Process Excellence Lead Europe

Barry Callebaut Group; Lebbeke; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Barry Callebaut Group is seeking a seasoned Process Excellence leader to drive sustainable manufacturing performance across the WE + CEMEA network (excl. Cocoa). You will translate business priorities into a focused agenda on Material Usage Variance, speed loss, yield, and capacity optimization.

You will build capability through coaching, embed standards, and lead PDCA routines while partnering with Operations, Engineering and Finance to realize, measure and replicate benefits across sites.

Qualifications

• Technical degree and proven process engineering expertise in manufacturing.
• 10+ years of experience in process engineering or process excellence.
• Global matrix experience across multiple sites is preferred.
• Experience with process transfers, qualification and validation.
• At least 3 years of leading and developing a technical team.
• Fluent written and spoken English; travel to sites required.

Responsibilities

• Lead process performance and loss elimination initiatives (MUV, speed loss, yield).
• Quantify losses and implement prioritized improvement plans with ownership.
• Develop and deploy process standards aligned with global CoE and BCOS.
• Collaborate with Operations, Manufacturing Excellence, Engineering, Quality and Finance.
• Embed process excellence into initiative management and handover processes.
• Identify opportunities to leverage digital tools and proven tech.

Skills

PDCA

Root-cause analysis

Statistical process control

Process optimization

Leadership

Education

University degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Industrial, or Food Engineering

Job description

About The Role

The focus is to drive sustainable manufacturing performance across the assigned network by bringing critical processes into control, reducing variation and losses, and building the technical capability required to sustain and continuously improve results. You will translate business priorities into a focused Process Excellence agenda, with emphasis on Material Usage Variance (MUV), speed loss, yield, product quality and effective use of existing capacity. You connect loss identification to practical solutions, embed proven standards and accelerate replication across sites.

About The Role

The focus is to drive sustainable manufacturing performance across the assigned network by bringing critical processes into control, reducing variation and losses, and building the technical capability required to sustain and continuously improve results. You will translate business priorities into a focused Process Excellence agenda, with emphasis on Material Usage Variance (MUV), speed loss, yield, product quality and effective use of existing capacity. You connect loss identification to practical solutions, embed proven standards and accelerate replication across sites.

The scope involves all Plants within WE + CEMEA excl. Cocoa.

Key Responsibilities Include

• Process performance & loss elimination
• Lead the Process Excellence contribution to structured PDCA loss-elimination routines, with focus on MUV and speed loss at priority sites.
• Partner with site teams to quantify losses in yield, waste, rework, first-time-right performance and throughput; identify root causes and establish prioritized improvement plans with clear ownership and expected benefits.
• Monitor implementation and effectiveness, challenge recurring deviations, and work with Operations and Finance to validate and sustain benefits.
• Process control, standardization & capability
• Develop and deploy process standards aligned with the Global Process Excellence CoE and BCOS, embedding improvements into site practices.
• Establish operating windows, centerlines and reaction plans supported by process control and capability analysis; contribute to Design Capacity Rate (DCR) definition and governance.
• Partner with Manufacturing Excellence and Engineering on bottlenecks, process capability and throughput improvement.
• Technical capability & knowledge sharing
• Identify process knowledge and technical capability gaps, agree development priorities with site and functional leaders, and build capability through coaching, practical training and train-the-trainer approaches.
• Contribute to common competency frameworks and learning materials and activate process communities to share knowledge and replicate proven practices.
• Initiative Management & operational readiness
• Embed Process Excellence requirements into Initiative Management and stage-gate processes for new products, technologies, process transfers and capacity initiatives.
• Assess process feasibility, manufacturing capability, operating requirements and technical risks, partner with Engineering, Innovation, Quality and Operations on commissioning, qualification, validation and manufacturing handover.
• Capture implementation learning and incorporate it into standards and future initiatives.
• Process technology improvement & replication
• Identify opportunities to improve performance through proven technologies, digital tools and process optimization, evaluating solutions against business needs, technical feasibility and expected value.
• Lead agreed improvement workstreams and support deployment through site readiness, validation, capability transfer, benefit tracking and replication across sites.

• Stakeholder & team leadership
• Prioritize and coordinate specialist support according to business impact, urgency and available resources while protecting capacity for proactive improvement and capability building.
• Build cross-functional partnerships across Operations, Manufacturing Excellence, Engineering, Quality, Innovation and Finance; communicate priorities, progress, risks and resource needs and elevate barriers requiring leadership decisions.
• Lead and develop the team through clear priorities, delegation and capability building.

About You

• Technical degree: University degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Industrial, or Food Engineering.
• Industry tenure: 10+years of experience in process engineering, manufacturing, or process excellence—ideally in food, chocolate, or cocoa processing.
• Global matrix experience: Proven track record in multinational companies, delivering improvements across multiple manufacturing sites, through dotted-line and cross-functional teams.
• Practical experience with process transfers, new product support, commissioning, qualification, and validation.
• At least 3 years of experience directly leading and developing a technical team.
• Process optimization: Strong grasp of manufacturing equipment and its impact on quality, yield, throughput, and capacity.
• Proficient in PDCA, root-cause analysis, statistical process control, and capability assessments.
• Ability to translate manufacturing loss data into technical, business-relevant actions.
• Fluent written and spoken English (additional network languages are a plus).
• Willingness to travel to various network manufacturing sites.

At Barry Callebaut, we are committed to Diversity & Inclusion. United by our strong values, we thrive on the diversity of who we are, where we come from, what we’ve experienced and how we think. We are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where people can truly be themselves, grow to their full potential and feel they belong.

#oneBC - Diverse People, Sustainable Growth.