Associate Lean Director - Global

Role Overview:

Lean Associate Directors are responsible for translating enterprise Lean strategy into actionable initiatives at the team, department, or site level. They serve as change agents who guide their teams through Lean adoption, foster a culture of continuous improvement and ensure alignment with business goals.

Reports To: Lean VP

Mentored By: Lean Director

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensure alignment with the company's mission and values.

• Cascade strategic goals from the top of the organization down to individual contributors, ensuring everyone understands their role in achieving the company's vision.

• Oversee Lean Business system, Lean methodologies, tools and associated process improvement standard work. Establish Lean governance structures, performance dashboards & sustainment mechanisms.

• Work closely with the executive leadership team, facilitating effective communication and collaboration to drive strategic initiatives.

• Serve as a liaison between the executive team and key stakeholders, ensuring transparent and effective communication.

• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging Lean methodologies to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness.

• Identify and mitigate risks, ensuring the organization's long-term sustainability and success.

• Coach and develop Lean Practitioners, Masters and resource for advance training - expected to teach advanced level courses.

What you will do:

• Define, design, and implement process improvement methodologies and tools.

• Identify key value drivers, providing practical tools and methodologies to improve process performance.

• Support integration and alignment vertically and horizontally across the organization.

• Lead improvement projects aligned with business strategies and priorities.

• Utilize Lean methodologies to drive process improvements in key areas.

• Conduct and manage Lean training sessions for all personnel.

• Conduct root cause analysis to identify improvement opportunities, recommending appropriate technology and business solutions.

• Facilitate Obeya Room Set-ups, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Kaizen workshops, Daily Work Installations, and driving action closure.

How you will do it:

• Solve challenges by helping with global synergy opportunities, best practice sharing implementation.

• Work closely with local leadership to implement and deliver improvements in process performance.

• Mentor other project leaders to accelerate results and improve the culture of continuous improvement.

• Identify key process improvement opportunities and lead process standardization.

• Conduct training sessions and workshops to promote Lean methodologies.

• Facilitate workshops and training sessions, balancing theoretical knowledge with practical application.

• Foster innovation by introducing new CI techniques, methodologies, and tools, sharing insights broadly across CI Team.

• Oversee Lean maturity assessments and roadmap development

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Quality, Engineering, or a related field.

• Minimum 7-10 years of experience in Continuous Improvement.

• Experience leading business transformation projects - track record of delivering tangible, recognized business & customer results

• Demonstrated leadership capability, strong business acumen, ability to align change management approach to business needs.

• Strong communication and presentation skills. Ability to establish rapport with leaders, customers and peers.

• Proven analytical and systems-thinking: design & deployment of end-to-end solutions that exceed requirements.

• Excellent facilitation and strategic thinking skills

• Experience in leading, training, and coaching Lean and 6Sigma methods & tools.

• Proficiency with Lean systems, cultural transformation and change management

• Proactive risk management and issue resolution skills with appropriate escalation practices

• Travel Requirements: 25-50%