Grounded is both a women- and family-run business. Our goal is to create healthy, sustainable homes through safer, eco-friendly products. Made in Kenya.

What You’ll Do:

• Manage the Production Team
• Serve as team leader and people manager, with ~10 direct reports in the roles of

Production Operators and Associates.

• Recruit and onboard new production team members as per agreement with management.
• Conduct regular training, task rotations, and performance reviews to support the development of the team.
• Ensure sufficient supply of product
• Collaborate with the demand planner to ensure proper scheduling of procurement and production to meet market demand. Set daily and weekly plans.
• Ensure there is enough product in the pipeline (WIP and F/G) to sustain demand.
• Support the team KPI: no partial fulfillments.
• Support procurement in ensuring a sufficient supply of inputs in the factory at all times KPI: no line-down.
• Ensure production inputs are taken care of, accounted for suitably, and used appropriately in production.
• Daily, Weekly, and Monthly meetings, involving multiple stakeholders

Production Fundamentals

• Produce and maintain production documentation, such as master recipes, work instructions, process flow charts, batch sheets, and change management records.
• Supervise all technical work in production. Ensure adherence to recipes, controls, and quality standards.
• Identify and present process bottlenecks. Evaluate the impact of process improvements, using cycle time analysis.
• Ensure accurate and detailed reporting on production, with a focus on targets vs actuals, recipe adherence, quality adherence, and finished good presentation
• Responsible for compliance of the facility and equipment — OSH, NEMA, KEPRO, calibration, etc.

Drive Continuous Improvement

• Identify needs and present solutions for growth and efficiency improvements.
• Actively participate in increasing Gross Margin through cost-down and yield improvement projects.
• Improve efficiency and safety in the factory.
• Prepare for all aspects of Production for growth – team, equipment, raw material storage, and utilities.
• Understand the capacity of the production floor and initiate projects to unlock more capacity.

What You’ll Need:

• Education: BSc. in Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, or a related subject. Equivalent experience is also accepted.
• Experience: 4-+ years cleaning-focused companies with a track record in manufacturing success.
• Strong understanding of quality and safety certifications (including KEBS) and corresponding formulation requirements.
• Strong knowledge of ingredient efficacy; formulation of liquid and solid products; analytical chemistry; user-centered design; and consumer insights.
• Excellent communication skills, discussing and describing data-related analysis, and ability to work with team members across different departments
• Experience and high capacity in managing multiple assignments at the same time and delivering high-quality outputs.

What does success look like:

• Ensuring the production team follows the plan and produces high-quality products.
• Ensuring there are no partial fulfillments by having enough products in the pipeline.
• Promptly communicating low stock of production inputs to the procurement team.
• Leading the team in doing an accurate stock count of production inputs, with the goal of zero
• discrepancies. If discrepancy, promptly support the Production Manager and Accountant in resolving the issue.
• Aware of COGS and thinking through how to reduce the cost of production.
• Supporting Production Manager in thinking through capacity building.