Operations Excellence Manager (Europe)

ESIP S.A. - European Seafood Investments Portugal, SA; Peniche; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation package

Performance-based bonus

Professional development opportunities

Open, collaborative, and innovative环境

Job summary

Thai Union is seeking an experienced Operations Excellence Manager (Europe) to join our European Operations Excellence team. The role is based in Peniche, Portugal, and reports to the Senior Director of Ambient Operations Excellence.

You will partner with manufacturing sites across Europe to drive continuous improvement and accelerate our Manufacturing Excellence strategy. You will lead Lean, TPM and Six Sigma initiatives, standardize processes, and develop performance metrics while coaching

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Manufacturing or related field.
• Extensive manufacturing and operational excellence experience.
• Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma or World Class Manufacturing.
• Experience leading cross-functional improvement projects and driving results.
• Fluent English and willingness to travel within Europe.

Responsibilities

• Lead Operational Excellence initiatives across Ambient Plants in Europe.
• Develop strategies to improve manufacturing performance and efficiency.
• Support plants in technical, production, and quality issues.
• Standardize best practices and performance management systems.
• Coach plant leadership in Lean, TPM and Manufacturing Excellence.

Skills

Fluent English

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional leadership

Problem solving

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Food Science

Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing

Tools

Power BI

SAP

MES

Job description

At Thai Union, we are committed to building world-class manufacturing operations that deliver excellence in safety, quality, productivity, and sustainability. As one of the world's leading seafood companies, we continuously invest in our people, processes, and technologies to drive operational performance across our global manufacturing network.

We are seeking an experienced Operations Excellence Manager (Europe) to join our European Operations Excellence team. In this highly visible regional role, you will partner with manufacturing sites across Europe to drive continuous improvement, strengthen operational capabilities, and accelerate the implementation of Thai Union's Manufacturing Excellence strategy.

The role will be based in Peniche, Portugal and report to the Senior Director, Ambient Operations Excellence and will support Ambient Plants across Europe.

Your Responsibilities:

• Lead and drive Operational Excellence and continuous improvement initiatives across Ambient Plants in Europe.
• Develop and execute strategies to improve manufacturing performance, productivity, and efficiency.
• Support plants in resolving technical, production, and quality-related issues.
• Standardize best practices, operational processes, and performance management systems across factories.
• Manage and improve industrial performance metrics, data accuracy, labor utilization, and asset efficiency.
• Coach and build capabilities of plant leadership teams in Lean, TPM, and Manufacturing Excellence methodologies.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver strategic projects, embed a continuous improvement culture, and achieve business objectives.

Why Choose Us?

• Our Values: At Thai Union, we uphold a culture defined by passion, humility, and respect. Our team is driven by a responsible, collaborative, and innovative approach, ensuring that our work contributes to meaningful change in the seafood industry.
• Regional Impact: Influence performance and capability development across multiple manufacturing sites in Europe and contribute directly to business success
• Drive Transformation: Play a key role in shaping manufacturing excellence programmes, implementing best practices, and delivering measurable operational improvements
• Growth & Development: Join a forward-thinking global organization that invests in developing talent and creating opportunities for long-term career growth..

About You:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Manufacturing, or a related field.
• Extensive experience in manufacturing, operational excellence, continuous improvement, or industrial performance.
• Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, and/or World Class Manufacturing methodologies.
• Experience leading cross-functional improvement projects and driving operational performance results.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience using manufacturing data to support decision-making.
• Familiarity with digital tools such as Power BI, SAP, MES, and other performance analytics platforms.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, coaching, and change management skills.
• Fluent in English and willing to travel within Europe as required.
• Occasional travels are needed

About Us:

Thai Union Group, a global seafood leader, the largest canned seafood producer in the world plays a dominant role both as own global brand portfolio that includes Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier, Mareblu, King Oscar, Rugen Rish, SELECT, Fisho and Qfresh etc as well as through its Private Label (OEM) producer.

Thai Union Group is committed to realizing its “Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans” vision. With a focus on health and wellbeing across us, we take our responsibility to sustainable fishing and the marine environment seriously – in 2016 Thai Union launched SeaChange – our strategy for looking after the oceans and managing our waste, our responsibility to our people working around the globe and the communities we work with. We set ourselves and our peers some challenging targets to be more sustainable and we’re making great progress.

Our values drive how we approach our work and engage with our people and customers. These values are to be passionate, humble, respectful, responsible, collaborative and innovative. We do great work, the right way, in challenging times, but we have a strong team that gets the job done. Our people are full of positivity, resilience, fortitude and humour.

We are committed to creating an inclusive work environment where everyone feels valued and recognized for who they are. This is a critical component of our success. Each of our employees adds value to the company regardless of gender, education, religion, origin, nationality, disability or age.

What we can offer you

• A competitive compensation package, aligned with local market conditions
• Performance-based bonus
• Opportunities for professional development and career progression within an international group
• An open, collaborative, and supportive work environment focused on innovation and continuous improvement
• The chance to work on cross-site, international projects as part of Thai Union’s European operations.

Next Steps

If you’re passionate about making a difference and thrive in a flexible, collaborative setting, we’d love to hear from you!

We will review your application and if we think you meet the criteria of the role, we will reach out.

You will have a call with one of our recruitment team and then if we move to the next stage, we will set up an interview with your potential new manager either face to face or via Teams. Final stage interviews are usually face to face.

Thai Union is committed to providing equality of opportunity. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please let us know.