Director of Operational Excellence, Colorado
Operational Excellence Director for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing
Are you ambitious, structured, and yet innovative and do you want to become part of our Lean Transformation journey, leading a team to deploy Lean across multiple manufacturing sites? Join a dynamic and international company where everyone is responsible for delivering right on time as one team!
AGC Biologics is an international and modern organization with production sites in Europe, Japan, and US. AGC Biologics is the largest contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in the world and currently employs more than 300 people in Colorado across the Boulder and Longmont sites. AGC Biologics delivers biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing of Drug Bulk Intermediates/Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients for both clinical studies as well as for the global commercial market.
Overview:
You will join a newly established global Operational Excellence department, charged with actively deploying a new Lean Production System across the Colorado manufacturing sites (Boulder and Longmont). This newly created Operational Excellence Director role will work closely with the Boulder and Longmont General Managers and their leadership teams to further define and execute the Lean Production System deployment plan for Colorado and identify and prioritize Operational Excellence initiatives. This individual will directly report to the Sr Director of Global Operational Excellence and will report dotted line to the Boulder and Longmont General Managers and sit on the Boulder/Longmont Site Leadership Team(s).
This individual will act as the senior continuous improvement champion for Colorado, and help others see the bigger picture in terms of performance and improvement opportunities across the entire scope of the Colorado Sites and the global network. As part of the global Operational Excellence team, this person is responsible for facilitating and actively supporting both global as well as site-specific Operational Excellence initiatives.
This person acts as a leader and architect to building capabilities that support the goals of transforming our culture into a new way of working: one free of wastes, has established smooth flow, and an aligned continuous improvement spirit amongst all employees. This expert is viewed as the top Lean-Six Sigma expert across the Colorado sites who coaches and mentors others. This person will supervise a newly created Senior Operational Excellence Business partner, who also supports the Colorado sites.
Essential Job Duties:
- Takes active leadership of lean deployment, lean thinking mindsets, and improving maturity
- ALeads large focused improvement and optimization along the Lean journey including initiatives which cover the all the operational dimensions of Safety, Quality, Delivery, Engagement and Cost.
- Ability to influence with or without authority, facilitate groups with diverse perspectives, bring teams to alignment.
- Have a high tolerance for ambiguity, being humble, curious and vulnerable, when faced with challenges.
- Possess a contribution mindset fueled by an inner drive to take initiative without being directed to do so.
- Demonstrate effective leadership through communication, respect, influence, persuasion, and trust.
Functional Knowledge:
- Designs, recommends, and coaches in continuous improvement methodologies, such as Kata, Kaizen, A3 thinking, and other structured problem solving.
- Facilitates, assists, and champions in business process management and the teams applying continuous improvement methodologies.
- Effectively partners with site leadership to understand root causes for gaps and identify potential issues between existing and desired states, and recommends best plans for resolutions that will contribute to closing identified gaps.
- Create an environment of strong team spirit, timely and effective communications, sense of urgency, high motivation and inspire team to achieve goals in the immediate and longer term.
- Leads decision making support and make recommendations regarding best options.
Education / Experience:
- BS / BA degree with 15+ years of any industry experience; or Master's degree with 10+ years of any industry experience.
- Extensive previous experience in Lean settings, and experience with Lean transformation preferred. Candidates from any industry are welcome to apply.
AGC offers
AGC offers a dynamic working place with good opportunities of working with a varied array of manufacturing tasks and challenges. You will get insight into and experience with the way the various departments throughout a contract manufacturing organization interact to achieve success. Exciting and challenging assignments will constantly come your way, and you will, to a considerable extent, be able to plan your daily work yourself. AGC offers an informal working environment, where humor is part of the daily work life. We respect each other and our individual differences. AGC employees are flexible and take pride in working together to achieve goals - as one team.
AGC Biologics offers a highly competitive compensation package and a friendly, collaborative culture that values personal initiative and professional achievement. AGC Biologics is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.