Director, Operational Excellence

Role overview

This position is for a European professional willing to relocate to Saudi Arabia. The Director of Operational Excellence will lead the function responsible for lifting manufacturing performance, productivity, asset reliability, cost control, and long-term sustainability across manufacturing sites.

The role is centered on Lean, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, performance management, process optimization, digital manufacturing, and the delivery of operational improvement projects. It works closely with Production, Maintenance, Quality, HSE, Supply Chain, Finance, and IT. The scope includes supporting management system effectiveness and ESG-related efforts, while not taking over day-to-day production control, quality assurance execution, maintenance execution, HSE operations, or final operational approvals. In addition, the role is expected to help shape a culture of data-led decisions, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational excellence across the organization.

Key responsibilities

• Build and roll out the operational excellence roadmap in line with business goals, manufacturing priorities, and performance targets.
• Create the governance structure for improvement work, including prioritization methods, benefits realization tracking, and standardized operating practices across plants.
• Support senior leaders with insights on productivity gains, operational constraints, cost-reduction opportunities, and overall transformation progress.
• Drive Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, 5S, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED), and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) programs across manufacturing operations.
• Spot inefficiencies, waste, bottlenecks, and repeated losses, then coordinate corrective actions with the relevant process owners.
• Lead root cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, and process standardization to strengthen stability, quality, efficiency, and output.
• Set up and monitor operational KPIs such as OEE, yield, scrap, on-time delivery, manufacturing cost, energy usage, equipment availability, and realized improvement gains.
• Prepare dashboards, management summaries, and gap analyses that enable better decision-making.
• Run performance discussions with Manufacturing, Planning, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and executive stakeholders.
• Review layouts, workflows, process capability, capacity limits, and debottlenecking opportunities to improve flow and throughput.
• Support maintenance excellence through preventive, predictive, and reliability-focused improvement work in coordination with Maintenance.
• Recommend actions to improve equipment use, asset reliability, production cycle times, resource efficiency, and process capability without owning day-to-day maintenance execution.
• Lead manufacturing digital transformation efforts such as MES, analytics, smart manufacturing tools, predictive insights, and performance monitoring with IT.
• Manage assigned operational excellence, plant improvement, automation, and capital projects from launch through implementation and closure.
• Track project scope, timelines, milestones, resources, budgets, risks, and the delivery of business benefits.
• Coordinate management system improvement work and audit follow-up actions related to applicable ISO standards with the responsible teams.
• Promote sustainability efforts focused on energy efficiency, waste minimization, recycling, responsible manufacturing, and resource optimization.
• Help build a culture of continuous improvement, operational discipline, safety awareness, accountability, teamwork, innovation, and ownership.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of continuous improvement methods, manufacturing systems, operational performance, and process optimization.
• Master’s degree, MBA, or other postgraduate qualification in Engineering Management, Operations Management, Manufacturing Excellence, or a similar area is preferred.
• Professional certification in Lean Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, Project Management, or Continuous Improvement is preferred.
• At least 10 years of experience in manufacturing, operational excellence, continuous improvement, industrial operations, plant performance, or process improvement.
• Minimum 5 years in a leadership or senior specialist capacity delivering Lean, Six Sigma, performance improvement, and cross-functional transformation initiatives.
• Proven track record in OEE improvement, yield optimization, scrap reduction, root cause analysis, CAPA, cost optimization, operational reporting, and project delivery.
• Experience in cable manufacturing, plastics, extrusion, heavy industry, metals, chemicals, petrochemicals, or similar high-volume manufacturing environments is preferred.
• Exposure to multi-site operations or geographically spread manufacturing facilities is preferred.
• Experience with MES, ERP platforms, Power BI, Minitab, Industry 4.0, predictive maintenance, ESG programs, AI-based analytics, or smart manufacturing solutions is preferred.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential.
• Arabic fluency, or another relevant regional language, is an advantage.

Additional information

The role is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and requires relocation for a European professional. The position is designed for a full-time onsite arrangement within the operations function.

Competency focus

The role calls for technical strength in operational excellence, Lean Six Sigma, OEE, process optimization, RCA, CAPA, SMED, TPM, VSM, project management, cost optimization, ERP and MES environments, and operational performance reporting. Helpful additional exposure includes AI-enabled manufacturing, Industry 4.0, predictive maintenance, advanced analytics, ESG performance, ISO management systems, and industrial manufacturing processes.