Manager - Operational Excellence

Dürr AG; Southfield, Northern (MI, KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Dürr AG is seeking a seasoned Operational Excellence leader to drive continuous improvement across safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer outcomes. You will lead cross-functional initiatives, coach teams, and advance the Business Operating System (BOS) governance locally.

Responsibilities include coordinating strategy deployment, KPI reporting, audits, and compliance, while converting findings into actionable standards. Strong analytical and leadership skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a relevant field.
• 5+ years in continuous improvement or related area.
• Experience with ISO management systems and internal audits.
• Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence without authority.
• Strong analytical and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives to improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer outcomes.
• Facilitate root-cause analysis and drive corrective actions to closure.
• Lead project closeout and lessons-learned sessions to create reusable standards.
• Coordinate strategy deployment, KPIs, and leadership dashboards.
• Coordinate audits, internal controls, and compliance activities.
• Promote governance of the BOS and serve as local BOS champion.

Skills

Continuous improvement

Cross-functional leadership

ISO auditing

Root-cause analysis

KPI dashboards

Data visualization

Project management

Process documentation

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in relevant field

Tools

Dashboard software

Document-control systems

Job description

Your Tasks:

• Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement


• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives that strengthen safety, quality, delivery, cost, cash and customer outcomes.


• Identify recurring operational and project issues, facilitate root-cause analysis, and drive corrective and preventive actions through verified closure.


• Lead project closeout and lessons-learned sessions, converting findings into reusable standards and tracked improvement actions.


• Establish methods to prioritize, charter, monitor and report continuous-improvement activities and measurable benefits.


• Promote accountability, standard work, fact-based decision-making and sustained improvement.


• Business Operating System Governance


• Own and serve as the local champion for the Business Operating System (BOS), including governance, deployment, maintenance and periodic review.


• Partner with process owners to develop and improve policies, procedures, work instructions, process maps, templates and standard work.


• Define document ownership, review cycles, approval requirements and change-control expectations.


• Coordinate the local implementation of global business-system and continuous-improvement requirements, escalating gaps when local operational needs differ.


• Facilitate process standardization across functions and sites while maintaining necessary customer, regulatory and operational requirements.


• Strategy Deployment and Performance Management


• Coordinate the annual company goal-setting and deployment process, including alignment, ownership, measures, targets and review cadence.


• Maintain visibility into progress against strategic objectives and facilitate escalation and recovery planning for off-track goals.


• Coordinate leadership dashboards, KPI reporting and performance updates with clear definitions, ownership, data sources and action tracking.


• Analyze performance trends and translate findings into focused improvement priorities and leadership decisions.


• Management Systems, Audits and Internal Controls


• Coordinate certification, surveillance and recertification activities for applicable management systems, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.


• Develop and maintain the internal audit program, including schedules, auditor coordination, findings, corrective actions and closure verification.


• Coordinate quarterly Internal Control System audits and track findings, owners, deadlines, supporting evidence and completion.


• Support external audits and information requests by coordinating documentation, subject-matter experts, responses and follow-up actions.


• Monitor audit readiness and communicate material risks, recurring findings, systemic issues and overdue actions to leadership.


• Preserve audit objectivity by coordinating with process owners and independent auditors when directly responsible for the process being reviewed.


• Customer and Cross-Functional Improvement


• Coordinate customer-experience improvement activities with Sales and other responsible functions, including issue trends, ownership and progress reporting.


• Build cross-functional and multi-site partnerships to remove barriers, clarify accountability and sustain improvements.


• Facilitate workshops, process reviews and leadership discussions with clear decisions, action owners and deadlines.


• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Your Skills:

• Required Qualifications


• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Project Management, Quality or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.


• Five or more years of experience in continuous improvement, operational excellence, quality, management systems, compliance, internal controls, auditing or a related function.


• Working knowledge of ISO management systems, internal auditing, corrective action, root-cause analysis, process documentation and performance management.


• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders without relying on direct authority.


• Strong analytical, facilitation, written communication, presentation, project-management and organizational skills.


• Ability to manage competing priorities, maintain accurate records and drive actions through completion.


• Sound judgment, integrity, attention to detail and the ability to provide constructive challenge.


• Preferred Qualifications


• Experience within a manufacturing, engineering, automotive or project-based environment.


• Lean, Six Sigma, ISO auditing, quality management, project management or change management training or certification.


• Experience with KPI dashboards, data visualization, workflow tools and document-control systems.


• Experience coordinating global or multi-site process deployments.



• Experience presenting performance insights, risks and improvement recommendations to senior leadership.