Vice President of Manufacturing

Job Description

<p><b>Vice President, Manufacturing Excellence CoE (Vice President of Operations)</b></p><p><b>Automotive / Metals Manufacturing</b></p><p><br></p><p><b>Location:</b> Multi-site (North America)</p><p><b>Travel:</b> Approximately 50-70%</p><p><b>Reports to:</b> Chief Operating Officer</p><p><br></p><p><b>Position Overview:</b></p><p><br></p><p>The Vice President, Manufacturing Excellence leads the Manufacturing Center of Excellence (CoE) and is accountable for designing, governing, and continuously improving the manufacturing operating system across a multi-plant automotive manufacturing network. </p><p><br></p><p>This role defines <b>how the network operates</b>, establishing the standards, performance frameworks, and governance required to deliver consistent results, enable scalability, and support long-term growth. The VP ensures that manufacturing execution is disciplined, repeatable, and resilient-reducing variability while strengthening performance, cost competitiveness, and operational maturity across all sites.</p><p><br></p><p>While Plant Directors retain full responsibility for day-to-day operations, the VP maintains <b>daily operational visibility</b> across the network through structured reviews and escalation mechanisms. This visibility ensures that critical safety, quality, delivery, and performance issues are surfaced, understood, and addressed within a 24-hour cycle, allowing the organization to respond quickly while reinforcing system-based execution rather than reactive management.</p><p><br></p><p>The role partners closely with Advanced Manufacturing, Materials, Strategy, Digital & IT, Quality, and Finance to ensure manufacturing performance is predictable, transparent, cost-effective, and scalable as the organization grows.</p><p><br></p><p>This position is a critical enabler of long-term growth, margin expansion, and leadership development.</p><p><br></p><p><b>Core Accountability:</b></p><ul><li>Own and govern the enterprise manufacturing operating model</li><li>Enable consistent execution across multiple plants</li><li>Drive operational performance through systems, standards, and discipline</li><li>Support scale without linear increases in cost or headcount</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Key Responsibilities:</b></p><p><br></p><p><b>Manufacturing Operating System Leadership</b></p><ul><li>Design, deploy, and govern a standardized manufacturing operating system across all facilities.</li><li>Define and enforce expectations for operating cadence, performance reviews, and management routines.</li><li>Establish enterprise standards for OEE, cost deployment, labor efficiency, and loss analysis.</li><li>Ensure standard work and operating disciplines are implemented consistently and sustained over time.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Performance Governance & Transparency</b></p><ul><li>Lead the enterprise KPI framework and performance review structure across all plants.</li><li>Ensure operational data is timely, comparable, and actionable.</li><li>Drive fact-based decision-making and root-cause problem solving at both plant and network levels.</li><li>Partner with Finance to translate operational performance into financial outcomes.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Plant Leadership & Network Integration</b></p><ul><li>Lead and develop Plant Directors through coaching, challenge, and accountability.</li><li>Build a strong peer network across plants to accelerate best-practice sharing.</li><li>Ensure leadership expectations are consistent across all sites.</li><li>Intervene decisively in underperforming facilities with structured recovery plans.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Continuous Improvement & Capability Building</b></p><ul><li>Set expectations for CI maturity and depth of problem-solving.</li><li>Ensure continuous improvement is embedded into daily operations-not treated as a standalone function.</li><li>Shift the organization from reliance on individual workarounds toward disciplined, system-driven execution.</li><li>Develop leadership capability in standard work, loss analysis, and execution discipline.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Strategic Partnership & Scale Enablement</b></p><ul><li>Partner with Advanced Manufacturing on manufacturability, readiness, and capacity assumptions.</li><li>Collaborate with Digital & IT to digitize performance management and standard enforcement.</li><li>Support new plant launches and capacity expansions through standardized playbooks.</li><li>Contribute to long-term footprint, capacity, and investment strategy discussions.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Leadership Profile:</b></p><p><br></p><p>The ideal candidate is a <b>system builder and enterprise leader</b> who:</p><ul><li>Thinks in networks, not individual plants</li><li>Leads senior leaders without micromanaging</li><li>Balances operational rigor with strategic thinking</li><li>Is financially fluent and outcome-oriented</li><li>Is comfortable challenging the status quo to build scalable systems</li></ul><p><br></p><p>This role is intentionally designed as a <b>future enterprise leadership pathway</b>, with exposure to strategy, finance, and cross-functional execution.</p><p><br></p><p><b>Qualifications:</b></p><p><br></p><p><b>Education</b></p><ul><li>Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related field required.</li><li>MBA or advanced degree a plus.</li><li>Equivalent experience in complex manufacturing environments will be considered in lieu of a technical degree.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Experience</b></p><ul><li>15+ years of progressive leadership experience in automotive or metals manufacturing with at least 10 years in a senior leadership capacity.</li><li>Proven experience leading multi-site operations or enterprise-level manufacturing functions.</li><li>Strong command of OEE, cost deployment, structured problem-solving, and performance systems.</li><li>Demonstrated success improving results through governance, standardization, and leadership systems.</li><li>Financial acumen with the ability to translate operational performance into business outcomes.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Preferred</b></p><ul><li>Experience in both unionized and non-unionized environments.</li><li>Exposure to digital manufacturing, analytics, or Industry 4.0 initiatives.</li><li>Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus</li></ul><p><br></p><p><b>Core Competencies</b></p><ul><li>Strategic and systems-oriented mindset</li><li>Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making</li><li>Executive presence with plant-floor credibility</li><li>Change leadership and transformation capability</li><li>High emotional intelligence and relationship-building skills</li><li>Relentless focus on operational excellence and execution</li></ul><p></p>