Regional Continuous Improvement Manager

Regional Operational Excellence Manager (Continuous Improvement)

Location: Based at a major manufacturing site within the region
Travel: 40% to 50%, mostly in-region
Reports to: VP of Operations and Global Operations Excellence Manager
Direct reports: None. Leads through influence across site and functional teams.

About the Role

Our client, a global manufacturer, is hiring a Regional Operational Excellence Manager to lead the rollout of its manufacturing excellence system across four plants. This person will turn the company’s documented standards into everyday practice at every site, driving real savings, stronger cash performance, and top-tier operational maturity.

This role carries no direct authority over site teams. Success comes from coaching, credibility and results, and is measured by how well the sites run the system on their own.

What You’ll Do

• Own the standard. Partner with global pillar leaders to shape standards, then turn them into deployment guides, standard work, audit criteria and training that plants can use. Make sure every site follows one consistent version of the system.
• Plan the rollout. Build a phased regional roadmap and agree annual plans with each Plant Manager, including priorities, certification targets, resources and milestones.
• Deliver hard results. Embed loss analysis at every site: identify losses, put a dollar value on them, prioritize, and close them out. Track savings with Finance so results are validated, not estimated.
• Build capability. Design and run training on problem solving, loss analysis, daily management and train-the-trainer. Coach Plant Managers and site leadership teams, and build a bench of internal pillar leaders and trainers.
• Assess and certify. Run the regional assessment calendar on a Bronze to Platinum maturity ladder. Lead evidence-based audits and turn every assessment into an owned action plan with dates.
• Drive digital adoption. Partner with the digital team to get ERP, MES and KPI dashboards adopted and trusted at the site level, cut manual reporting, and expand predictive maintenance.
• Report and escalate. Keep leadership informed through a single regional scorecard. Raise risks, resource gaps and standard conflicts early, with a recommendation attached. Represent the program to customers during audits and reviews.

Program Areas Covered
Leadership and daily management, safety and sustainability, quality, asset care and TPM, loss elimination, automation and initiative management, integrated planning (IBP/S&OP), and digital and data enablement.

What You Bring

Required

• Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain or Operations Management
• 5 to 10 years in manufacturing operations, with 3 to 5 years leading continuous improvement or operational excellence
• Experience deploying a structured excellence system across multiple plants
• Proven loss-deployment experience: built loss trees, tied losses to financial impact, and delivered savings Finance recognized
• Track record of delivering results through people who don’t report to you, including daily management / SQDCP routines

Preferred

• FMCG, packaging or contract manufacturing background, ideally high-SKU, short-run, high-changeover environments
• TPM Instructor, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt
• Experience deploying MES, ERP and dashboards, plus IBP/S&OP beyond the plant
• Prior CI Manager or Operations Manager experience

Career Path
A true leadership accelerator. Common next steps include Plant Manager, Global Pillar Leader, Director of Manufacturing Excellence, or Regional Operations Director.