General Manager – Production

About the company

STAY Naturals manufactures essential oils, oleoresins, isolated active ingredients and oleoresin-based flavour products for food, flavour and personal-care markets. Our factory is located close to the spice-growing regions of Matale in Sri Lanka.

We are seeking a technically strong, hands-on “GM – Production” to lead production, finished-goods blending, engineering and maintenance, laboratory coordination, staff development and continuous improvement. This role requires chemical-engineering knowledge and practical knowledge of spice extraction, steam distillation, blending, packing and plant utilities.

Key responsibilities

• Factory operations and production: Plan and manage daily and shift operations based on orders, raw-material availability and plant capacity. Coordinate production, finished goods, laboratory, stores and maintenance to achieve output, delivery, quality and cost targets.
• Extraction and processing: Controlling distillation and extraction conditions to ensure efficient and effective results.
• Blending and finished goods: Supervise standardization, blending and packing of oleoresins, essential oils, active ingredients and flavours.
• Laboratory and trials: Coordinate sampling and testing, interpret results and resolve non-conforming batches. Plan product-development and scale-up trials for essential oils, oleoresins and isolated active ingredients.
• Engineering and maintenance: Ensure safe, reliable operation and preventive maintenance of all aspects of the plant.
• Improvement, safety and compliance: Monitor yields, solvent loss, energy, labour, waste and rework. Implement improvements using mass balances and root-cause analysis. Enforce GMP, HACCP, FSSC 22000, sanitation, calibration, documentation, solvent & chemical safety, fire protection, PPE and environmental controls.
• People and reporting: Recruit, train and supervise teams; prepare rosters, define responsibilities and assess performance. Maintain accurate batch, stock, maintenance and production records and provide timely reports.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering or chemical and process engineering is mandatory.
• At least seven years of relevant manufacturing experience, including three years in factory, production, plant or operations management.
• Practical knowledge of solvent extraction, distillation, evaporation, recovery, filtration, crystallization, drying and blending, including selection of solvents and conditions for different spices.
• Knowledge of wet (soxhlet/reflux extraction & distillation) and dry (HPLC, GC-FID/HS & UV-spectrophotometry) lab testing essential.
• Strong understanding of mass and energy balances, heat transfer, vacuum systems, fluid flow, separation processes, solvent safety and scale-up.
• Ability to use laboratory results for production, troubleshooting and blending decisions.
• Strong leadership, numerical, problem-solving, documentation and Excel skills, with good written and spoken English.
• Able to work in Palapathwala, Matale and respond to urgent plant issues outside normal hours when required.

Why join us

• Lead a diverse operation producing natural extracts and value-added flavour products.
• Play a central role in plant reliability, process development, new products, expansion and team capability.
• Attractive remuneration based on qualifications, experience and demonstrated capability.

When applying

Send your CV to [email protected] with the subject line “GM – Production”