Production Assistant Operations Manager

About Wonder

Everything’s on the menu at Wonder. Except compromise.

Wonder is the mealtime platform built to feed every craving in one order. With Wonder, you can mix and match hundreds of dishes from 20+ exclusive restaurants in a single order, so everyone gets exactly what they’re craving. Enjoy everything from tacos to Thai with $0 delivery fees, plus dine-in or pick up at a Wonder location near you. Each dish is made to order on-site by our culinary team and served hot.

Behind the scenes, Wonder owns and operates every step of the dining experience, from recipe development to the technology that powers our experience, allowing us to deliver quality, variety, and consistency at scale.

Join us as we work to make great food more accessible.

About the role

The Production Assistant Operations Manager supports daily culinary production operations within a high-volume food manufacturing and distribution environment. This role helps ensure the safe, efficient, and accurate execution of production workflows, including ingredient staging, preparation, cooking, assembly, packaging, and handoff to warehouse and logistics teams. 

The Production Assistant Operations Manager provides hands-on leadership to production teams while supporting the Operations Manager in aligning labor, production capacity, food safety, quality, and operational priorities with business needs. This role is responsible for driving consistent shift execution, maintaining product integrity, coaching associates, and supporting seamless coordination across culinary production, warehouse staging, and outbound distribution. 

The Production Assistant Operations Manager is expected to lead from the floor, identify and escalate operational barriers, use available data to support decision-making, and reinforce a culture of accountability, safety, continuous improvement, and team engagement. Up to and including completing all other duties as assigned. 

This role operates within a culinary production facility and warehouse environment where associates are exposed to food preparation equipment, refrigerated storage areas, and fast-paced production workflows. Strict adherence to safety, sanitation, and food handling standards is required.

Responsibilities

Production Leadership & Daily Execution 

• Support daily culinary production operations across ingredient staging, preparation, cooking, assembly, packaging, labeling, and finished goods transfer to warehouse

• Execute assigned production schedules, ensuring recipes, batch quantities, production timelines, quality expectations, and shipment requirements are achieved

• Provide direct leadership, coaching, and direction to production associates across assigned workstreams and shifts

• Coordinate production workflow across prep, cook, assembly, packaging, and staging teams to maintain consistent operational flow

• Conduct regular floor walks to assess food quality, production output, labor deployment, safety, and operational efficiency

• Identify production constraints and operational risks, resolve issues within scope, and escalate barriers to the Operations Manager as appropriate

• Lead shift huddles and team communications to reinforce production targets, safety expectations, staffing priorities, and business updates

• Support appropriate leadership coverage and operational continuity throughout the shift

Production Planning & Operational Coordination 

• Partner with the Operations Manager, Supply Chain, Warehouse, Quality, and Logistics teams to execute production schedules aligned with forecasted demand and outbound shipment requirements

• Support translation of production forecasts into actionable staffing, labor, equipment, ingredient, and capacity needs

• Monitor ingredient availability, preparation timelines, equipment capacity, and packaging requirements and escalate risks that may impact production targets

• Support production-to-warehouse handoffs, ensuring finished goods are properly labeled, scanned, staged, and available for distribution

• Proactively communicate production delays, ingredient shortages, staffing gaps, equipment constraints, or quality concerns and support timely resolution

• Provide input into production forecasting, staffing alignment, and capacity planning based on shift-level observations and performance

• Adjust shift execution in real time, within established direction, to respond to changing business needs while minimizing operational disruption, waste, and service impact

Team Leadership & Development 

• Directly lead, coach, and develop production associates and leads within assigned areas

• Reinforce clear performance expectations and ensure associates consistently execute company policies, operational standards, and production procedures

• Build team capability through regular coaching, feedback, cross-training, and performance conversations

• Hold associates accountable for performance, attendance, food safety, quality, and operational execution in partnership with the Operations Manager

• Partner with the Operations Manager and HR on associate development, coaching, progressive discipline, performance management, and employee relations matters

• Support onboarding, training, and development programs for production associates and emerging leaders

• Identify high-performing talent and support cross-training, skill development, and internal growth opportunities

• Foster a positive and inclusive culture focused on accountability, collaboration, engagement, and operational excellence

Food Safety, Compliance & Quality Control 

• Ensure consistent execution of food safety and quality standards throughout assigned production areas

• Ensure strict adherence to applicable FDA, HACCP, sanitation, allergen management, food handling, and company food safety requirements

• Complete and verify required food safety checks, including temperature monitoring, allergen controls, sanitation verification, and production documentation

• Maintain accountability for proper PPE, hygiene, sanitation, and safe food handling practices

• Ensure incidents, quality deviations, food safety concerns, and compliance gaps are appropriately documented, escalated, and addressed

• Partner with Quality and Safety teams during audits, inspections, corrective action follow-up, and continuous improvement activities

• Take timely corrective action when food safety, quality, or operational standards are not met and escalate significant concerns

Production Efficiency, Labor & Inventory Coordination 

• Support production performance across labor productivity, production output, yields, waste, quality, and operational efficiency

• Deploy staffing and labor within assigned areas based on production demand and operational priorities

