Head of Farming Operations

The Head of Farming Operations is responsible for leading and coordinating all livestock production and farming operations across CM Farms, encompassing breeding, production, grow-out activities and farm management and maintenance. The role is accountable for delivering operational excellence through the leadership of the Breeding Operations Manager, Grow Out Operations Manager, Farm Infrastructure and Asset Manager and Farm Management team, ensuring the business consistently achieves production, cost, quality, animal welfare, biosecurity, and safety objectives.

Working closely with the General Manager - Farms & Feed, the Head of Farming Operations translates strategic objectives into operational plans and drives execution across all farm sites. The role is responsible for developing a high-performance culture, improving productivity, optimising resource utilisation, implementing continuous improvement initiatives, and ensuring operational consistency across the farming network.

Essential knowledge, skills, and experience

• Tertiary qualification in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Animal Science, Business Management or a related discipline.

• Minimum 7-10 years' experience in intensive livestock production, agriculture, or multi-site operational management.

• Demonstrated experience leading managers and geographically dispersed teams.

• Understand of breeding, production and grow-out systems within livestock operations.

• Proven ability to deliver operational improvements and productivity gains.

• Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets, forecasts and operational performance metrics.

• Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Extensive experience in animal welfare, biosecurity, quality assurance and regulatory compliance.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with a continuous improvement mindset.

• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational execution.

Desirable knowledge, skills, and experience

• Experience in commercial pork production operations.

• Formal leadership or management qualification.

• Experience leading large-scale agricultural operations across multiple sites.