Director of Manufacturing Operations

Company Description

Wonder Veggies is a startup company creating the future of fresh produce. A new category of fresh fruits and vegetables, meeting the growing demand for better gut health. We are developing the first-ever technology and probiotic liquid formulation (including several ingredients) that is sprayed on fruits and vegetables, enriching them with probiotics. With signed commercial agreements, including a leading U.S. based blueberries grower, we are transitioning from lab production to large-scale 3rd party commercial manufacturers in Israel, the U.S., and Europe.

We are looking for an Operations and Manufacturing Director to lead and manage the production scale-up process and operations in Israel and abroad. 

Role Description

The Operations & Manufacturing Director will be responsible for evaluating and selecting 3rd party manufacturers in Israel and abroad, building the manufacturing processes. This includes selecting, on-boarding, and managing co-manufacturers; purchasing the ingredients used in the liquid formulation, translating our R&D processes into robust commercial SOPs; ensuring regulatory compliance; and delivering consistent, high-quality, probiotic liquid formulation at scale. The operation responsibilities include working with our fruits and vegetable customers to validate and implement our probiotic liquid formulation spraying process in their facilities (packing houses and food production facilities). This includes experiments at customers facilities, shipment of our liquid formulation, designing the spraying processes, and managing the technical related aspects pre-and-post sale.

This role is both strategic and hands-on, bridging between R&D, 3rd party manufacturers, supply chain, quality, regulation and customers.

Qualifications

Key Responsibilities

Co-Manufacturer Leadership

• Identify, evaluate, and contract co-manufacturers in Israel, U.S., and EU.
• Lead technical on-boarding, facility audits, line validation, and process capability assessments.
• Build and maintain strong day-to-day relationships with co-manufacturers to ensure service, quality, and timelines.

Scale-Up & Process Transfer

• Translate Wonder Veggies’ probiotic liquid formulation into repeatable, high-volume manufacturing processes.
• Develop and optimize SOPs, batch records, QA protocols, and HACCP plans.
• Run pilot batches, line trials, and full-scale commercial launches.

Quality, Food Safety & Regulation

• Ensure probiotic viability, infusion uniformity, and shelf-life stability in commercial environments.
• Oversee all QA/QC processes, including microbiology testing and environmental monitoring.
• Ensure compliance with global standards (GFSI, BRC, FSMA, EU regulations).
• Manage the regulatory process vis-a-vis regulatory bodies in different countries.

Operational Excellence

• Establish production KPIs, yield targets, cost models, and continuous improvement systems.
• Lead root-cause investigations and corrective actions with co-manufacturers.
• Collaborate with supply chain on raw material management (growers, probiotics, packaging).

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Work closely with R&D, Product, and Commercial teams to support new product formats and launches.
• Coordinate with growers and packers to integrate our probiotic infusion step while preserving product quality.

Requirements

• At least 5 years experience in food ingredients manufacturing management in a large company (e.g. Frutarom, IFF, Turpaz, ICL, Lycored).
• Strong background in co-manufacturing, plant operations. 
• Experience of at least 3 years with cold-chain products, microbiology/QC, and preferably probiotic or functional foods.
• Proven track record in scaling ingredients production process from lab/pilot to commercial scale.
• Understanding of food safety standards and certification systems (BRC, GFSI, HACCP).
• Excellent communication skills and comfort working with external partners. 
• Strong project management and cross-functional leadership abilities.
• Experience in direct and matrix management of employees.
• Strong execution skills and track record scaling up production from.
• Take full ownership, lead with confidence, and deliver results independently.

Why Join Wonder Veggies?

• Be part of creating the future of fresh produce, a new category of probiotic fruits and vegetables.
• Help scale a first-of-its-kind probiotic fresh produce platform.
• Work at the intersection of food-tech, microbiology, and fresh produce innovation.
• Be a core leader shaping global manufacturing as we scale to Israel → U.S. → EU.
• High-ownership role with meaningful impact on product quality, reliability, and commercial success.

To apply, please send an e-mail with the subject line “Director of Operations & Manufacturing”

to: [email protected]

**Only relevant applicants will be contacted**