Operational Excellence Engineer

AMETEK Inc.; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 65,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

AMETEK Inc. in St. Louis seeks an Operational Excellence Engineer to drive continuous improvement across the plant, applying Lean and Six Sigma methods to boost safety, quality, and productivity.

You will lead cross-functional projects, develop standard work, implement cost-optimization tools, and mentor teams in Kaizen and 5S, while exploring AI tools to enhance decision-making and outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, or Chemical Engineering or equivalent.
• 3–5 years’ experience and Lean or Six Sigma.
• Experience executing continuous improvement / Lean / Six Sigma efforts with measurable benefits.
• Strong communication and project management skills.
• Willingness to use AI tools to improve productivity and costs.

Responsibilities

• Champion safety and drive a safety-first culture site-wide.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on CI projects to improve efficiency and quality.
• Develop process documentation and SOPs to capture tacit knowledge.
• Use 5S, visual management, and kaizen to raise organizational capability.
• Support design, implementation, and launch of cost-optimization projects.
• Apply Lean/Six Sigma tools to reduce defects and waste and create visual controls.
• Identify, prioritize, and track project results and progress.
• Support and mentor teams in New Product and process improvement initiatives.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement as a competitive advantage.

Skills

Lean Six Sigma

Continuous Improvement

Problem Solving

Change Management

AI tools

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering

Tools

5S

Visual Management

Kaizen

Project Management

Job description

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Job Title: Operational Excellence Engineer

Location: St. Louis, MO, US, 63114

Business Unit: Thermal Process Management

Posting Date: Oct 19, 2026

Job Description:

The Operational Excellence (Opex) Engineer will be responsible for accelerating the Continuous Improvement initiatives (programs, process, & projects) within the plant. The Opex Engineer assists in the development, implementation, maintenance, quality, and improvement of the day-to-day operations with a focus on lean principles. He/she aims to support development, implementation & sustainability of world class operational capabilities overtime through continued coaching in the facility.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Champions Safety Site-wide, driving improvements and safety-first culture.
• Collaborates with cross functional teams at all levels on continuous improvement projects, aimed directly at improving efficiencies, reducing waste, defect reduction, and low-value activities, improving quality & productivity.
• Actively support team’s ability to solve their short-term and long-term operational issues by developing key process documentation to translate the tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, elaborate standard operating procedures and guidelines, share best practices.
• Actively support improving organizational capabilities by using 5S, visual management, teamwork, focused improvement, practical problem solving, time studies, process flow mapping, root cause analysis, and kaizen.
• Support the design and implementation of specific projects.
• Support and assist management, and plant supervisors, in implementing cost optimization tools; including, but not limited to Lean, Six Sigma, High Performance Work Teams, etc.
• Support application of process improvement tools to identify measurable standards to improve business capabilities (Safety/Quality/Productivity): specifically, Lean tools and methodology to improve process capability and eliminate defects, as well as tools and principles to eliminate waste and create visual controls.
• Support cost optimization projects, including project identification, prioritization, and selection, tracking project results, monitoring project progress, and reporting on progress.
• Supports design, implementation, and launches of New Product projects.
• Actively create a culture in which continuous Improvement becomes organizational values to create a competitive advantage.
• Support and maintain quality standards and procedures.

Position Requirements: Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, or Chemical Engineering or equivalent
• 3-5 years’ experience and Lean or Six Sigma
• Experience executing continuous improvement / Lean / Six Sigma efforts and methodologies and enabling efficiency, effectiveness, and tangible financial benefit.
• Previous participation in kaizen events preferred.
• Successful project management experience and acumen
• Comfortable with change management
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to use AI tools to improve productivity, decision-making, work quality, and to reduce costs. The successful candidate must be able to identify appropriate AI use cases and critically evaluate AI-generated outputs.

About O'Brien:

• For over 50 years, O'Brien, a business of AMETEK®, has been a trusted partner to the petrochemical, refining, pulp & paper, and power industries. We specialize in engineered solutions that ensure reliable process measurement and control, even in the harshest environments.
• Our expertise in heat transfer and fluid transport allows us to deliver complete, code-compliant systems tailored to your application. Whether you're looking for off-the-shelf reliability or custom-engineered performance, O'Brien makes it easy to choose the right solution.

Compensation

Employee Type: Salaried

Currency: USD

Salary Minimum: 65,000

Salary Maximum: 80,000

Incentive: No

Disclaimer:Where a specific pay range is noted, it is a good faith estimate at the time of this posting. The actual salary offered will be based on experience, skills, qualifications, market / business considerations, and geographic location.

AMETEK, Inc. is a leading global provider of industrial technology solutions serving a diverse set of attractive niche markets with annual sales over $7.5billion.

AMETEK is committed to making a safer, sustainable, and more productive world a reality. We use differentiated technology solutions to solve our customers' most complex challenges. We employ 22,000colleagues, in 35countries, that are grounded by our core values: Ethics and Integrity, Respect for the Individual, Inclusion, Teamwork, and Social Responsibility. AMETEK is a component of the S&P 500. Visit https://www.ametek.com/careers for more information.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. Individuals who need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process should call 1 [phone].