operations, hit plan, minimize downtime, and lead tiered huddles and escalations
• Run the master schedule, build and sequence runs, adjust to demand and inventory, and cut changeover time
• Orchestrate cross-functional readiness, align Production, QA, Maintenance, and Supply Chain on materials, line status, utilities, and equipment
• Lead and develop teams, coach supervisors and crews, staff and schedule effectively, manage overtime, and address performance quickly
• Standardize work, keep SOPs current and enforced, and train for consistency and compliance
• Comply with all regulations, maintain FDA and USDA adherence, implement HACCP and GMP programs, and pass audits with timely CAPA
• Own food safety programs, manage sanitation and MSS, enforce allergen control and EMP, and maintain traceability with complete documentation
• Protect people and planet, ensure OSHA compliance and safety training, investigate incidents, drive environmental practices and waste reduction, and execute emergency response
• Manage by the numbers, track throughput, yields, quality, labor, and cost, analyze trends, and drive Lean and CI to remove waste
• Control spend and assets, manage budgets and resource utilization, and oversee capital projects and equipment upgrades
• Maximize OEE and uptime, partner with Maintenance and CMMS to raise preventive-maintenance compliance, reduce unplanned downtime, and accelerate changeovers using SMED
• Tighten ERP and records discipline, enforce real-time production reporting, maintain clean lot and trace data, complete variance reviews, and deliver inventory accuracy finance trusts

Qualifications:

• Minimum 8 years of operations management experience in manufacturing environment, preferably in food, pet food, or consumer products
• Proven track record of managing teams of 15+ employees with multiple supervisory layers
• Strong understanding of FDA, USDA, HACCP, GMP, and food safety regulations
• Proficiency in ERP systems, production planning software, and Microsoft Office Suite
• Experience in regulated manufacturing environment with quality and safety requirements
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with ability to make data-driven decisions
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with ability to interface with all organizational levels