Senior Director of Operational Excellence
About The Position
Kettle Cuisine is seeking a transformational Senior Director of Operational Excellence to elevate manufacturing performance, strengthen operational discipline, and build a culture of continuous improvement across its U.S. manufacturing network. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer, this highly visible leadership role will shape and execute the company’s Operational Culture, develop leadership and plant capabilities, establish an Operational Excellence strategy and scalable manufacturing operating system, and deliver measurable improvements in productivity, efficiency, cost, and profitability. The role calls for strategic vision, hands-on manufacturing expertise, the ability to influence across multiple facilities, and a strong focus on execution and sustainable business results. The Senior Director will partner with plant leadership and cross-functional teams to set improvement roadmaps and performance expectations, scale best practices, improve manufacturing and financial performance, and embed continuous improvement into everyday operations. The role also champions a high-performance culture grounded in accountability, ownership, and measurable results, while developing leaders and organizational capabilities across the manufacturing network.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business, or a related discipline.
- 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing operations, Operational Excellence, or continuous improvement.
- Demonstrated success designing, implementing, and sustaining manufacturing operating systems across multiple facilities.
- Proven ability to deliver measurable improvements in OEE, productivity, waste reduction, manufacturing costs, and profitability.
- Strong command of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, and structured continuous improvement methodologies.
- Financial acumen and the ability to connect operational performance to measurable business value.
- Exceptional leadership, communication, and influencing skills, including experience driving organizational change across functions and locations.
Nice To Haves
- Advanced degree preferred.
- Experience in food manufacturing, consumer packaged goods (CPG), or comparable high-volume manufacturing environments strongly preferred.
- Black Belt or equivalent certification preferred.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute a network-wide Operational Excellence strategy aligned with business growth and manufacturing priorities.
- Design and deploy a standardized manufacturing operating system that improves performance visibility, accountability, and operational consistency.
- Partner with plant leadership to establish improvement roadmaps, performance expectations, and disciplined execution practices.
- Identify and scale best practices across manufacturing locations.
- Lead initiatives to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), throughput, labor productivity, asset utilization, and manufacturing capacity.
- Drive sustainable cost reduction through waste elimination, improved material yields, equipment reliability, and manufacturing efficiency.
- Partner with Finance and Operations to quantify opportunities, validate savings, and deliver measurable EBITDA improvements.
- Establish performance metrics and management routines that reinforce ownership, accelerate problem-solving, and sustain results.
- Advance adoption of the KCOP Continuous Improvement program and structured problem-solving methodologies.
- Strengthen operational consistency through standard work, visual management, root cause analysis, and performance accountability.
- Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives that eliminate manufacturing losses and unlock capacity.
- Build systems and capabilities that embed continuous improvement into everyday operations.
- Champion a high-performance, merit-based culture grounded in personal accountability, operational ownership, and measurable results.
- Coach and influence plant leaders and cross-functional teams to strengthen execution, problem-solving, and change leadership.
- Develop organizational capabilities through targeted training, leadership development, and knowledge sharing.
- Foster collaboration across Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and Human Resources to accelerate transformation.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
