Plant Operations Leader: Lean & Continuous Improvement

EXALTA; Town of Florida (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

EXALTA in the United States seeks an Operations Manager to lead plant operations, driving safety, quality, delivery, and cost objectives. You will guide cross-functional teams across engineering, quality, supply chain, and HR to deliver operational excellence and growth.

The role focuses on strategy execution, workforce development, and continuous improvement through Lean methods, with accountability for budgets and performance metrics. A senior leadership presence is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required or equivalent years of experience.
• 5–7 years progressive manufacturing or operations leadership experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of leadership experience managing leaders, supervisors, or large operational teams.
• Experience in regulated manufacturing environments is preferred.
• Proven experience leading deployment and sustainment of Lean Manufacturing systems, operational excellence, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong understanding of production operations, quality systems, supply chain coordination, and manufacturing performance metrics.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for plant manufacturing operations, ensuring achievement of Delivery, Inventory, Production, and Cost objectives.
• Lead daily manufacturing operations across all shifts to ensure operational efficiency, schedule attainment, customer satisfaction, and workforce engagement.
• Oversee production planning, inventory management, forecasting, capacity analysis, labor utilization, scheduling, and operational resource allocation.
• Own improvement of key operational performance indicators including safety metrics, quality performance, on-time delivery, productivity, cost performance, scrap, yield, and customer service levels.
• Execute operational strategies and improvement initiatives to optimize plant performance and support organizational growth objectives.
• Partner closely with Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Facilities, Finance, and HR to ensure alignment of operational priorities and business objectives.
• Lead and support continuous improvement initiatives utilizing Lean Manufacturing, structured problem solving, and operational excellence methodologies.
• Champion a culture of accountability, employee engagement, innovation, safety, and continuous improvement throughout the organization.
• Maintain active involvement in employee selection, leadership development, succession planning, performance management, and organizational capability building.
• Lead and coach supervisors, leads and other operational leaders to strengthen leadership effectiveness and team performance.
• Ensure compliance with all company policies, safety standards, quality systems, regulatory requirements, and operational procedures.
• Drive problem-solving activities related to production, quality, customer complaints, CAPA, non-conformances, and operational performance gaps.
• Work with the Plant Director to develop and manage operational budgets, capital planning, cost-control initiatives, and resource planning activities.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration and communication to ensure alignment, agility, and responsiveness to customer and business needs.

Skills

Leadership

Lean Manufacturing

Operational excellence

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Operations Management, or related field

Job description

EXALTA in the United States seeks an Operations Manager to lead plant operations, driving safety, quality, delivery, and cost objectives. You will guide cross-functional teams across engineering, quality, supply chain, and HR to deliver operational excellence and growth.

The role focuses on strategy execution, workforce development, and continuous improvement through Lean methods, with accountability for budgets and performance metrics. A senior leadership presence is essential.