Management & Leadership Jobs in Pōkeno, New Zealand (Now Hiring) — 7 open

Our Story:

The a2 Milk Company, driven by science and a pioneering spirit, disrupted the dairy and infant milk formula industry. Our vision is to create an A1-free world where dairy nourishes all people and our planet.

The a2 Milk Company seeks to achieve this through the naturally occurring a2 Milk® difference and by bringing a more sustainable approach to dairy.

About the role:

Reporting to the Plant General Manager, and based at our Pōkeno manufacturing site, you will provide senior technical leadership across the formulation, manufacture, commercialisation and optimisation of infant formula and dairy nutritional powder products.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role, working closely with Product Development, Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory, Procurement and Supply Chain to translate product formulations and technical requirements into robust, compliant and commercially scalable manufacturing outcomes.

You will play a key role in new product commercialisation, factory trials, scale-up, validation, technical problem solving and continuous improvement, while building technical capability across the site.

A key component of the role will be leading the site's technical readiness for China infant formula registration and SAMR requirements, ensuring strong alignment between registration requirements and actual site manufacturing practices.

More specifically, you will be involved in:

• Leading site-based technical R&D activities across infant formula and dairy nutritional powder products.
• Leading product commercialisation, factory trials, scale-up, validation and transfer of new and changed products into routine manufacture.
• Providing technical expertise and hands-on support to manufacturing teams, resolving product, process and performance issues.
• Ensuring formulations, recipes, specifications, process parameters and technical requirements are translated into robust manufacturing outcomes.
• Leading technical readiness for China infant formula registration, including trial execution, validation evidence, technical documentation and inspection preparedness.
• Ensuring registration-to-site consistency across recipes, raw materials, specifications, process parameters, batch records and manufacturing practices.
• Driving technical continuous improvement focused on product quality, process capability, manufacturing performance and cost outcomes.
• Working collaboratively with Quality, Regulatory, Product Development, Procurement and Supply Chain to manage technical risks, changes and new materials.
• Leading and developing technical specialists and building site capability in R&D, commercialisation, process understanding and infant formula manufacturing.

What you will bring:

We are looking for an experienced technical leader who combines strong scientific and manufacturing expertise with a practical, hands-on approach. You will ideally bring:

• 10+ years' experience within dairy, infant formula, nutritional powders, functional foods or pharmaceutical-style food manufacturing.
• A tertiary qualification in Food Technology, Food Science, Dairy Science, Chemical/Process Engineering, Nutrition, Chemistry or a related technical discipline.
• Proven experience in infant formula or dairy nutritional powder manufacturing, ideally within a regulated export manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience with China Registration and SAMR requirements for infant formula or dairy nutritional products.
• Strong technical understanding of wet processing, evaporation, spray drying, dry blending, canning/packing and finished powder performance.
• Proven experience in product scale-up, factory trials, validation, troubleshooting and commercialisation.
• Strong understanding of how formulation, ingredients, process parameters and manufacturing conditions influence product performance and finished product quality.
• Experience preparing and reviewing technical documentation, including validation reports, technical risk assessments, specifications, manufacturing instructions and trial protocols.
• Strong knowledge of GMP, HACCP, food safety, change control and regulatory compliance.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret process, product and quality data.
• A collaborative leadership style and the ability to build strong relationships across technical, manufacturing and corporate teams.
• A hands-on approach, with the confidence to work directly with teams on the manufacturing floor and turn technical requirements into practical outcomes.

Experience working with China-market infant formula products, supporting SAMR audits or inspections, and Mandarin language capability would be advantageous.