Operational Excellence Manager

Rehrig Pacific; Jersey City (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Rehrig Pacific in Jersey City, NJ seeks an Operations Excellence Manager to drive scalable standards and data-driven improvements across manufacturing and service operations. You will lead Lean initiatives, develop KPI dashboards, coach leaders, and ensure governance of SOPs while partnering with cross-functional teams to deliver safety, quality, and cost improvements.

This role requires 5+ years in operations excellence, Lean Six Sigma preferred, and strong change leadership with executive

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; 5+ years in operations excellence or related field.
• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional improvement initiatives.
• Strong change leadership, facilitation, coaching and project management.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an operations excellence roadmap with targets.
• Standardize processes using Lean, standard work, and visual management.
• Coach leaders to embed continuous improvement in daily operations.
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives improving safety, quality, service, productivity, and cost.
• Facilitate Gemba, root cause analysis, kaizen, PDCA, and A3 problem solving.

Skills

Lean principles

Standard work

Visual management

Leader routines

Change leadership

Facilitation

Coaching

Project management

Data analysis

KPI dashboards

Executive communication

Influence without authority

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred or equivalent experience

Tools

Microsoft 365

Reporting & visualization tools

AI-enabled productivity/analytics tools

Workflow automation

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%.