Continuous Improvement Director

iTradeNetwork, Inc. • Charlotte, NC

20h • $175,000 - $225,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

iTradeNetwork is seeking a Continuous Improvement Director to work directly with cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, Customer Support, Operations, and Corporate functions. The role embeds structured, repeatable continuous-improvement practices at the team level through hands-on facilitation, coaching, and process improvement rather than top-down strategy. The Director will lead Kaizen events, structured problem-solving, and process mapping, helping teams build capabilities that persist after the Director’s involvement ends. The role also introduces practical AI tools into improvement work where useful and translates leadership priorities into clear, actionable project plans.

The Director leads a portfolio of cross-functional improvement projects, including intake, prioritization, resourcing, milestones, ownership, and measurable outcomes. They facilitate workshops and root-cause analysis, map and redesign processes and value streams, establish standard work and lightweight controls, and support team-level Business Operating Systems. They partner with teams to pilot AI-assisted workflows and automation, build practical AI fluency, follow responsible-AI guidelines, and report adoption and impact.

The role also supports project-level change management and adoption, builds reusable playbooks from successful outcomes, supports enterprise KPI frameworks and monthly MBR updates, and helps develop embedded CI champions. iTradeNetwork describes itself as an AI-first food and beverage supply-chain software company. The position is hybrid; all iTradeNetwork positions are hybrid unless listed otherwise, and candidates must be located in a listed hub. Applicants must be able to demonstrate lawful ability to work in the United States.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Operations, Computer Science, or a related field; an advanced degree is strongly preferred.
• 8–10+ years of progressive experience leading continuous-improvement and operational-excellence initiatives in technology/SaaS, manufacturing, supply chain, or high-volume operations environments.
• Demonstrated expertise facilitating Kaizen events and structured problem-solving methodologies such as A3, PDCA, and root-cause analysis, supported by a relevant certification or equivalent hands-on track record.
• Deep expertise applying Kaizen, structured problem-solving, and process mapping to knowledge-work and cross-functional processes, not only traditional operations optimization.
• Proven hands-on change-management experience and ability to influence without formal authority, motivate cross-functional teams, and build trust throughout an organization.
• Strong analytics and business acumen, including the ability to define metrics, quantify impact, and turn data into practical recommendations.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, coaching, and facilitation skills, including clear status updates, concise storytelling, and leadership of cross-functional workshops.
• Ability to solve complex problems and translate priorities into action with precision and follow-through.
• Ability to demonstrate lawful ability to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

• Experience establishing a Continuous Improvement or Operational Excellence function from the ground up.
• Experience improving SaaS delivery and reliability using Agile/DevOps and service-management practices such as incident, problem, and change management or continuous delivery.
• Familiarity with digital collaboration tools such as Miro and Lucidchart; work and service management tools such as Jira and ServiceNow; and BI/analytics platforms such as Power BI and Tableau.
• Experience scaling execution through workflow automation, including low-code or RPA, and/or AI-assisted operational decision-making.
• Experience applying AI/GenAI tools in process-improvement or operational workflows.
• Familiarity with responsible-AI practices, including data privacy and model oversight, when introducing AI tools into team workflows.
• Experience contributing to or supporting an internal AI community of practice or champions network.
• Familiarity with agentic workflows and human-in-the-loop AI system design.
• Lean Six Sigma or another structured-methodology credential, change-management training or certification such as Prosci/ADKAR, and/or a program-management credential such as PMP.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Customer Support, Operations, and Corporate teams to plan, run, and deliver continuous-improvement projects.
• Translate leadership priorities into structured project plans with owners, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
• Manage project intake, prioritization, and resourcing across the continuous-improvement portfolio, keeping initiatives moving and unblocked.
• Coach team leads and managers through structured problem-solving as an embedded thought partner.
• Facilitate Kaizen events, workshops, and root-cause analysis sessions, guiding teams toward leading these independently.
• Champion structured problem-solving as a repeatable approach for diagnosing issues and driving improvement.
• Map and redesign end-to-end value streams and processes with the teams that own them to eliminate waste and reduce cycle time.
• Establish standard work and lightweight process controls so improvements remain in place after engagement ends.
• Work within each function’s Business Operating System at the team level, helping teams track metrics, respond to missed metrics, and develop initiative charters and action plans.
• Identify opportunities to use practical AI, GenAI, automation, or AI-assisted workflows in active improvement projects, in partnership with Technology, Data, and Product.
• Run hands-on workshops to build AI fluency within teams engaged in CI work, using real project use cases.
• Apply responsible-AI guidelines, including data privacy and model oversight, when introducing AI tools into team workflows.
• Track adoption and impact of AI-assisted process changes in project outcome reporting.
• Lead project-level change management, including stakeholder analysis, readiness assessment, communication, and training.
• Build buy-in with team leads and frontline staff without formal authority.
• Turn successful project outcomes into reusable playbooks and toolkits for other teams.
• Model structured problem-solving in daily team interactions and help make it the team’s default approach.
• Support enterprise KPI frameworks by ensuring project and team data is accurate and timely, including baseline, target, and control-plan information.
• Contribute rigorous and accurate project and initiative updates to the monthly MBR process.
• Translate project outcomes into clear before-and-after impact stories for teams and leadership.
• Support executive-led CI culture-building through team-level demonstration and reinforcement.
• Train and mentor CI champions embedded within teams.

Benefits

• Competitive salary packages.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits for employees and their families.
• Flex PTO for exempt employees and competitive PTO for non-exempt employees.
• Paid parental leave for eligible employees.
• 401(k) matching.
• Tuition reimbursement for approved programs.
• Health and well-being benefits, including Teladoc for general medical and mental health care.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director