Plant Operations Manager

Senior Production/Mechanical Engineer

Optimizing Agricultural Feed Production | Expert in Drying & Dehydration Systems | Scaling AgTech Ops in Rural Settings

Location: On-site, Philippines

Type: Full-time

Start: Immediate

About the role

We need to turn fresh duckweed into a stable, high-quality feed meal at the lowest possible cost. Your job is to build and run the full production line from pond cultivation to finished dried

product. This includes cultivation, harvesting, dewatering, drying, quality control, and day-to-

day plant operations. You will help design a system that can scale to multiple sites.

What you will do

Build a reliable, cost-effective cultivation, drying and processing flow.

Design and operate harvesting, dewatering, drying and storage setups.

Oversee harvesting, drying and processing operations.

Create the workflow from inoculation to harvest to drying to storage.

Track labor productivity and improve throughput.

Maintain quality control for moisture, cleanliness, and protein retention.

Work with the plant science lead to match growth cycles with processing capacity.

Prepare the site for scale up and replication.

What you must bring

Strong background in feed processing, agricultural processing, or mechanical

engineering.

Experience with farm design and management, aquaculture and drying systems, or low-

temperature dehydration equipment.

Practical operations experience in a farm, factory, or plant environment. Ability to design efficient systems that work in rural and low-resource settings.

A problem-solver who can build quick prototypes and refine them fast.

Degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Key goals for the first 90 days

Build a drying setup that brings moisture from 90 percent to 10 percent within safe time

limits.

Lower drying cost per kg.

Create the cultivation, harvest and processing SOP for the pilot site.

Build the operational schedule for pond cycles.

Reduce losses from rot, mold, and handling.

KPIs

Drying time per batch

Final moisture content accuracy and consistency.

Drying cost per kg of output.

Processing throughput per day.

Percentage of harvested biomass successfully dried without spoilage.

Labor efficiency per kg processed.

SOP compliance and repeatability across shifts.