Lean Manager

The Lean Manager serves as a strategic and hands-on leader responsible for driving operational excellence across the Brașov manufacturing facility. This role embeds Lean thinking into the organizational DNA, champions a culture of continuous improvement, and delivers measurable gains in safety, quality, delivery, cost efficiency, and engagement. The Lean Manager partners closely with plant leadership and multi-functional teams and acts as liaison to nVent’s global Lean community.

WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE IN THIS POSITION:

Strategic Lean Leadership

• Develop and complete the site Lean roadmap aligned to plant and corporate objectives (achievements, resourcing, risks).
• Build CI culture by modeling Lean behaviors, strengthening engagement, and empowering teams to remove waste.
• Lead change management for Lean initiatives to ensure adoption and sustainment.

Operational Excellence & Process Improvement

• Lead value stream mapping; identify constraints and waste; define actionable future-state plans.
• Deploy standard work, flow and layout improvements to reduce WIP/material handling and improve throughput and safety.
• Deliver measurable savings through reduction of scrap, rework, downtime, and changeover losses.

Kaizen & Continuous Improvement Culture

• Plan and facilitate Kaizen events; ensure focused follow-up and benefit validation.
• Establish structured Gemba routines and daily management to surface issues and drive action.

Training & People Development

• Build and deliver Lean training with shop-floor application (5S/6S, VSM, Standard Work, SMED basics, problem solving).
• Develop internal Lean champions, support skill matrices and development plans.
• Host regular knowledge-sharing to spread guidelines across departments and shifts.

Performance Management & KPIs

• Define and track Lean KPIs; maintain visual management and cadence reviews.
• Use data to prioritize opportunities and quantify impact; provide regular status updates to leadership.
• Run Lean maturity assessments and close gaps through action plans.

Multi-Functional & Global Collaboration

• Partner with Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain and Production to embed Lean into core processes and NPI.
• Engage with the global Lean network to share lessons learned and replicate standards and tools.

Quality & Compliance

• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for critical issues; strengthen problem prevention at the source.
• Ensure Lean initiatives integrate safety and meet EHS and regulatory requirements.

Digital Transformation & Industry

• Support digital Lean initiatives that improve visibility, standardization, and execution discipline (dashboards, paperless work).
• Partner with data/IT teams to apply analytics in reliability and performance improvement.

YOU HAVE:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations Management, Business Administration.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent certification (preferred).
• Project Management certification and multi-site Lean experience are a plus.

Experience

• 7+ years in manufacturing operations with 5+ years in Lean/Continuous Improvement leadership.
• Proven experience leading Lean transformations in a complex, multi-process environment.

Technical Skills

• Advanced MS Office (Excel/PPT/Word); ability to build KPI reporting and visual management.
• Familiarity with data visualization/analytics tools (e.g., Power BI/Tableau) is a plus.

Lean Expertise

• Hands-on knowledge of core Lean methods: Kaizen, VSM, 5S/6S, SMED, TPM/OEE, Kanban/Pull, Standard Work, Visual Management, A3/8D/5-Why.

Soft Skills & Competencies

• Strong analytical/problem-solving skills; structured and data-driven approach.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills across all organizational levels.
• Leadership presence, resilience, and bias for action.

Language Requirements