Discover the ultimate blueprint for hiring & keeping top talent

Operations Recruiters

Need help hiring operations and staff leadership?

Mangrum Solutions can help you build a best-in-class operations team, one great hire at a time.

Unleash Your Hiring Success

Our operations recruitment vertical is all about placing transformational leaders across every type of manufacturing environment. Whether it’s family-owned businesses, private equity-owned companies, divisions of larger corporations, or startups, we’ve got you covered. Need strategic executives to drive growth, optimize operations, or lead through change? We’re on it. We specialize in headhunting top talent for roles that report into manufacturing leadership, ensuring you get the perfect fit for your unique needs.

Crafting Strategic Operations Solutions

Mangrum Solutions is your go-to for partial-to-fully retained searches, recruiting top-tier operational talent from middle management to the executive C-suite. We dive deep into your specific hiring needs and help you recruit leaders who’ll take your organization’s top line to new heights. Our team is constantly in the loop, attending trade shows, joining key associations, and staying sharp with the latest manufacturing news. We get the industry, know the competitors, and bring you the crème de la crème of operational leaders.

Curating Your Operations Dream Team

We offer partial and fully retained searches to bring you experts with the right mix of functional know-how, leadership skills, and strategic vision. Our recruiters engage with operational leaders who are ready to tackle your specific challenges and drive your business forward. We focus on:

  • Operations Management: Leading daily operations to ensure efficiency and productivity.
  • Manufacturing Leadership: Overseeing production processes and driving continuous improvement.
  • Finance Management: Optimizing financial performance and ensuring fiscal responsibility.
  • General Management: Providing overall leadership and strategic direction.
  • Quality Assurance: Implementing and maintaining high standards across all operations.
  • Business Development: Driving growth through strategic partnerships and market expansion.
  • Sales & Marketing: Leading sales strategies and marketing initiatives to boost revenue.

Expertise in Operational Best Practices

Leverage our powerhouse bench of operational experts who know best practices inside and out. We’ll help you integrate transformational leaders seamlessly into your organization. We fill positions nationwide and handle difficult locations and relocation situations like pros. Don’t settle – hire the best talent available for your unique needs. We can help you top-grade underperformers with confidential job searches or build out your leadership team as you grow. Our executive search firm is here to meet your critical hiring needs, all backed by our 5-Year Replacement Program.

Partnering for Long-Term Success

Our commitment goes beyond just filling positions. We build lasting partnerships to ensure your sustained success. By truly understanding your business needs and challenges, we provide continuous support and insights to keep your operations running smoothly. Our holistic approach ensures each hire not only fits the role but also aligns with your company’s culture and strategic goals.

Contact us today for a consultation and start building your operations dream team!

Ready for true hiring success?

We make it easy and we don’t pressure you. Promise!

01

Schedule a Call

Click below and pick a time that works best for you

02

Discuss your Needs

Enjoy an informative call where we discuss your current hiring situation and strategy

03

Relax & Wait

We’ll shortlist you targeted, vetted, and interested professionals for you to interview

We recruit across the operations sector

We headhunt for small-to-mid sized industrial manufacturers nationwide. From privately held to family-owned manufacturers, and divisions of publicly traded organizations to private equity owned or venture-backed companies, our recruitment expertise spans multiple industrial manufacturing verticals. Some of the types of positions we can help you recruit for include:

We recruit operations leaders from management through executive levels with expertise in

  • Performance management
  • Operational excellence
  • Restructuring / reorganization
  • Turnaround solutions
  • Due Diligence / acquisitions / integrations
  • Company growth & expansion
  • Cultural change
  • Full profit and loss responsibilities
  • Multiple plants / facilities
  • International location management
  • Other specialized operational needs

Our happy customers love their operations recruiting success

Why choose Mangrum Solutions?

5 year replacement program

5 year replacement program

We want to earn your trust. One way we do this is by standing behind our placements with a 5 Year Replacement Program. This gives you confidence that our top priority is a great fit!

Save time & energy

Save time & energy

We know you are busy and you need to partner with an expert who will manage the critical task of sourcing and delivering you exceptional operational talent so you can focus on what you do best.

Strong bench of talent

Strong bench of talent

With our vast nationwide network of operational talent we can help you acquire hidden talent you won’t find on job boards or through contingency search.

Customized approach

Customized approach

Whether you are looking for local talent or expect to relocate, we have a strong nationwide database of operations leaders we can recruit from. We get to know our clients and customize our strategy for each unique search situation.

High-tech and high-touch

High-tech and high-touch

Success comes when you leverage the right resources and tools. We combine the most highly effective technology available with next-gen headhunting techniques to help you hire the best.

Integrity and excellence

Integrity and excellence

We believe in doing things right. We adhere to the National Association of Personnel Services’ (NAPS) commitment to recruitment excellence, and we stay in compliance with laws and best business practices.

Our proprietary recruitment process

Our specialty search utilizes an extensive and customizable proprietary process to help us find and engage the right talent for your search. Here is a high-level overview of our search process:

01

Gain extensive company and cultural understanding

02

Perform a deep dive into the position specs

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Customize an in-depth talent sourcing strategy

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Pursue, interview and engage targeted talent

05

Present candidate summaries with valuable insights

06

Facilitate interviews and communication

07

Manage from negotiations through acceptance

08

Post-hire check-ins to assist in integration

Ready for true hiring success?

Schedule a call

Are you looking for an operations position?

