Continuous Improvement Manager

Job Description

Location: Madera, CA (supporting 4 additional sites)
Travel requirement: Up to 25%

Sealed Air is seeking a Continuous Improvement Leader to champion and drive operational excellence across our Madera, CA facility and four additional sites. This high-impact role is central to fostering a culture of continuous improvement, aligning site-level initiatives with strategic business goals, and ensuring the effective implementation of our Performance Management System.

As a strategic thought partner and coach, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities for improvement, implement sustainable solutions, and influence change across all organizational levels. Your leadership will help accelerate performance, support policy deployment, and contribute to Sealed Air’s global improvement efforts.

This is an exciting opportunity for a results-driven professional with a passion for Lean principles, hands-on problem-solving, and coaching teams toward operational excellence.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Leads continuous improvement initiatives focused on improving performance. This will include routine status reviews of the Focused Improvement Registries across the site for effectiveness and impact to goals.
• Develop and propose goals which support strategic business objectives for the site. Ensure these goals are cascaded throughout the site and also ensure improvement initiatives are in place to reach these goals.
• Ensure the Performance Management System is implemented and sustained through verification at all levels of the organization. This includes having an effective system in place that ensures audits are taking place at all levels of responsibility.
• The Continuous Improvement Leader will coach all levels of the site on the Performance Management System with a focus on 3 principles of lean leadership; Go See, Ask Why, and Always Show Respect.
• Ensure proper training is provided for all levels to support and sustain the Performance Management System. This includes training on the Performance Management System implementation and also lean tools to support the system.
• Track performance to planned levels/targets and make sure the PCDA cycle is functioning in a manner that addresses gaps.
• Synchronize the site with global improvement activities and initiatives. Ensure best practices from site are shared with others.
• Recommend disciplinary action to Managers.
• Assist in policy deployment for the site including goal setting and tracking of execution.

Qualifications

• Bachelor Degree required, technical degree preferred
• 5+ years minimum manufacturing experience
• Green Belt Certification preferred
• Able to work both independently and within a team, generating results with general/minimal guidance from management

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills along with professional presentation and negotiation skills
• Must be flexible, innovative and comfortable in setting own priorities
• Polished presentation, business acumen and facilitation skills
• Good understanding of lean manufacturing principles
• Experience with high volume operations
• Strong organization and planning skills
• Change Agent Experience