VITAL Continuous Improvement Manager

Barnes•East Granby, CT

About The Position

The Continuous Improvement Manager will act as a strategic business partner to site leadership, identifying opportunities for operational and financial performance improvement. This role involves analyzing current processes, workflows, and systems to pinpoint inefficiencies and develop strategies for measurable results. The manager will lead the deployment, sustainment, and evolution of the VITAL Operating System, ensuring alignment with enterprise CI standards. They will also identify, prioritize, and lead high-impact CI projects, drive their execution from concept to sustainment, and establish structured CI frameworks and governance. Building organizational capability through training and coaching is a key aspect, as is collaborating with various functions to enhance productivity and drive improvements. The role requires a data-driven approach to problem-solving, performance tracking, and KPI development, along with staying current with industry best practices in continuous improvement.

Requirements

Minimum of 5-7 years of experience delivering measurable, step-change improvements in business or operational performance.
Proven hands-on experience with continuous improvement tools and methodologies (e.g., Lean, Theory of Constraints, Kaizen).
Demonstrated ability to lead and influence across multiple levels of the organization.
Strong understanding of operational excellence principles across manufacturing or industrial environments.
Analytical, data-driven approach to problem solving with strong attention to detail.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills.
Strong numerical and analytical capability.
A strong project management background.

Nice To Haves

Relevant certifications in continuous improvement tools and methodologies.
Project Management certification preferred, but not required.
Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or Black Belt) is a plus.

Responsibilities

Act as a strategic business partner to site leadership to identify opportunities for operational and financial performance improvement.
Analyze current processes, workflows, and systems to identify inefficiencies and develop improvement strategies that drive measurable results.
Lead the deployment, sustainment, and continuous evolution of the VITAL Operating System at the site.
Ensure alignment with enterprise CI standards, tools, and methodologies through close collaboration with the Director of Continuous Improvement.
Identify, prioritize, and lead high-impact CI projects and initiatives that deliver quality, operational, financial, and customer satisfaction improvements.
Drive successful execution of projects from concept through implementation and sustainment.
Establish and deploy structured CI frameworks, governance, and standard work across the organization.
Build organizational capability by training, coaching, developing and mentoring employees at all levels in CI methodologies and tools.
Partner with operations, engineering, quality, supply chain, finance, safety and other functions to enhance productivity and drive cross-functional improvements.
Facilitate workshops, kaizen events, training and problem-solving sessions.
Utilize data-driven methodologies to identify root causes, track performance, and validate improvement outcomes.
Develop and maintain key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure CI effectiveness.
Stay current with industry trends, tools, and best practices in continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Drive standardization and sharing of best practices across the organization.