• Monitor labor utilization and make shift-level adjustments to support productivity while maintaining food safety, quality, and service expectations

• Monitor ingredient usage, production yields, waste, scrap, and product damage and escalate trends or opportunities for improvement

• Partner with inventory and warehouse teams to support ingredient availability, rotation, and FIFO standards

• Support cycle counts, ingredient reconciliation, and inventory processes that contribute to accurate production planning

• Identify root causes of production inefficiencies and support implementation of sustainable corrective actions

• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives focused on productivity, cost, waste reduction, quality, and operational consistency

Performance Management & Operational Metrics 

• Monitor key production KPIs, including production output, labor productivity, waste, yields, quality compliance, safety, and schedule attainment

• Use operational data and floor observations to identify trends, risks, and opportunities and recommend appropriate actions

• Reinforce daily and weekly performance expectations for production associates and assigned workstreams

• Review shift results with the Operations Manager and complete appropriate follow-up when performance expectations are not achieved

• Provide timely production updates and communicate operational risks, recovery needs, and opportunities to production leadership

• Ensure assigned corrective actions and continuous improvement activities are completed and sustained

Communication & Cross-Functional Partnership 

• Maintain strong partnerships across Production, Warehouse, Quality, Safety, Supply Chain, Logistics, HR, and other operational teams

• Participate in daily operational reviews, production planning meetings, staffing discussions, and business reviews as appropriate

• Ensure production priorities, business changes, staffing needs, and operational risks are communicated clearly to assigned teams

• Partner cross-functionally to resolve issues that impact production capacity, product quality, labor, or outbound service

• Support facility-wide initiatives, audits, change management efforts, and company-wide process improvements

Leadership Expectations

• Provide clear direction, priorities, and expectations while fostering ownership and accountability; coach associates and leads in problem-solving and standard work, and build a strong talent bench through coaching, cross-training, and development opportunities

• Maintain a visible presence across production operations by monitoring workflows, safety, quality, and performance; remove barriers and rebalance work as needed while modeling the urgency, professionalism, and attention to detail expected of production leadership

• Set clear expectations and hold associates accountable through consistent standards, timely coaching and documentation, appropriate progressive discipline, and follow-through on corrective actions to drive sustainable performance improvement

• Provide actionable feedback and development opportunities, identify high-potential talent, and foster a culture of coaching, learning, accountability, and continuous improvement

• Foster a respectful, collaborative, and accountable culture by recognizing strong performance, reinforcing safety, quality, and teamwork, and addressing behaviors that negatively impact engagement or operational excellence

• Translate production priorities into clear expectations, maintain consistent cross-shift communication, and promptly communicate and escalate operational changes, risks, staffing gaps, and safety concerns while keeping the Operations Manager informed of shift performance

• Own assigned production areas, team engagement, food safety, quality, and shift execution by making data-driven decisions, proactively addressing risks, and driving change, process improvement, and continuous operational improvement

Qualifications 

• At least two years of lead, supervisor, assistant manager, or related leadership experience in food production, manufacturing, or high-volume culinary operations

• Experience leading frontline teams in a fast-paced operation

• Demonstrated experience supporting high-volume production operations and multiple workstreams

• Working knowledge of production workflows, labor deployment, food safety requirements, quality standards, and operational KPIs

• HACCP or other recognized food safety certification preferred

• Demonstrated ability to coach teams, reinforce standards, and drive performance accountability. Experience using operational data and floor observations to identify issues and support problem-solving

• Strong communication, organizational, decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration skills

• Experience with production scheduling tools, inventory systems, WMS platforms, or similar operational systems preferred

• Ability to effectively prioritize and make decisions in a fast-paced, changing production environment

• Bilingual preferred

Requirements

• 18 years old and legally authorized to work in the US

• Able to lift, pull, and push 50 pounds of weight by oneself

• Able to stand for extended periods

• Able to move throughout a large production and warehouse environment

• Able to bend, reach, and operate production equipment

• Ability to read and comprehend safety policies and operational manuals in English; ability to communicate effectively with team members and follow verbal instructions to ensure a safe and productive work environment

• Ability to work flexible schedules, including mornings, nights, weekends, and holidays

• Ability to work in varying temperature zones including cold environments for extended periods

*This list of qualifications and requirements also reflects the qualifications and requirements used as vetting criteria for our AEDT (Automated Employment Decision Tool)

Role Details

• Salary Range: $62000 per year - $71500 per year

• Location: Swedesboro, New Jersey

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

• 100% employer-paid Life Insurance

• 401(k) Retirement Plan

• Employer match for Health Savings Account (HSA)

• Learning and Development opportunities to advance your career 

• Employee Stock 

• Employee Discount

Note: Some of our benefits vary by state and depend on the number of hours you work.

Wonder uses an AEDT in its hiring process. Click here for more information.

At Wonder, we build the best teams by hiring with an objective lens — evaluating people for their potential while championing diversity, equity, and inclusion. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, military service eligibility, veteran status, marital status, disability, or any other protected class. As part of our commitment to fair and compliant hiring practices, Wonder participates in the federal government's E-Verify program to confirm employment eligibility.