Sr. Director Operational Excellence

Jack Link's Protein Snacks•Minneapolis, MN

19h•$195,000 - $225,000

About The Position

The Sr. Director of Operational Excellence leads Link Snacks’ continuous improvement strategy across all manufacturing sites. The role builds the processes, capabilities, tools, and governance needed to establish a consistent and sustainable approach to continuous improvement across factories. It develops a standardized manufacturing excellence framework grounded in lean principles, structured problem solving, loss elimination, standard work, and performance management.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in operations, manufacturing, supply chain, business, engineering, food science, or a related field, or equivalent experience in continuous improvement.
7 to 10 years of experience in a manufacturing environment, including a leadership role.
5 or more years in influencing roles, such as continuous improvement, Lean, or support functions.
Experience or education in statistical process control, root-cause analysis, or other analytical methods.
Training and hands-on experience with value-stream mapping, Kaizen methods, 5S, leader standard work, and other Lean tools.
Project management experience leading cross-functional teams to deliver on timelines, budgets, and goals.
Experience developing or implementing a management operating system (MOS) and continuous improvement program playbook, including rolling it out across sites.
Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence leaders at every level.
Diplomacy in communicating needs and recommendations, with credibility to earn trust across functions.
A proactive style that drives projects to completion despite obstacles.
A collaborative team approach.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and workstreams at once.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office.

Nice To Haves

Experience with SAP and Power BI for operational reporting.
Experience in food or consumer packaged goods manufacturing.
Experience with Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), including working exposure to its Autonomous Maintenance (AM) and Planned Maintenance (PM) pillars.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead the company’s Continuous Improvement strategy and roadmap across all factories.
Establish common continuous improvement methodology, tools, governance, terminology, and expectations across the manufacturing network.
Set common standards for Lean practices, structured problem solving, daily management, standard work, and performance improvement.
Establish and advance Lean manufacturing practices, including standard work, Kaizen, 5S, value-stream mapping, visual management, root-cause analysis, waste elimination, centerlining, and structured problem solving.
Develop continuous improvement training, tools, playbooks, and learning programs.
Develop a network of plant-level Continuous Improvement champions to accelerate adoption and share knowledge.
Work with Plant Leadership Teams to track plant targets and KPIs, set action plans, and hold follow-up meetings to close gaps.
Manage daily, weekly, and monthly KPI charting and posting to maintain team accountability.
Use Power BI and SAP to turn complex operational data into clear, usable information for plant and operations leaders.
Apply statistics and other analytical methods to identify improvement opportunities and support decisions.
Implement and manage a cost-savings tracking process aligned with corporate standards and deliver against savings targets.
Partner with the Safety Director to embed safety into improvement work, including incident investigation, hazard reduction, and safety considerations in Kaizen events.
Perform other duties as assigned.