Operations Readiness Director

Lego Group; Richmond, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 158,000 - 238,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Family Care Leave

Insurances

Wellbeing – Headspace app & wellbeing

Colleague Discount

Bonus

Job summary

LEGO Group is seeking a seasoned leader to drive the start-up of the LVA Greenfield factory in the United States. You will guide end-to-end start-up of production lines, embed automation and digital tools, and ensure readiness across operations, engineering, quality and supply chain.

Your role focuses on robust ramp-up, risk management, and building organizational capability with training plans and readiness validation, all while aligning with LEGO values and global standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end Start-Up journey for the LVA Greenfield factory, ensuring robust and empowered operations.
• Translate global program achievements into local readiness actions, creating a unified delivery roadmap.
• Lead the Global Start-Up Management Framework, ensuring operational ownership beyond technical sign-off.
• Drive risk mitigation continuously, activating assessments and ensuring visibility throughout execution.
• Build organizational capability and readiness, including training plans and operational management systems.
• Establish performance acceleration routines to ensure fast, stable ramp‑up of operations.
• Integrate automation and digital tools into operations, ensuring maturity and full lifecycle readiness.
• Ensure detailed DQP compliance, facilitating decision‑making across R&D, suppliers, and partners.

Job description

Job Description

Are you ready to lead a groundbreaking factory start-up, driving innovation by integrating automated systems and sophisticated digital technologies at LEGO's newest site? Lead the charge in revolutionizing manufacturing within LEGO's Greenfield LVA factory, where you'll drive groundbreaking automation, champion global standards, and ensure flawless operations from Day 1.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end Start-Up journey for the LVA Greenfield factory, ensuring robust and empowered operations.
• Translate global program achievements into local readiness actions, creating a unified delivery roadmap.
• Lead the Global Start-Up Management Framework, ensuring operational ownership beyond technical sign-off.
• Drive risk mitigation continuously, activating assessments and ensuring visibility throughout execution.
• Build organizational capability and readiness, including training plans and operational management systems.
• Establish performance acceleration routines to ensure fast, stable ramp‑up of operations.
• Integrate automation and digital tools into operations, ensuring maturity and full lifecycle readiness.
• Ensure detailed DQP compliance, facilitating decision‑making across R&D, suppliers, and partners.

Play Your Part in Our Team Succeeding

The Greenfield Automation Program is redefining the LEGO Group’s future for automated Packing, Molding, and Logistics, setting standards for next‑generation factories. As the first site for these innovations, LVA represents a significant achievement. Your leadership will ensure the site's readiness for a stable ramp‑up, setting benchmarks for future deployments.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Proven experience leading large‑scale industrial or automation start‑ups, ideally greenfield or new factory environments.

Significant expertise in start‑up of production lines, technology ramp‑up, and operational readiness.

Strong end‑to‑end operations and value chain understanding across manufacturing, quality, engineering, and supply chain.

Experience embedding readiness frameworks such as CQV, DQP, FMEA, PDCA, and associated risk/quality tools.

Demonstrated ability to lead through complexity, ambiguity, and fast‑paced change.

Exceptional leadership presence with experience working and influencing global and local partners.

Strong capability‑building leadership: competency models, training plans, uplifting capability, and readiness validation.

Advanced education in engineering, manufacturing, operations, or similar, or equivalent experience, is highly desired.

Nice To Have: Experience supporting multi‑site or multi‑technology ramp‑ups.

Familiarity with Lean, DfM, continuous improvement, or structured problem‑solving frameworks.

Understanding of digital manufacturing (MES, SCADA, data analytics, traceability, automation platforms).

A global mentality with a passion for building diverse, high‑performing teams.

Energy, resilience, and growth‑mindset orientation — adopting challenge as opportunity.

A team‑oriented, fun, and humble approach that reflects LEGO values: shared success, curiosity, creativity, and positivity.

Compensation

The salary for this position has a range of $158,376.00 - $237,564.00 based on anticipated responsibilities, market benchmarks, and organizational constraints.

The LEGO Group carefully considers a wide range of compensation factors, including but not limited to prior experience, skills, expertise, location, internal equity, and other considerations permitted by law. The comprehensive remuneration details, inclusive of benefits, will be communicated upon finalisation of the employment offer.

What’s in it for you?

• Family Care Leave – We offer enhanced paid leave options for those important times.
• Insurances – All colleagues are covered by our life and disability insurance which provides protection and peace of mind.
• Wellbeing – We want you to be your best self, so you’ll have access to the Headspace App and lots of wellbeing initiatives and programs run by local teams where you are based.
• Colleague Discount – We know you'll love to build so from day 1 you will qualify for our generous colleague discount.
• Bonus – We do our best work to succeed together. When goals are reached and if eligible, you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme.

Your workplace – When you join the team you'll be assigned a primary workplace location i.e. one of our Offices, stores or factories. Our hybrid work policy means an average of 3 days per week in the office. The hiring team will discuss the policy and role eligibility with you during the recruitment process.

We strive to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive culture of play at the LEGO Group, where everyone feels safe, valued and they belong.

The LEGO Group is highly committed to equal employment opportunity and equal pay and seeks to encourage applicants from all backgrounds (eg. sex, gender identity or expression, race/ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion and Veteran status) to apply for roles in our team.

We support our employees in being there for the moments that matter in life and celebrate families of all kinds, the loved ones that make us who we are.

Being part of the LEGO Group also means taking part in our annual Play Day, playing a part in building a sustainable future and continuing our mission to “inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.”

The LEGO Group is fully committed to Children’s Rights and Child Wellbeing across the globe.

Candidates offered positions with high engagement with children are required to take part in Child Safeguarding Background Screening, as a condition of the offer.

Thank you for sharing our global commitment to Children’s Rights.

We conduct drug screening as a part of our drug free workplace policy and in support of our commitment to the health and safety of our employees.

Online Application Accessibility Statement

Which is intended for people with disabilities - LEGO systems endeavors to make www.LEGO.com/jobs accessible to any and all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our web site or need assistance completing the application process, please contact the HR Service Desk at 1.860-763-7777, option #3. Please note, these communication channels should be used for those having difficulty accessing our on-line channels, not to inquire about job opportunities.

We are aware of reports of fraudulent emails and social media messages from individuals falsely claiming to represent the LEGO Group recruitment teams. Please check that recruitment communications are from an official LEGO® email address before responding.

Children are our role models. Their curiosity, creativity and imagination inspire everything we do. Our founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen made his first wooden toy in 1932. He persevered against the odds until his business was a success. Constantly innovating, never compromising. Building, rebuilding, and striving for the best. It is this resilience and permanent sense of renewal that drives us forward. We are never still. We will always be creating, inventing, andhaving fun. Build your career brick by brick and play your part in continuing our mission to “inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow”.