Continuous Improvement Specialist

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

About the role

The Continuous Improvement Specialist is responsible for leading and sustaining site continuous improvement efforts that improve safety, quality, service, cost, efficiency, reliability, and employee engagement. This role owns the site WAVE/cost-savings management process, including project pipeline development, savings tracking, benefit validation, governance routines, and sustained-results follow-up. Working closely with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Safety, Training, Supply Chain, RDA, and other cross-functional teams, the Continuous Improvement Specialist will facilitate structured problem solving, strengthen standard work, improve KPI routines, support change adoption, and help build a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the site WAVE/cost-savings process.
• Facilitate continuous improvement initiatives that improve safety, quality, service, cost, efficiency, reliability, waste reduction, labor utilization, and employee engagement.
• Lead structured problem-solving activities, including root cause analysis, DMAIC, process mapping, waste walks, standard work reviews, corrective action follow-up, and sustainment checks.
• Support Lean manufacturing routines, including 5S, Kaizen, visual management, daily management, leader standard work, workplace organization, and performance review routines.
• Analyze production data, KPI trends, downtime, waste, yield, throughput, labor efficiency, action completion, and process performance to identify improvement opportunities and validate results.
• Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Safety, Training, Supply Chain, RDA, and site leadership to prioritize improvement efforts and align resources.
• Support RDA and commercialization activities by connecting trials, new product learnings, process observations, and post-run feedback to actionable improvement opportunities.
• Develop and maintain CI tools, dashboards, trackers, action plans, standard work, SOP updates, one-point lessons, training materials, and communication materials.
• Coach employees and leaders on continuous improvement behaviors and performance ownership.
• Support safety, food safety, quality, GMP, PPE, and workplace organization requirements.

Qualifications and skills

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Business, Food Science, Industrial Technology, or a related field preferred; equivalent manufacturing or operations experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• 2–5 years of experience in manufacturing, operations, continuous improvement, Lean initiatives, quality systems, commercialization support, project management, or process improvement environments.
• Working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing principles and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Experience supporting cost-savings initiatives, project pipelines, productivity programs, KPI management, action tracking, benefit validation, or operational performance reporting.
• Strong analytical, communication, facilitation, coaching, project management, and organizational skills.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally across Operations, Maintenance,