Director of Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

Tops Products; Union (MO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Tops Products seeks a Director of Continuous Improvement to lead enterprise-wide initiatives across operations. You will design and deploy an integrated CI strategy, drive Lean and Six Sigma practices, and link improvements to financial results while coaching site leaders and teams.

You will oversee KPI development, mentor leaders, and ensure sustained performance gains through structured problem-solving and stakeholder alignment in a manufacturing environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Business Administration, or a related field (Master’s or MBA preferred).
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience in operations, manufacturing, supply chain, or corporate process optimization.
• 3–5 years in a dedicated management or directorial capacity driving change.

Responsibilities

• Define the CI Roadmap: author and execute a multi-year CI strategy.
• Foster a Kaizen Culture: promote enterprise-wide process excellence and accountability.
• Stakeholder Alignment: collaborate with executives to prioritize projects and manage change.
• Deploy Lean/Six Sigma: apply tools to eliminate waste and link wins to bottom-line results.
• Lead Cross-Functional Projects: spearhead high-impact projects across sites.
• Build Organizational Capability: design training programs to educate Lean/Six Sigma champions.
• Mentor Talent: coach site CI leaders and frontline teams in problem-solving.
• Establish KPIs: build dashboards to track improvement impact.
• Root-Cause Analysis: use statistical tools to identify gaps and synthesize recommendations.

Skills

Lean

Six Sigma

Problem-solving

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Supply Chain/Business Administration

Master’s or MBA preferred

Six Sigma Master Black Belt or Black Belt certification

Lean Certification

Tools

Minitab

Excel

Power BI

Visio

Lucidchart

Job description

Tops Products seeks a Director of Continuous Improvement to lead enterprise-wide initiatives across operations. You will design and deploy an integrated CI strategy, drive Lean and Six Sigma practices, and link improvements to financial results while coaching site leaders and teams.

You will oversee KPI development, mentor leaders, and ensure sustained performance gains through structured problem-solving and stakeholder alignment in a manufacturing environment.