Sr. Director Operational Excellence

Link Snacks•Minneapolis, MN

About The Position

The Sr. Director of Operational Excellence leads the company’s continuous improvement strategy across all manufacturing sites. This role builds the processes, capabilities, tools, and governance needed to create a consistent and sustainable approach to continuous improvement across factories. The Sr. Director establishes a standardized manufacturing excellence framework grounded in lean principles, structured problem solving, loss elimination, standard work, and performance management. The role develops and leads the company’s continuous improvement strategy and roadmap, establishes common methodologies and standards, and advances Lean practices across the manufacturing network. It also develops training and learning resources, builds a network of plant-level CI champions, manages plant performance and KPI visibility, uses operational data and analytics to identify opportunities, tracks cost savings, and partners with the Safety Director to integrate safety into improvement work.

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.
At least 5 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 playbook for a management operating system (MOS) and continuous improvement program, including rollout across sites.
Strong written, 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.
Proactive approach to driving projects to completion despite obstacles.
Collaborative team approach.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and workstreams.
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

Lead the continuous improvement change effort and develop the company’s strategy and roadmap across all factories.
Establish common continuous improvement methodology, tools, governance, terminology, expectations, and standards across the manufacturing network.
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 performance gaps.
Own daily, weekly, and monthly KPI charting and posting to maintain team accountability.
Use Power BI and SAP to turn operational data into 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.