Director, VITAL Deployment & Continuous Improvement (CI) - Europe

The Director, VITAL Deployment & CI – Europe defines and executes the regional continuous improvement strategy aligned to enterprise objectives, regional priorities, and site maturity. This role owns the regional CI roadmap, governance model, improvement portfolio, and benefit realization process to ensure measurable, sustained business impact.

This role advises operations executives, general managers, and functional leaders on investment priorities, readiness, resources, and change strategies to accelerate operational excellence.

Core Responsibilities: 

• Own the Europe CI strategy, roadmap, and deployment priorities aligned to enterprise standards and regional objectives.
• Lead regional CI governance, including portfolio reviews, maturity assessments, benefit validation, operating system reviews, and executive updates.
• Partner with operations executives and site general managers to focus resources on the highest-value opportunities.
• Oversee the regional CI portfolio to align initiatives with financial commitments, risk reduction, customer performance, and capability building.
• Escalate systemic barriers, resource constraints, and performance risks with clear recommendations and countermeasures.
• Define CI competency expectations and development paths for site CI leaders, operations leaders, and functional partners.
• Build regional CI talent by identifying skill gaps, developing future leaders, and supporting organizational design needs.

Qualifications: 

• Minimum of 10–15 years of progressive experience in continuous improvement, operational excellence, manufacturing operations, or business transformation.
• Minimum of 5+ years leading multi-site CI, operational excellence, or transformation initiatives in a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Demonstrated success influencing senior leaders and leading through direct, matrixed, and cross-functional teams.
• Proven experience developing CI strategy, governance models, deployment roadmaps, and executive-level performance reporting.
• Demonstrated financial acumen with experience validating savings, productivity gains, cost avoidance, and working capital improvements.
• Experience leading cultural change and operating system deployment across multiple sites or business units.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Master Black Belt, Lean certification, or equivalent experience preferred.
• Project/program management experience required; certification preferred.

Education Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, or a related technical discipline preferred.
• Master’s Degree or MBA preferred.