Global Director, Operational Excellence COE

Nouryon•Houston, TX

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Global Director, Operational Excellence (OpEx) COE is a senior leadership role responsible for defining the strategic direction, standards, and governance of Nouryon’s global OpEx program. This role owns the organizational design, frameworks, methodologies, and capability pipelines that enable sustainable continuous improvement across 63 manufacturing sites in the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) organization – spanning the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. This role is the architect of OpEx productivity engine. The COE Director owns the design of the systems, standards, and organizational capabilities that enable VMC and FMC delivery – including ownership of the enterprise systems of record for productivity tracking (ANT) and performance reporting (PowerBI). Execution of productivity targets is driven through the regional OpEx Manager network; this role ensures those teams are equipped, aligned, and operating within a governance structure capable of sustaining results. This role leads a newly consolidated Center of Excellence that brings together CI methodology and Lean/Six Sigma certification, ISC Learning & Development, End-to-End Process Management, and Manufacturing Excellence under a single governance structure. The COE Director sets priorities, establishes the program architecture, and holds accountability for outcomes – operating through a team of direct reports who own execution across regions. Key relationships span the COO, regional OpEx Managers, Site Directors, and ISC functional leaders across three regions.

Requirements

A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred.
A minimum of 15 years of progressive experience in Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement, or manufacturing leadership roles in a global, multi-site environment.
Certified Master Black Belt (MBB) or Black Belt in Lean/Six Sigma, with demonstrated capability to design, govern, and quality-assure a full belt certification program.
Proven track record of leading change management initiatives in large, matrixed, multi-regional organizations – with the ability to align diverse stakeholders and shift organizational culture.
Deep knowledge of Manufacturing Excellence frameworks including OEE, TPM, and reliability methodologies, with experience deploying these at scale across a manufacturing network.
Demonstrated people leadership across multiple geographies and organizational grades, including experience developing high-performing teams in a distributed structure.

Nice To Haves

Experience in specialty chemicals, process manufacturing, or a similarly regulated, capital-intensive industrial environment.
Hands-on expertise in End-to-End process design and governance, including SIPOC-level architecture and process ownership models.
Experience designing and leading corporate Learning & Development programs, including competency frameworks and structured curricula for technical disciplines.
Prior experience building or structuring a Center of Excellence from the ground up, including team design, governance models, and stakeholder alignment.
Working proficiency with PowerBI or equivalent reporting platforms for program performance tracking and executive communication.

Responsibilities

Own the global Operational Excellence methodology, ensuring a consistent, fit-for-purpose CI framework is deployed across all 63 Nouryon manufacturing sites.
Define and govern the Lean/Six Sigma certification pathway from Yellow Belt through Master Black Belt, establishing quality standards for program content, assessment, and progression.
Partner with regional OpEx Managers to translate global standards into site-level execution plans, maintaining strategic alignment while enabling regional adaptation.
Establish and sustain a durable CI Governance model – defining the review cadence, accountability structure, and performance mechanisms that ensure CI maturity compounds over time across the Nouryon network.
Own the enterprise systems of record for productivity tracking and performance reporting, including the ANT productivity platform and PowerBI reporting architecture, ensuring data integrity and leadership visibility across all sites.
Lead the design and continuous improvement of the ISC Learning & Development program, spanning CI capability, technical skills, and leadership development for the ISC organization.
Direct the L&D team to build and maintain a structured curriculum that supports onboarding, role progression, and organizational capability uplift.
Connect L&D investment directly to VMC and FMC delivery targets, ensuring program outcomes are measurable and business-relevant.
Own the design mandate for Digital Literacy and AI capability across the ISC organization – defining the people, process, and metrics framework required to build and sustain enterprise AI competency at scale.
Own the ISC End-to-End process architecture, defining process standards, documentation requirements, and governance for core ISC value streams.
Drive process modeling and SIPOC-level design across ISC, working through the Process Modeler and Global Process Owner to ensure clarity of accountability and performance standards.
Identify and close process design gaps that create risk, inefficiency, or measurement inconsistency across the ISC organization.
Define the Manufacturing Excellence framework for Nouryon, including OEE, TPM, reliability, and asset performance standards applied across the manufacturing network.
Direct the Manufacturing Excellence Manager to develop and deploy site-level improvement programs, closing the loop between plant performance data and structured intervention.
Integrate manufacturing excellence priorities into the broader OpEx roadmap, ensuring alignment with Digital Manufacturing, Palantir-enabled analytics, and capital investment decisions.
Lead a geographically distributed team of nine direct reports.
Define team structure, role clarity, and succession priorities for the COE.
Build a high-performance COE culture grounded in Nouryon’s Leadership Capability Framework.