Continuous Improvement (CI) Manager

Watts Water Technologies•Franklin, NH

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Continuous Improvement (CI) Manager is the hands-on change leader for an important Watts complex—responsible for building a visible, practical CI culture that improves Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Engagement. This role is performed on the floor, at the Gemba, coaching and leading improvements side-by-side with teams, especially an energetic hourly CI team (7 direct reports) drawn from the facility workforce that is eager to learn and needs strong daily coaching. The CI Manager partners with site leadership, BU/Platform leaders, and the Regional CI Team to deliver improvements tied to site strategy and the customer.

Requirements

Operations-minded leader with 7+ years in manufacturing/operations and a track record of hands-on improvement delivery (not just facilitation).
Bachelor’s degree (Engineering, Operations, Business, or related) or equivalent experience.
Demonstrated ability to lead and coach teams on the floor, influence across functions, and build engagement with hourly and salaried workforces.
Proven results improving productivity; SQDC, with the ability to translate CI work into measurable financial/operational impact.
Strong capability in practical Lean methods (e.g., VSM, daily management, standard work, visual management, 5S, SMED, TPM, material flow/layout, structured problem solving).
Excellent facilitation, communication, and organizational skills; comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced plant environment.
Proficiency in Excel/PowerPoint/Word; strong data sense and the ability to communicate clearly to all levels.

Nice To Haves

Lean transformation or Six Sigma Black Belt strongly preferred.
Operations supervision or production management preferred.
SAP experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead by doing personally lead kaizens, rapid improvements, and problem-solving on real processes; set the “how we improve” standard through visible role-model behavior.
Coach and develop people daily: train and coach hourly and salaried teams in real time to build confidence and capability in CI basics and disciplined execution.
Own the site CI execution: Uses One Watts Performance System (OWPS) tools, routines (daily management, standard work, visual management, tiered accountability) and ensure sustainment.
Drive strategy to execution: facilitate strategy/goal deployment and translate priorities into an active, cross-functional improvement funnel and roadmap.
Deliver measurable business impact: identify and prioritize opportunities; track, validate, and multilevel communications and balanced-scorecard results (AOP and beyond).
Run CI governance per playbook: lead the CI steering committee, remove barriers, and ensure cross-functional alignment with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance.
Benchmark and spread best practices: identify internal/external best practices and help replicate what works across the site and Watts.