Operational Excellence Manager

Rehrig Pacific; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Rehrig Pacific is seeking an Operations Excellence Manager to drive scalable standards and daily management systems. You will lead data-driven continuous improvement, coach leaders, and align execution with safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer expectations.

This role collaborates across Operations and support functions to sustain gains and remove barriers. You will develop training materials, refine KPI dashboards, and own governance for SOPs and audits, while traveling 30–40% to

Qualifications

• 5+ years in operations excellence, continuous improvement, or related fields.
• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional improvement initiatives.
• Proven Lean, root cause analysis, PDCA, A3, kaizen, Gemba and standard work.
• Strong change leadership, facilitation, coaching, and project management skills.
• Proficiency with data analysis and KPI dashboards; executive communication.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an operations excellence roadmap and targets.
• Standardize and simplify processes using Lean tools and visual management.
• Coach leaders to embed continuous improvement in daily operations.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve safety, quality, service, productivity, and cost.
• Facilitate Gemba walks, root cause analysis, kaizen, PDCA, and A3 problem solving with clear owners.
• Develop KPI dashboards, scorecards, and governance for SOPs and audits.

Skills

Lean principles

Gemba

PDCA

A3 problem solving

Kaizen

Change leadership

Facilitation

Coaching

Project management

Data analysis

KPI dashboards

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft 365

BI/reporting tools

AI-enabled productivity tools

Job description

Purpose of the Role

The Operations Excellence Manager improves operational performance by establishing scalable standards, strengthening daily management systems, and leading data-driven continuous improvement initiatives. This role works cross-functionally with Operations leaders to simplify processes, build problem-solving capability, sustain measurable gains, and align execution with safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer expectations.

Areas of Accountability

• Develop and maintain an operations excellence roadmap, site-level improvement plans, and measurable performance targets based on assigned business priorities.
• Standardize and simplify processes using Lean principles, standard work, visual management, and leader routines.
• Coach leaders and teams to embed continuous improvement practices into daily operations and sustain adoption.
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives that increase safety, quality, service, productivity, and cost performance.
• Facilitate Gemba, root cause analysis, kaizen, PDCA, and A3 problem solving; ensure countermeasures have clear owners and due dates.
• Validate benefits, remove barriers, and establish controls that prevent regression.
• Develop and refine KPI dashboards, scorecards, and review routines that create visibility to performance and drive timely action.
• Analyze trends, quantify opportunities, prioritize the improvement pipeline, and communicate progress, risks, and realized value to leadership.
• Align metric definitions, reporting cadence, escalation triggers, and accountability across Operations and support functions.
• Own governance for SOPs, work instructions, standard work, audits, and corrective actions, including approval, version control, implementation, and sustainment.
• Develop practical training, job aids, and facilitation materials; coach teams in Lean tools, KPI interpretation, and disciplined execution.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Bachelors degree preferred, or equivalent relevant experience; 5+ years in operations excellence, continuous improvement, manufacturing, service operations, quality, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional improvement initiatives and applying Lean, root cause analysis, PDCA, A3, kaizen, Gemba, and standard work.
• Strong capability in change leadership, facilitation, coaching, project management, data analysis, KPI dashboards, and executive-ready communication.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365, reporting and visualization tools, and AI-enabled productivity and analytics solutions, including effective prompting, responsible use, output validation, and practical workflow automation; Lean Six Sigma certification preferred.
• Ability to influence without direct authority and travel approximately 3040%.