Operations Leader

Trane Italia • Greenville, SC

3d • Onsite

About The Position

As a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable, and efficient climate solutions for buildings, homes and transportation, Trane Technologies, through its businesses including Trane® and Thermo King, is committed to putting the planet first. Sustainability is integral to their business. This role is for a dynamic, results-driven Operations Leader at the Greenville, SC facility, leading a team of 5 salaried leaders and approximately 125 hourly production and support employees. The leader will be responsible for shaping performance and culture in a high-energy manufacturing operation, owning daily operations, planning and assigning work, driving accountability, and elevating standards in safety, quality, delivery, inventory, and productivity. The position involves fueling continuous improvements in production methods, equipment optimization, operating procedures, and workplace efficiency. A critical aspect is maintenance leadership, partnering with maintenance teams to strengthen equipment reliability, reduce unplanned downtime, and ensure plant assets support safe, stable, and efficient operations. The role emphasizes driving preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, elevating technician capability, and embedding a culture of equipment ownership and uptime excellence. This is a high-impact opportunity to champion lean manufacturing, leveraging methodologies to eliminate waste, streamline flow, and build a culture of operational excellence. The leader will ensure commitments are met, delivering superior products safely, on time, and within cost targets. The role is for someone energized by developing people, inspiring teams, strengthening equipment reliability, and unlocking performance through process discipline and operational excellence.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, or a related field.
• A minimum of 10 years of manufacturing leadership experience.
• Proven success leading lean manufacturing and operational excellence initiatives.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence, motivate, and build trust.
• Excellent planning, analytical thinking, problem‑solving, and organizational skills.
• Ability to make timely, effective decisions in fast‑paced or high‑pressure environments.
• Ability to listen to customers and translate needs into clear, actionable requirements.
• A collaborative, team‑focused mindset with strong leadership and interpersonal skills.
• A servant leadership approach that prioritizes employee development, empowerment and respect.

Responsibilities

• Own the performance of your assigned area, ensuring excellence in safety, quality, delivery, inventory and productivity performance.
• Lead the deployment of talent management systems, ensuring disciplined use of tools and processes that strengthen behavior‑based performance across the organization.
• Act as the primary communication link between the leadership team and production employees to ensure clarity, alignment, and engagement.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Operational Excellence tools such as 5S, standardized work, value stream mapping, root‑cause analysis, and kaizen events.
• Collaborate with the Technical Training team to ensure every employee is trained to operate safely, deliver high‑quality work, and meet targeted productivity expectations.
• Foster a culture of problem‑solving, visual management, and daily management system adoption to enhance operational discipline and transparency.
• Partner with and provide leadership to the maintenance organization to improve equipment uptime, asset reliability, and plant infrastructure stability.
• Support preventive and predictive maintenance programs that minimize unplanned downtime and extend equipment life.
• Use data and root‑cause analysis to identify chronic equipment issues and drive sustainable corrective actions.
• Champion maintenance best practices, ensuring strong work planning/scheduling, technician development, and compliance with safety and regulatory requirements.

Benefits

• benefits designed for you to Thrive at work and at home
• competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits and programs
• inclusive culture, benefits to support you and your family, limitless opportunities to grow, flexibility to help you balance life’s demands, and more

What This Job Offers

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