Sr Manager, Continuous Improvement

Role Overview

Sr Manager, Continuous Improvement is a player-coach role leading regional or enterprise-level continuous improvement (CI) across multiple sites. You will set standards and expectations, coach plant CI and operations leaders, and help the network prioritize fewer, higher-impact initiatives tied to measurable results.

Schedule / Work Style

• Remote with travel up to 75% across the network
• Ideal candidate lives near: Grand Forks, ND; Milwaukee, WI; Oak Brook, IL; Kenosha, WI; or Medina, NY

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve Winland Operational Excellence standards, tools, and role expectations across sites
• Ensure consistency in MOS non-negotiables, scorecards, reporting, and follow-up (while enabling practical site-level adaptation)
• Coach plant leaders and site CI resources so plant leadership owns execution and results
• Lead cross-site prioritization focused on initiatives tied to OEE, productivity, cost, quality, and capacity
• Clarify performance through scorecards showing MOS health, losses, savings, risks, and performance gaps
• Strengthen governance, accountability, and role clarity across CI and operations
• Drive cross-site learning and scalable best-practice sharing
• Support CSI forecasting, savings validation, and gap recovery plans
• Ensure digital tools and data are consistent, accurate, usable, and action-oriented
• Reduce low-value activity by requiring clear outcomes for travel, meetings, and support requests

What Success Looks Like

• Clear roles and accountability across plant, regional, and enterprise teams
• Plants own execution and CI delivers coaching/enabling and challenge
• Regional scorecards reflect both execution health and business impact
• Enterprise improvements are sustained and scaled
• Savings targets are visible, owned, accurately forecasted, and actively managed
• Strong leadership alignment that CI is embedded in how the business runs daily

Requirements

• 10+ years of operations, manufacturing, engineering, or CI leadership experience
• Proven ability to lead across multiple sites and influence senior leaders
• Demonstrated experience building capability, standardizing systems, and delivering measurable results
• Bachelor’s degree preferred

Travel / Physical Demands

• Approximately 75% travel (site visits, leadership meetings, remote work)
• Ability to spend time on the floor observing operations
• Regular standing/walking; may involve noise, temperature changes, and moving equipment
• Occasional lifting up to 50 lbs and use of standard manufacturing safety equipment