Technical Operations Manager

Location: Remote

Who We Are: Banza reimagines your favorite comfort foods, like pasta, pizza, mac & cheese, and waffles, using chickpeas. Why? Because we know chickpeas aren't just delicious, they're also one of the most nutritious and sustainable foods. Yet 80% of the country isn't eating enough of them. Our mission is to inspire people to eat more chickpeas and other beans, making a positive impact on human health and the environment. Banza is the fastest-growing pasta brand in the country, and our products are available in 27,000 stores nationwide. We've been named one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of the Year, Adweek's Best Food Brand, and are proud to have fans at Good Morning America, The New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and more.

Your Mission: The Banza Operations team procures our ingredients, coordinates our manufacturing, handles retail orders, and delivers products to grocers and customers far and wide. As demand for Banza grows, we must continuously adapt our systems to accommodate. Not only are we innovating on the frontier of pasta, but we are also building a flexible and world-class supply chain across all our categories. We are seeking a highly motivated Technical Operations Manager to oversee and optimize operational processes in our food production and distribution network. This role requires a hands-on leader who can bridge the gap between production, quality, compliance, and supply chain efficiency. The Technical Operations Manager will play a critical role in ensuring our products are produced, packaged, and delivered with the highest standards of safety, quality, and efficiency.

What You'll Do:

• Operational Excellence & Process Improvement: Lead production and operations improvement projects/activities to ensure efficiency, consistency, and adherence to company goals. Identify bottlenecks and implement continuous improvement strategies across manufacturing operations. Partner with Finance to model cost structures and identify margin improvement opportunities.
• Quality & Compliance: Partner with QA to implement and oversee CAPAs at ingredient suppliers and 3PL partners.
• Product and Packaging Development: Partner with R&D and Supply Chain team for new product development activities (e.g. production trials, supplier selection, and costing). Work closely with external vendors and internal teams to build packaging structures and configurations.
• Project Management: Support product launches, manage ingredient changes, and ensure smooth scaling of operations at internal and external manufacturing locations.
• Supplier Management: Build strong relationships with contract manufacturers and suppliers ensuring alignment on service levels, quality, and cost efficiency. Participate in selection and onboarding of contract manufacturers, co-packers, and ingredient suppliers.
• Data & Performance Tracking: Develop and manage KPIs for production efficiency, cost reduction, manufacturer performance, and on-time delivery.
  
  

Who You Are:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Science
• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing or quality management within the CPG industry, ideally in food manufacturing
• Prior experience with manufacturing scale up, contract manufacturing integration, and cost improvement.
• Skilled in data-driven decision-making, with proficiency in Excel, ERP systems, or other operational management tools
• Adept at identifying inefficiencies and implementing scalable solutions to optimize manufacturing operations, quality, and cost
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and external stakeholders
• Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on problem-solving
• Ability to travel 25%+ of the year
• Passion for what Banza is doing!
  
  

To Apply: Write a cover letter describing why you want to join Banza and why you would be an excellent fit for this role (yes, we actually read every cover letter!) and then apply directly to this posting. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

We're aware of the research showing that historically underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for a job if they don't believe that they meet all of the criteria. Do you hesitate to submit an application because you believe you need to check every box? Please apply anyway with a thoughtful cover letter! We would love to hear from you to discuss how you can help us build a great team at Banza.

Compensation: Our salary ranges are based on verified market data and our philosophy of paying competitively for our size and industry. Individual pay rate decisions are based on a number of factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, geographical location and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company. We expect the majority of the candidates who are offered roles at our company to fall within the range based on these factors. The salary band for this role is $95,000 - $125,000. The range is for the expectations as laid out in the job description; however, we are often open to a wide variety of profiles and locations. Any updates to the salary range or considerations based on your experience and location will be communicated to you as a candidate.

Perks and Benefits:

• Equity in Banza
• Annual Bonus
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance starting day 1: Banza pays 80% of the monthly premiums for employees and 70% for dependents
• One Medical Membership
• Short Term Disability and Life Insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Commuter Benefits
• 401(k)
• Paid Time Off: 20 vacation days, 10 holidays, 6 sick days, 2 personal days, a birthday day off, and a 7+ week sabbatical after 5 continuous years of employment.
• Extended Leave: Short-Term Disability, Parental Leave, and other Paid Family Leave. Support provided by our end-to-end leave management partner, Sparrow
• New Parents: 12 weeks of paid parental leave plus additional optional leave time to add, and 4 weeks of flexible return to work arrangements.
• Breast milk shipping service for traveling team members provided by Milk Stork
• Monthly fitness, internet and phone stipends
• Monthly lunch stipend to encourage team member connection
• Annual education stipend
• Home office set-up stipend
• Unlimited Pasta, Rice & Mac
• $500 annual stipend to purchase our pizza and waffles, wherever they're sold
• Quarterly snack box for remote employees
• Lively NYC office stocked with snacks and beverages
• Quarterly in-person and remote events
  
  

Our Commitment: Banza is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. To achieve our mission of inspiring people to eat more chickpeas and other beans, we greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which comes from diversity of all types, at all levels of the organization. Facilitating diversity and inclusion is the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with all abilities, people of color, and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

Banza is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. Banza will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories consistent with legal requirements.

Banza participates in E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States. As a participating employer, we provide the federal government with Form I-9 information to verify work authorization. For more information about E-Verify, please visit www.e-verify.gov.