Search and apply for various operational positions including roles in general & plant management, procurement, purchasing, materials management, manufacturing, production, quality, lean, human resources, finance, and more.

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Frequently asked questions about operations recruiting

We’ve been conducting operations searches since we were founded in 2009. We understand the key players and are constantly expanding our bench of high-performing operations experts. We support a strong network of manufacturing leaders through our MVP Group and we stay abreast of various trade materials and resources. 

In addition to our strong internal database of operations leaders, we have access to many more through our Recruiter network and the myriad of paid research and database tools. When we begin a search, we customize our proprietary search process to the unique needs of your position. We strategize on which tools and resources we need to utilize to ensure no stone is left unturned in our search for the right operations talent for your position.

Every client asks this question, and my answer is always the same. It depends on the hiring managers involved, the complexity of the search, and the market. Barring any complications, an average search takes between 4 – 6 weeks and we pace ourselves based on the speed and urgency of our client and how quickly they communicate and move our candidates through their interviewing process. If a client has a long and drawn-out process, it will take longer to complete a search. If they are decisive and their process is efficient, it can happen much quicker. It is not uncommon for a search to only take a few weeks, but it’s also not uncommon for a search to take several months. 

During our discovery call, we will do our best to provide you with an educated estimate of what we expect the timeline to take. We try to set realistic expectations as there are many factors outside our control that can affect the timeline.

We start each search with a detailed discovery call. We want to fully understand the needs of our client, the details of the position, and the culture of the company. This call can take up to an hour, but it sets the foundation for a partnership that allows us to get to know the company at a deep level so we can effectively present operations talent that will have not only the skills required, but who also blend in well with the team’s chemistry for a long-term fit. 

After the initial conversation our team meets to strategize our specific approach to the search. We take our extensive proprietary search process and curate it to ensure it will be as effective and efficient as possible in uncovering and vetting talent for your position. We continue to expand our understanding of your organization with weekly communication.

We believe in metrics and we measure various internal data points to ensure we perform and continuously improve for our clients. We look at time-to-fill, candidate flow, cycle times against targets and benchmarks, and more. We stay in touch beyond the hire as well. With our 5 Year Replacement program, we touch base periodically to measure both the success and length of our hires, which is higher than the industry average.

In 2021, we had a success rate of 96% on our Specialty Search. The industry average is 80%. On a contingency search, our average conversion rate is 47%, while the industry average is less than 24%. We pride ourselves on being selective and taking on hires we know we can fill successfully. We want to ensure there will be a good fit between both the company and the candidate. 

We owe our success to two main things. First is to our proprietary search process which is great at finding passive talent in hidden or unexpected areas in a persistent manner. Second, is due to the thoroughness of our interviewing process which rules out many unqualified candidates and helps you prevent mis-hires.

Hiring high-performing operational leadership is crucial to the success of a manufacturing organization. Generalist recruiters may not understand the complexity or skills needed to make a successful hire. It takes a dedicated and experienced operations recruiter to find and engage experts that can help you succeed in all facets of your manufacturing organization. The pandemic, trade wars and other market disruptions are changing company needs and our operations recruiters know how to help you acquire leaders with the experience you need. Our manufacturing recruiters can find you the right operational talent, whether you are seeking a strategic leader for transformational change or you want a manager who’s not afraid to roll up their sleeves and be hands on.

We aim to be a true partner to help you hire the best and brightest operational talent available. Our thorough process leaves no stones unturned in our search and we are very choosy who we put in front of you for consideration. We want to make sure that every person we present is someone you’ll be excited to speak with. Because of the thoroughness of our process, we can stand behind our candidates with a 5-Year Replacement Program – something our competitors can’t touch.

Well, it’s probably because we’re fun to work with and we are highly effective! Bottom line, we do our best to be honest, reliable, and a great resource for our clients. We strive to under-promise and over-deliver, so if we aren’t the best firm for a project, we’ll let you know who is. We provide regular communication and keep you apprised of what we are hearing during the search to help make you a better company. We can consult on ways to help you become a more highly desirable place to work and improve your retention rates. Why would you want to work with anyone else ?????

We recruit operational talent nationwide. We have had searches in major cities and are also adept at helping find talent in small and rural locations where there is a shortage of operations or manufacturing experts. We typically start our searches locally or regionally and can extend outwards if necessary. We are highly experienced in handling searches where relocation is necessary and can provide guidance appropriately.

Mangrum Solutions can help you fill your critical operations roles from mid-management through the executive level. 

  • Operations
  • General management
  • Plant management
  • Business unit management
  • Manufacturing management
  • Quality & continuous improvement
  • Project & program management
  • Product management
  • Marketing management
  • Regional, territory & national sales leaders
  • Human resources
  • Finance
  • Staff level management

A reputable search firm will usually charge anywhere from 20% – 35% of a candidate’s 1st year guaranteed income. We customize each search and base our fees on the level of position, the difficulty of the search, and the amount of time expected to complete the search. 

Our average fee falls between 25 – 30% and we deliver high-level results that could warrant higher fees. However, our priority is to nurture a long-term partnership to help you with future placement needs. To support this, we also provide repeat placement discounts and other incentives to help you save more.

No. We never charge our candidates to place them. We work for clients to help them fill specific search assignments. This only works when we match great talent with desirable opportunities. So, while our candidates don’t pay us, we still do our best to ensure each person is being placed in a position they will be happy with and where they will be able to grow their career. In addition, we help the operations talent we don’t place by providing access to resources and other career opportunities.

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