Hire a plant manager in Greater Montreal
Hiring a plant manager means handing over the whole establishment: the budget, production, quality and the health and safety obligations. This page gives you a job description to copy, the requirements the classification actually sets, and eight interview questions that separate someone who has run a plant from someone who has run a shift.
Job description to copy
Replace what is in brackets, then post it as is.
Plant manager
Location: [city], Greater Montreal · Schedule: [day / evening / night], [number] h per week
Pay: [to be set] (benchmark: median $51.08/h in Quebec, $52.26/h in Montreal (Job Bank))
Responsibilities
- Direct plant operations and report to the general manager
- Prepare the plant budget, track it and explain variances
- Set production targets and allocate materials, people and equipment to meet them
- Approve production schedules and stock levels for raw materials and finished goods
- Plan and implement changes to equipment, processes and work methods
- Direct the quality control system and production reporting
- Set the maintenance schedule and recommend machine replacements
- Hire, lead and evaluate the supervisors on every shift
- Keep the plant’s prevention program up to date and support the health and safety committee
Requirements
- University or college degree in engineering or business administration, or equivalent experience
- Five to ten years of supervisory experience in manufacturing
- Proven responsibility for a plant or production department budget
- Experience directing a quality control system and the production reporting that goes with it
- Working knowledge of Quebec’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and what it requires of the establishment
- Spoken and written French; another language only if the duties require it, with the reason stated in the posting
Assets
- Member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec
- Experience in the same type of manufacturing as your plant
- Has set up a prevention program or a health and safety committee
- Has brought a new line or a process change from budget to start-up
- Has carried a machine replacement from the recommendation through to commissioning
What we offer
[benefits, insurance, shift premiums, training]
Plant manager pay benchmark
| Region | Median | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $51.08/h | — |
| Montérégie | $51.78/h | $34.62 (19) |
| Montréal | $52.26/h | — |
| Laval | $49.31/h | — |
| Lanaudière | $49.98/h | $35.35 (14) |
| Laurentides | $48.08/h | — |
Median published by Job Bank (NOC 90010) and median offered in job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings.
Eight interview questions
- How many people, shifts and lines reported to you, and who did you answer to?
- Walk me through your last plant budget: what did you fight for, and what did you lose?
- What equipment or method change did you decide on, and how did you know, a year later, whether it delivered?
- Your prevention program: who built it, what were its priorities, and what changed on the floor?
- A customer demands a shipment that quality refuses to release. Who decides, and how?
- Tell me about a supervisor you had to replace. What made up your mind, and how long did you wait?
- When did you recommend replacing a machine rather than repairing it, and on what numbers?
- What do you look at first in the morning, and what have you stopped looking at because your supervisors handle it?
Timelines and difficulties
The first trap is the ladder. NOC 90010 files the production planner, the plant assistant manager and the senior plant manager under the same code: one posting title draws candidates several rungs apart. State the number of people, shifts and lines, the share of the budget the person decides alone, and the title of the position they report to. The second is the pool. The classification requires five to ten years of supervision in manufacturing, and Job Bank counts only a few experienced workers looking for work in this occupation: the right person already runs a plant and is not reading job ads. The third is language. Quebec’s Charter of the French Language, section 46, bars an employer from requiring a language other than French unless the duties call for it, and requires the reason to be stated in the posting. If your plant manager deals with head office or customers in English, say so in the ad. The fourth is status: the Act respecting labour standards treats managerial staff and senior managers separately (sections 54 and 3). Spell out the expected hours and what makes up for them before the first interview.
We run this search for employers in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore. Our recruitment service: manufacturing and production
If the placement does not hold six months, we replace it.
The replacement is on us. You do not pay twice for the same role.
A role to fill?
Fifteen minutes on the phone is enough to know whether we can deliver your mandate, and to tell you straight whether the salary range holds.
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