Senior Manager, Continuous Improvement

About the role

Danfoss is seeking a Continuous Improvement Manager to lead the deployment of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives at our liquid-cooling manufacturing and distribution facility. This role is responsible for building a culture of operational excellence by driving productivity improvements, eliminating waste, standardizing processes, and helping teams solve problems using data-driven methods. The right person will create sustainable improvements across manufacturing, supply chain, quality, engineering, and business operations while developing employees' continuous improvement capabilities and delivering measurable business results.

Responsibilities

• Lead the site's continuous improvement strategy, lean roadmap, productivity initiatives, and improvement project portfolio.
• Drive implementation of lean tools and methodologies including daily management, standard work, visual management, 5S, value stream mapping, and problem-solving processes.
• Identify, prioritize, and execute improvement opportunities that enhance safety, quality, delivery performance, productivity, cost, and customer satisfaction.
• Facilitate kaizen events and improvement workshops focused on process efficiency, material flow, quality improvements, changeover reduction, and waste elimination.
• Coach leaders and teams on continuous improvement principles, root cause analysis, process observation, and sustainable problem-solving practices.
• Track project results, validate improvement benefits, and ensure successful implementation and long-term sustainment of improvements.
• Partner with Finance to measure and validate productivity gains, cost savings, inventory improvements, labor efficiencies, and other business benefits.
• Support manufacturing growth and operational readiness by identifying bottlenecks, process constraints, training needs, and workflow improvements.
• Develop continuous improvement capabilities across all levels of the organization through coaching, training, and mentorship.
• Establish sustainment processes, audits, and leader standard work to ensure improvements remain effective over time.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve manufacturing, supply chain, quality, engineering, administrative, and support processes.
• Promote a culture where continuous improvement is part of daily operations and ownership is driven by the teams closest to the work.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Business, or a related field.
• Experience leading continuous improvement, lean manufacturing, operational excellence, industrial engineering, or manufacturing operations initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience driving cross-functional improvement projects and achieving measurable business results.
• Strong leadership, facilitation, and change management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in a related field.
• Lean, Six Sigma, DBS, or other continuous improvement certifications.
• Experience facilitating kaizen events, value stream mapping workshops, and productivity improvement programs.
• Experience in manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, or industrial operations environments.

Skills

• Strong knowledge of lean manufacturing principles, continuous improvement methodologies, and operational excellence tools.
• Experience implementing daily management systems, standard work, visual management, 5S, value stream mapping, and problem-solving processes.
• Ability to analyze operational metrics including productivity, inventory, lead time, quality performance, downtime, and cost improvement opportunities.
• Experience developing improvement roadmaps, managing project pipelines, and tracking financial and operational benefits.
• Strong coaching and facilitation skills with the ability to influence leaders and employees at all organizational levels.
• Ability to partner effectively with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, HR, and EHS teams.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and project management skills with a passion for building a culture of continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Bonus system
• Paid vacation
• Retirement plan
• Flexible working hours
• Personal insurance
• Opportunity to join Employee Resource Groups
• State of the art virtual work environment
• Employee Referral Program

Pay

The targeted salary range is $120,000 - $150,000 depending on experience.