This highly visible leadership role partners with plant leadership, engineering, operations, quality, and executive teams to improve operational performance, strengthen quality systems, and successfully deliver transformational initiatives. The Director will champion a culture of continuous improvement while leading critical projects that enhance safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

The ideal candidate combines deep manufacturing expertise with strong change leadership, project management, and quality systems experience.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

Develop and lead the company's continuous improvement strategy across manufacturing operations.
Drive Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, and other operational excellence initiatives to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance.
Facilitate value stream mapping, root cause analysis, and process improvement activities to eliminate waste and improve flow.
Establish operational performance metrics and dashboards to measure and sustain improvements.
Mentor and coach leaders and cross-functional teams in structured problem-solving methodologies and continuous improvement principles.
Build organizational capability and foster a culture of accountability, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement.

Strategic Project Leadership

Lead high-impact, cross-functional projects from concept through implementation.
Develop project plans, timelines, resource requirements, budgets, and success metrics.
Identify and mitigate project risks while ensuring projects remain on schedule and within budget.
Partner with executive leadership to prioritize strategic initiatives and align resources to business objectives.
Communicate project progress, business impact, and ROI to senior leadership and key stakeholders.
Drive change management activities to ensure successful adoption and sustainability of project outcomes.

Quality Systems & Compliance Leadership

Own and continuously improve the company's Quality Management System (QMS).
Ensure compliance with applicable customer, regulatory, and industry requirements.
Lead enterprise CAPA investigations and systemic quality improvement efforts.
Drive quality performance through preventive quality planning, process controls, audits, and corrective actions.
Establish and maintain global quality standards, processes, and best practices across manufacturing locations.
Partner with operations and engineering teams to reduce defects, improve process capability, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Qualifications

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business Administration, or a related technical discipline.
Master's degree preferred.

Experience

3+ years leading continuous improvement activities and transformational projects in manufacturing plants.
10+ years manufacturing operations roles. Must include production management and manufacturing engineering roles.
International experience a plus.

**Additional Preferred Certifications **

Lean Six Sigma: Certified Black Belt
Project Management: Project Management Professional (PMP) designation.

Core Competencies

Excellent Analytical Skills
Change Management: Proven ability to influence stakeholders and guide teams through operational shifts.
Communication: Exceptional verbal and written skills to translate complex data into actionable business plans.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

Setting: Manufacturing plants.
Travel: Up to 25% to global sites or vendor facilities.

You should be proficient in:

5 Why (Root Cause Analysis Method)
Kaizen
Lean Manufacturing Principles
Six Sigma Experience