Senior Manager - Operational Excellence

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Integrity.

The Sr. Manager Operational Excellence is accountable for how this plant is organized, how it runs, and how it holds itself to a standard. The role establishes the site’s integrated management system and ISO framework, designs and deploys the plant operating system, builds the training and certification architecture for operators and engineers alike, and leads the continuous improvement program that converts capability into measurable performance.

Responsibilities

• Establish the site’s integrated management system architecture and the ISO framework it operates under, beginning with ISO 9001 and sequencing ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 as the site matures.
• Define the documentation hierarchy — policy, procedure, work instruction, form and record — and own the document control and change governance model that every function writes into.
• Build and lead the internal audit program: audit schedule, auditor qualification and training, finding classification, corrective and preventive action (CAPA) workflow, and closure verification.
• Design the management review cadence and the evidence that feeds it so reviews drive decisions rather than restate metrics.
• Ensure the management system interlocks cleanly with PSM elements — management of change, pre-startup safety review, and operational discipline — rather than running as a parallel structure.
• Prepare and lead the site through certification audits, surveillance audits and customer or regulatory assessments.
• Own the site continuous improvement strategy, portfolio and governance: idea capture, prioritization against business impact, execution discipline, and independent verification of realized benefit.
• Deploy a common structured problem-solving method (DMAIC and A3 or equivalent), train the organization in it, and establish it as the expected response to any significant deviation, defect or loss.
• Lead value stream mapping across the three process areas and the material flow between them; convert current-state findings into a sequenced improvement roadmap with named owners and committed dates.
• Establish the standard work, 5S, visual management and waste-elimination practices that make improvement sustainable rather than episodic.
• Drive measurable results in yield, first-pass quality, OEE, changeover time, scrap and conversion cost, and report benefit realization to site and executive leadership.
• Build and run the internal belt program — Yellow, Green and Black Belt — including project selection, coaching, tollgate review and certification, developing improvement capability inside the workforce rather than relying on external resources.
• Facilitate kaizen events and rapid improvement workshops, and coach area leadership to run them independently over time.

Training, Certification and Workforce Capability

Training and certification is a core deliverable of this role, not an administrative adjunct. The site is hiring the large majority of its workforce from outside the industry, into a process technology with few local analogues. Capability must be built deliberately.

• Operator and technician qualification. Own the site skills and qualification matrix across all production, maintenance and warehouse roles — defining proficiency levels, certification requirements, requalification intervals and the evidence required to sign off each level.
• Structured onboarding and OJT. Build the onboarding architecture and on-the-job training modules, cross-training paths and train-the-trainer program that let the site scale from roughly 70 employees to over 800 without diluting standards.
• Competency assessment. Implement methods to assess knowledge, practical skill and demonstrated proficiency — not attendance — and establish the periodic reassessment cycle that keeps qualifications current.
• Engineering and technical development. Establish the technical competency framework and development path for engineers and technical staff, including certification support (Six Sigma, CMRP, CQE, CRE, PE, CSP), structured rotational exposure across process areas, and mentoring by senior technical staff and process SMEs.
• Frontline leadership development. Build the development program for Shift Leads, Crew Leads and Area Supervisors — the layer this operating model depends on most — covering coaching, standard work adherence, problem solving and conduct of operations.
• Continuous development. Establish the ongoing development cadence beyond initial qualification: refresher training, skill-block progression tied to advancement, and individual development planning in partnership with area leadership and Human Resources.
• Training systems and records. Own the learning management and training records system to ISO- and PSM-compliant standards, with audit-ready traceability from requirement to qualification to reassessment.
• External pipeline. Partner with regional community colleges and workforce development programs to build a durable technician and operator pipeline into the site.

Plant Operating System and Performance Management

• Design and stand up the plant operating system: tiered daily accountability meetings from crew through site leadership, the escalation path between tiers, and the visual management that supports them.
• Define the site OKR/KPI architecture — what is measured, at what level, by whom, and what action each metric is intended to trigger — and cascade it so a frontline board and the site scorecard tell a consistent story.
• Establish operating rhythm and business review cadence, including daily direction setting, weekly performance review and monthly business review.
• Build the reporting and analytics foundation in partnership with Automation & Digital Manufacturing so performance data is trusted, timely and self-serve.

Organization Design, Roles and Workflows

• Partner with the Plant leadership to develop and continuously refine the site organization structure as it scales toward full rate.
• Work with leadership to establish clear roles, responsibilities and decision rights across the organization, including operating boundaries between Operations, Maintenance & Reliability, Quality, Production Controls and supporting functions.
• Design the core cross-functional workflows: shift handover, deviation and escalation, management of change intake, work request and prioritization, and production-to-maintenance coordination.
• Build the structure so empowered leadership is established at the frontline. Area Supervisors, Shift Leads and Crew Leads at this site are intended to make real operational calls — safety stops, staffing decisions, lot release, work order dispatch. This role designs the framework in which empowerment and operational discipline reinforce one another rather than compete.

Standards, Practices and Assessment

• Author and deploy the site’s operational standards and expected practices — conduct of operations, operational discipline, standard work and shift routines.
• Build the assessment and maturity model that measures whether standards are actually being followed: cadence, ownership, scoring and the conversion of gaps into improvement actions.
• Establish layered process confirmation and gemba assessment routines, and coach leaders at every level to run them credibly.
• Benchmark the site against external practice and bring back what is worth adopting.

Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (mechanical, chemical, industrial, materials or a related discipline).
• 7+ years experience in plant operations, specifically how plants are organized, how they run, and how plant operations holds itself to a standard. 
• Six Sigma Black Belt certification, with a documented portfolio of completed projects and verified financial benefit. Green Belt considered only with substantial enterprise deployment experience.
• Direct experience designing and deploying a plant operating system — tiered accountability, KPI cascade, structured problem solving and layered process confirmation.
• Demonstrated ownership of a manufacturing training and qualification program, including skills matrix design, certification and requalification standards, and competency assessment.
• Proven ability to influence without authority. This role carries three direct reports and site-wide scope; nearly everything it accomplishes happens through leaders who do not report to it.
• Track record of operating at both altitudes — setting the strategy for how a plant should run, then being on the floor writing the standard, facilitating the first sessions and coaching leaders through them personally.
• Excellent facilitation, written communication and executive presentation skills.

Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Preferred

• Experience in a PSM-regulated or otherwise high-hazard environment, and familiarity with how process safety, quality and EHS management systems interlock.
• Background in powder metallurgy, thermal processing, chemical processing, precision machining or advanced materials.
• Formal organization design experience — span-of-control analysis, role architecture and decision rights.
• Demonstrated success moving an organization’s middle layer, not just its executives.

Physical and Environmental Requirements

The position requires regular presence on the production floor and the ability to navigate all areas of the facility. Candidates must be able to climb stairs, stand and walk for extended periods, and work in environments that may be hot, humid, or noisy. The role also requires the use of personal protective equipment, including respirators, and adherence to all applicable safety policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements. Employees must be able to complete required fit testing, wear appropriate PPE for the duration of assigned tasks, and respond safely to changing conditions within the production environment.