Operational Excellence Manager

About the Role

The Operational Excellence and Program Manager will serve as a critical leader in driving Lean transformation, business process optimization, and enterprise program execution. This individual will bridge the gap between technical manufacturing excellence and business process management, ensuring operational scalability and efficiency. With a strong foundation in process engineering and Lean methodologies, the role will be central to standardizing operations, leading ERP implementation initiatives, and optimizing end-to-end value streams across operations.

We are seeking a solutions-driven leader who designs processes, systems, and standards that are simple, effective, and free from unnecessary bureaucracy. The ideal candidate will ensure that solutions are robust, repeatable, and sustainable, but always streamlined and practical for execution. A strong technical background, ideally within process engineering, coupled with direct experience in a manufacturing environment, is highly desired. The successful candidate will bring a data-driven decision-making mindset, ensuring improvements and strategies are backed by rigorous analysis and measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate and coach the use of A3 problem solving, ensuring teams apply structured methods to address root causes and implement sustainable solutions.
• Lead Kaizen events, value stream mapping, and 6S initiatives, systematically identifying and eliminating waste while building continuous improvement into daily operations.
• Identify and implement waste reduction opportunities across processes, ensuring gains in efficiency, flow, and productivity.
• Build and refine business processes tied directly to Lean fundamentals, ensuring operational, tactical, and strategic goals are connected to drive both business and operational excellence.
• Partner with manufacturing and operations leaders to ensure process optimization is sustained at both technical and management levels.
• Collaborate with managers to cascade strategic objectives into measurable daily actions by applying Hoshin Kanri strategy deployment principles.
• Ensure alignment across long-term vision, annual priorities, and frontline execution through structured goal-setting, visual management, and disciplined follow-up.
• Map, analyze, and optimize business processes across operations, ensuring alignment between manufacturing, supply chain, quality, finance, and commercial functions.
• Build scalable workflows and governance structures that enhance efficiency and cross-functional collaboration.
• Develop metrics and dashboards to measure process performance and business impact.
• Take a hands-on role in building data capture methods, analyzing results, and ensuring data is actively used in daily, tactical, and long-term decision-making.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Computer Science, Operations Management, or related field; Master’s preferred.
• 7 years of experience in manufacturing operations, ideally within bioprocessing, biopharmaceutical, or other complex process manufacturing industries.
• Proven experience as a Process Engineer and/or in Lean/Operational Excellence roles; strong technical background is highly desired.
• Must have direct experience working in a manufacturing setting.
• Strong expertise in Lean Manufacturing tools: standard work, problem solving, Lean Daily Management, SQDCP, A3 thinking, Kaizen, value stream mapping, and 6S.
• Hands-on experience leading ERP implementations, ideally Microsoft Dynamics 365; ability to act as ERP SME.
• Must be intermediate to expert level on data management and data analytics (descriptive data analysis), especially with capabilities to use Microsoft Excel, Power BI and other similar programs.
• Experience with data analytics, especially with predictive and prescriptive (i.e. Linear Programming) is very valuable.
• Highly valuable to have experience with programming, or a strong intuition for programming language, and most importantly, programming logic.
• Demonstrated success managing complex value streams and cross-functional process improvement initiatives.
• Strong business acumen with ability to bridge technical operations and enterprise process needs.
• Highly data-driven mindset, with proven ability to analyze, interpret, and act on complex data to support decisions.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Must be able to navigate and resolve complex problems, drawing sound conclusions even when working with limited or incomplete information.

Required Skills

• Strong expertise in Lean Manufacturing tools.
• Hands-on experience leading ERP implementations.
• Intermediate to expert level on data management and data analytics.
• Strong business acumen.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with predictive and prescriptive data analytics.
• Experience with programming or strong intuition for programming language.

Pay range and compensation package

Details regarding pay range or salary or compensation will be provided during the interview process.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We are committed to diversity and inclusivity in our hiring practices and encourage applications from all qualified individuals.