Director of Business Excellence, Advanced Separation & Water (ASW)

Kemco Systems

9d•Remote

About The Position

CECO Environmental is a global leader in providing sustainable solutions for industrial air, water, and energy transition. Since 1966, we’ve been addressing the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Our mission is to protect people, the environment, and industrial equipment, making a tangible impact across industries like renewable energy, semiconductor manufacturing, power generation, and water treatment. As a purpose-driven company, we foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and integrity, ensuring that every project we undertake creates lasting positive change. At CECO, you’ll be part of a growing, dynamic team committed to a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable future. We are proud to share that CECO was named one of Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Companies for 2025 and that Forbes recognized CECO as one of America’s Most Successful Small‑Cap Companies for 2026, marking our third consecutive year on the Forbes list. CECO Environmental is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker CECO, reflecting our strong growth, financial performance, and commitment to delivering value to shareholders. As part of the CECO Environmental family of brands, Emtrol-Buell plays a critical role in delivering specialized energy transition solutions that protect both people and the environment. By joining our team, you’ll contribute to our shared mission of protecting global industrial operations and shaping the future of environmental stewardship. The Director of Business Excellence is an enterprise leader accountable for designing, owning, and executing ASW’s operational excellence strategy to drive sustainable growth, margin expansion, and enterprise scalability. This role leads the Business Excellence function across ASW and serves as a strategic partner to platform leadership, plant leaders, and corporate functions to translate strategy into measurable operational and financial outcomes. The Director owns the operating system, improvement roadmap, KPI architecture, and transformation cadence that enable consistent performance across all manufacturing sites.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, or related field (Master’s preferred).
10–15+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing or industrial operations.
Demonstrated success leading enterprise-level operational excellence and transformation.
Strong financial acumen with experience driving margin, productivity, and working capital results.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional, multi-site organizations through change.
Deep experience with Lean, Continuous Improvement, and KPI-driven operating systems.
ERP implementation and optimization experience in manufacturing environments.
Experience supporting M&A operational diligence and integration strongly preferred.

Nice To Haves

Lean / Six Sigma certification (Black Belt or equivalent).
Continuous Improvement or Operational Excellence certifications.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Business Excellence Leadership
Own and lead the ASW Business Excellence function, setting vision, priorities, standards, and governance.
Define and deploy the enterprise operating system, including KPI architecture, review cadence, and escalation mechanisms.
Hold leaders accountable for performance outcomes through disciplined operating reviews and corrective action governance.
Translate enterprise strategy into operational priorities, initiatives, and measurable targets.
Strategic Growth & Financial Performance
Own the operational components of the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), ensuring alignment between strategy, capacity, capital, and execution.
Drive margin expansion initiatives, including productivity, labor optimization, footprint efficiency, and working capital improvement.
Identify and prioritize enterprise improvement initiatives that unlock growth, scalability, and profitability.
Manufacturing Excellence & Standardization
Establish and enforce standardized manufacturing processes, workflows, and performance expectations across all sites.
Lead capacity, footprint, and throughput strategies to support growth while controlling cost.
Oversee enterprise KPI performance across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Cash, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Continuous Improvement & Lean Transformation
Own the Lean and Continuous Improvement strategy, ensuring consistent deployment across all facilities.
Build CI capability within operations leadership through coaching, training, and structured problem-solving.
Drive waste elimination, variation reduction, and quality improvement using Lean/Six Sigma methodologies.
ERP Ownership & Digital Enablement
Serve as the executive operational owner of ERP and manufacturing systems in partnership with IT.
Define operational requirements for ERP, MES, automation, and analytics to enable visibility, scheduling accuracy, and execution discipline.
Lead ERP optimization and adoption, ensuring systems drive behavior, accountability, and performance.
M&A Integration & Operational Due Diligence
Lead operational due diligence for acquisitions, assessing manufacturing capability, scalability, and integration risk.
Own post-close operational integration, including process harmonization, KPI alignment, and ERP migration readiness.
Ensure rapid performance stabilization and value capture post-acquisition.
Safety, Quality & Culture
Champion a strong safety and quality culture, partnering with EHS and Quality leaders to embed standards and accountability.
Ensure operational excellence is embedded in leadership behaviors, decision-making, and talent development.