Why Mid-Market Food Manufacturers Struggle to Hire at Director Level — And What to Do About It

The Leadership Hiring Problem Nobody Talks About

You can fill a production supervisor role in a few weeks. A quality manager? Maybe a month. But a Director of Operations? A VP of R&D? A Plant Director for your largest facility?

That's a different challenge entirely, and if you're leading a food manufacturing business in the $50M to $500M revenue range, you already know this. You've probably lived it.

Mid-market food manufacturers are caught in a difficult position when it comes to executive recruitment. You're too complex for generalist hiring approaches, and often too lean to compete with Big Food on brand recognition and compensation packages. Meanwhile, the consequences of getting a Director-level hire wrong — or leaving the seat empty for six months — are felt immediately across your entire operation.

This article explains exactly why mid-market food manufacturers struggle to recruit at the Director level, and what the most successful companies do differently.

Why Mid-Market Is the Hardest Place to Hire

1. Your brand doesn't carry the room

When Tyson Foods, Kraft Heinz, or Conagra posts a VP-level role, the market pays attention. Decades of brand equity do the heavy lifting before a single recruiter makes a call.

Mid-market manufacturers, even highly profitable, well-run ones, don't have that advantage. A Director-level candidate with options will default toward the name they recognize, especially if the compensation looks similar on paper.

This isn't a reflection of your business quality. It's a market perception problem, and it's fixable — but only if you acknowledge it and adjust your approach accordingly.

2. The candidate pool at the Director level is genuinely small

This is the reality that surprises many CEOs and COOs: the number of genuinely qualified, available Director-level candidates in US food manufacturing at any given moment is much smaller than it appears.

LinkedIn might show you 500 people with "Director" in their title. But when you filter for the right sector experience, the right scale of operation, a track record of measurable results, cultural fit for a family-owned environment, and actual openness to a move, you're often looking at a pool of 20 to 40 people nationally. Sometimes fewer.

At this level, recruitment is not a volume game. It's a precision exercise, and most internal processes aren't built for it.

3. Your HR team is not equipped for this search

This isn't a criticism of your HR function. It's a structural reality. Most mid-market food manufacturers have HR teams built to manage day-to-day people operations, compliance, onboarding, benefits, and employee relations. Executive search at the Director level and above is a fundamentally different discipline.

It requires deep market knowledge, the ability to reach passive candidates who aren't actively looking, and the credibility to represent your business compellingly to senior professionals who receive outreach regularly and often ignore it.

Asking your HR Manager to run a VP Operations search is like asking your plant manager to redesign your ERP system. Technically adjacent, but not the right tool for the job.

4. Your hiring process moves too slowly

Top Director-level candidates in food manufacturing are typically passive; they're employed, performing well, and not desperate to move. When they do engage with an opportunity, their decision window is short. They have conversations with two or three companies simultaneously, and they move on quickly if momentum stalls.

Mid-market companies often run hiring processes that include multiple rounds of interviews, internal alignment meetings, delayed feedback, and approval chains that add weeks to the timeline. By the time an offer is ready, the candidate has accepted elsewhere, or has cooled on the opportunity entirely.

Speed is a competitive advantage at the Director level. Most mid-market companies don't treat it that way.

5. Compensation benchmarks are poorly understood

One of the most common mistakes mid-market food manufacturers make is anchoring Director-level compensation to what they've paid internally or to what they paid for the last person in the role, often five or ten years ago.

The market has moved. Particularly post-2020, compensation expectations for Director-level food manufacturing professionals in the US have shifted significantly, driven by talent scarcity, inflation, and increased competition from adjacent sectors like CPG, logistics, and food tech.

Going to market with an uncompetitive package doesn't just lose you candidates; it signals to the market that you don't understand the value of the role you're trying to fill.

What the Best Mid-Market Food Manufacturers Do Differently

They treat Director-level hiring as a strategic investment, not a procurement exercise

The mindset shift that separates companies that hire well from those that don't is this: they stop treating executive recruitment as a cost to minimize and start treating it as an investment in business performance.

A Director of Operations who drives a 15% improvement in throughput, reduces waste, and stabilizes your senior team pays back their total recruitment cost within months. The right VP of R&D can accelerate product development cycles and reduce time-to-market, generating millions in incremental revenue.

The question isn't what it costs to hire well. It's what it costs not to.

They move fast and decisively

The best hiring companies have internal alignment before the search begins, not during it. Decision-makers agree upfront on the profile, the compensation range, and the evaluation criteria. When a strong candidate is in play, feedback is provided within 24 hours, next steps are confirmed immediately, and offers are made without unnecessary delays.

This responsiveness sends a signal to candidates about how your company operates. At the Director level, how you hire is often how candidates expect to be led.

They work with specialists, not generalists

General staffing agencies and broad-based recruitment firms are not built for Director-level food manufacturing searches. They focus on volume, rely on active candidates, and rarely have the network depth or sector knowledge to represent your business credibly to the best people in the market.

Mid-market food manufacturers that hire consistently well at the senior level tend to work with specialist executive search partners, firms that work exclusively in food manufacturing, understand the nuances of your operating environment, and have built relationships with the passive candidates who would never respond to a job board posting.

They invest in a compelling employer narrative

Before going to market, they have a clear, honest answer to the question every Director-level candidate will ask: "Why would I leave a stable role to join your company?"

This means being able to articulate the growth opportunity, the investment in the business, the autonomy the role offers, and the leadership team's culture. It means knowing your employer's competitive advantages and leading with them, not burying them in a job description full of requirements.

They think about retention from day one

The companies that hire best at the Director level also lose the fewest. They have structured onboarding for senior leaders, clear 90-day objectives, and regular executive check-ins in the first year. They treat the period after the hire as just as important as the search itself.

This matters more than most people realize. A Director-level hire that leaves within 12 months costs you not just the replacement fee — it costs you operational continuity, team morale, and months of lost progress.

The Williams365 Difference

At Williams Recruitment, I work exclusively with US food manufacturers on Director-level and above placements. My Williams365 service includes a 12-month placement guarantee, four times the industry standard, because I believe the measure of a great executive search isn't filling the role. It's filling it with someone who's still delivering 12 months later.

Every search I run is managed personally. You work directly with me throughout, not a junior consultant or account manager. I bring market knowledge, candidate networks, and the process discipline that mid-market food manufacturers need to compete for the best senior talent.

If you're currently facing a Director-level vacancy or anticipating one in the next six months, a 30-minute discovery call is the right starting point. No obligation, just a direct conversation about your hiring challenge and whether I'm the right fit to help.

Final Thoughts

The mid-market food manufacturing sector produces some of the most operationally complex, commercially demanding leadership roles in US industry. Recruiting well at that level requires a different approach, one that most companies only figure out after an expensive miss.

The good news is that the gaps are well understood and addressable. Companies that move quickly, communicate compellingly, work with the right partners, and build retention into their hiring process consistently win the talent they need, even without a household name on the door.

The ones that don't tend to fill the same roles repeatedly.

Williams Recruitment specializes in Director-level and above executive search for US food manufacturers. To discuss a current or upcoming leadership search, book a 30-minute discovery call.