Director of Manufacturing

Company Overview

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM), headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and Bridgestone Europe, Middle East and Africa (BSEMEA), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, operate collectively as a “Bridgestone West” strategic region. This region services the strategic business needs of teams across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa. BSAM and BSEMEA are subsidiaries of Bridgestone Corporation, globally headquartered in Japan. Bridgestone and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand products and solutions to address the needs of a broad range of customers and industries.

Job Category

Position Summary

Responsibilities

Safety and Teammate Well-Being: Lead a proactive, teammate-centered safety culture with the goal of an accident- and incident-free workplace. Ensure compliance with OSHA requirements and company safety standards; provide visible leadership, timely corrective action, and effective risk reduction. Support Ease and Empowerment by creating a respectful workplace where teammates have the knowledge, authority, and confidence to identify hazards and improve work.

Strategy and KPI Execution: Develop and execute the manufacturing strategy in alignment with Bridgestone objectives. Translate business priorities into measurable goals for safety, quality, delivery, cost, people, sustainability, and asset performance; use disciplined performance reviews to ensure accountability and timely countermeasures.

Continuous Improvement and Efficiency: Champion Lean manufacturing, problem solving, standard work, visual management, and waste reduction. Improve throughput, cycle time, labor productivity, equipment effectiveness, and process capability while maintaining safety and quality. Advance the E8 value of Efficiency by maximizing productivity and Economy by strengthening the economic value of operations.

Quality and Regulatory Compliance: Ensure aircraft tires and retread processes consistently meet customer, product, and process requirements. Maintain effective quality systems and compliance with applicable FAA, EASA, ISO, environmental, and other governmental or industry requirements. Foster a culture of prevention, traceability, disciplined change control, and rapid root-cause correction that supports safe and reliable aircraft operations.

Financial and Resource Stewardship: Develop and manage operating and capital budgets; control manufacturing costs; optimize labor, materials, energy, inventory, and maintenance resources; and use financial and operational data to improve profitability. Build business cases and prioritize investments based on safety, compliance, customer value, risk, capacity, and return.

People and Organization Leadership: Build organizational capability through workforce planning, selection, onboarding, training, coaching, performance management, succession planning, and leadership development. Set clear expectations and create an inclusive, accountable culture that values teammate dignity, engagement, collaboration, and continuous learning, reinforcing Empowerment and Emotion.

Cross-Functional and Customer Collaboration: Partner with Logistics, Supply Chain, Procurement, Commercial, Finance, Human Resources, and Bridgestone technical and corporate teams to align capacity, materials, staffing, schedules, product changes, and customer requirements. Promote transparent communication and shared accountability for business results.

Technology, Reliability, and Innovation: Provide leadership for engineering, maintenance, automation, process controls, and capital projects. Strengthen preventive and predictive maintenance, equipment reliability, and technical capability. Advance Extension through innovation and reliable supply and Ease by supporting customer peace of mind through dependable, high-quality aviation products.

Sustainability and the E8 Commitment: Integrate environmental and social responsibility into manufacturing decisions. Reduce energy consumption, emissions, waste, scrap, and resource use; support responsible materials management and compliance; and identify practical opportunities for reuse, recycling, and process improvement. Demonstrate Energy and Ecology through measurable environmental progress while balancing safety, quality, delivery, cost, and long-term business continuity

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressively responsible manufacturing leadership experience, including senior-level accountability for multi-functional operations in a regulated, safety-critical, aerospace, tire, rubber, or comparable industrial environment.
• Demonstrated knowledge of manufacturing systems, Lean principles, equipment reliability, quality management, environmental compliance, and occupational health and safety requirements.
• Ability to interpret and act on operational and financial data, including safety, quality, delivery, cost, labor, maintenance, capacity, and sustainability metrics; proficiency with ERP systems and Microsoft Office applications.
• Strong strategic leadership, communication, talent development, collaboration, change leadership, and decision-making skills, with the ability to lead through influence across functions and organizational levels.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Engineering, or a related field required; master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• Lean, Six Sigma, quality, maintenance, or project management certification is a plus

At Bridgestone, you are Free to Be

We believe people can only provide superior service and quality to others when they feel safe bringing their chosen version of themselves to work. We believe in championing all perspectives, individuals and teams because we understand the importance of seeing the world and our business through many different lenses. So, show us what you are made of, because who you are is what we need.

What we offer

At Bridgestone, what really matters is to foster co-creation opportunities and empowering you to be creative and curious to make mobility safer, more efficient, and more sustainable for future generations. Whatever role you fill, when you represent Bridgestone, you are a valued teammate, and part of our larger mission to “Serve Society with Superior Quality”, for that, we offer you more than just a competitive compensation; we will provide you:

• A supportive and engaging onboarding experience to ensure a smooth transition into our team.
• The opportunity to develop and grow, through training and regular mentorship.
• Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
• A truly global, dynamic and challenging work environment.
• Agility and work/life effectiveness and your long-term well-being.
• An effective and inclusive team.

Bridgestone is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is our policy to consider all individuals for employment based on their unique merit and without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Employment Eligibility

If hired, a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification must be completed at the start of employment. Temporary work authorization or the need for sponsorship may disqualify you from employment.