Sr Manager, Continuous Improvement

The Sr Manager, Continuous Improvement is a role leads at the regional or enterprise level as a player-coach. The role sets expectations, strengthens scorecards and standards, coaches plant CI and operations leaders, and keeps the network focused on fewer, higher-impact opportunities that deliver measurable results.

Employee Type:

Full time

Location:

US Works from Home

Job Type:

Supply Chain Continuous Improvement

Job Posting Title:

Sr Manager, Continuous Improvement

Job Description:

Schedule: Remote with Travel up to 75%

Work Location: Remote with the ideal candidate living close to Grand Forks, ND; Milwaukee, WI; Oak Brook, IL; Kenosha, WI; or Medina, NY

Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k) with match, STD/LTD/AD&D/Life, HSA, FSA, EAP, Hospital indemnity, Accident Insurance, Identity and Fraud Protection Plan, Legal, and Critical Illness.

Salary, based on experience and other qualifications: $113k to $170k Annually with additional bonus potential

Roles and 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 allowing practical site-level adaptability.

• Coach plant leaders and site CI resources so plant leadership owns execution and results.

• Lead regional or enterprise prioritization to focus on fewer, higher-impact initiatives tied to OEE, productivity, cost, quality and capacity.

• Clarify the score by ensuring leaders can see MOS health, losses, savings, risks and performance gaps.

• Strengthen governance, accountability and role clarity across CI and operations.

• Drive cross-site learning, best practice sharing and scalable results.

• Support accurate 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 ensuring travel, meetings and support requests have clear outcomes.

What Success Looks Like

• Clear roles and accountability exist between plant, regional and enterprise teams.

• Plants own execution and results while CI enables, coaches and challenges.

• Regional scorecards show both execution health and business impact.

• Enterprise-wide improvements are sustained and scaled across the network.

• Savings targets are visible, owned, forecast accurately and actively managed.

• Strong leadership alignment reinforces CI as how the business runs every day.

The duties and responsibilities described are not a comprehensive list of all tasks. Additional tasks and duties may be assigned from time to time as necessitated by business needs. Business needs may require work beyond the typical work schedule.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree preferred.

• 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.

Travel Requirements

• Significant travel role with approximately 75% travel across the network.

• Mix of site visits, leadership meetings and remote work.

• Expected to spend time on the floor at multiple sites to ensure consistency and effectiveness.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Regular standing, walking and movement throughout the plant.

• Ability to work in environments with noise, temperature changes and moving equipment.

• Occasional lifting up to 50 lbs. and use of standard manufacturing safety equipment.

• Frequent interaction with operators and equipment at line level.

• Ability to engage both in conference settings and on active production floors.

• Able to flex between strategic leadership discussions and hands-on observation of operations.

EEO Statement:

Winland Foods seeks to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool, and as a global company we believe our success is enhanced by fostering equity and inclusion in the workplace. Therefore, Winland Foods is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military or veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.