Director, Enterprise Lean Champion - Relocation… at Smardt · Remote

About SMARDT

As a global pioneer in oil-free centrifugal chiller technology with an expanding portfolio of thermal management solutions, Smardt is dedicated to delivering high-efficiency and energy-saving systems for industries, real estate developments, health care and educational centers worldwide.

We operate manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada, Germany, China, and Australia, with a team of over 900 employees. With a focus on reliability, performance, and environmental stewardship, Smardt continues to redefine industry standards through advanced engineering and a commitment to a more sustainable future.

What We're Looking For:

At Smardt, we innovate for a lifetime of efficiencies.

As the world's leading manufacturer of oil-free centrifugal chillers, Smardt is entering an important period of global growth. To support our expanding manufacturing footprint and operational excellence journey, we are building a culture founded on Lean thinking, continuous improvement and world-class execution.

The Director, Enterprise Lean Champion is the executive architect of Smardt's enterprise Lean transformation. Reporting directly to the CEO, this leader will design, deploy and sustain the Smardt Lean Operating System - an integrated management system that connects strategy deployment, daily management, value-stream performance, structured problem solving, leadership behaviours and continuous improvement across the enterprise.

The role serves as a key change agent to drive a lean culture across the organization and work with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team while remaining visibly engaged with multiple value streams including the shop floor and operations. It partners across Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Engineering, Product Development, Quality, Sales, Customer Service, Finance, HR, Procurement, IT and other corporate functions to improve customer value, safety, quality, delivery, cost, speed, working capital and people capability.

Success will be measured by sustainable business outcomes and by building Lean capability into the organization so that continuous improvement becomes the way Smardt works - not a program owned by a central function.

What You'll Do:

Enterprise Lean Strategy & Operating System

• Develop and execute Smardt's enterprise Lean strategy and global roadmap aligned with business priorities, growth plans and customer value.
• Design, deploy and continuously improve the Smardt Lean Operating System, including governance, operating cadence, maturity assessments and enterprise performance reviews.
• Serve as the CEO's strategic advisor on Lean transformation, operational excellence and enterprise-wide performance improvement.
• Establish clear ownership and accountability for Lean outcomes within business and functional leadership - ensuring Lean is embedded into line management rather than delegated to specialists.

Strategy Deployment & Governance

• Lead strategy deployment (Hoshin Kanri) to translate enterprise priorities into measurable breakthrough objectives and executable improvement plans.
• Establish KPI cascades and disciplined review routines connecting Executive Leadership priorities to site, function and frontline execution.
• Create a fact-based management cadence that identifies performance gaps early, accelerates decisions and ensures corrective actions are sustained.

Manufacturing & Value Stream Excellence

• Lead Lean transformation across global manufacturing facilities, partnering directly with Plant and Operations leaders to improve Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, People, productivity, throughput, OEE, inventory and lead time.
• Lead enterprise Value Stream Management, including current- and future-state design, constraint removal, waste elimination, flow, pull, capacity optimization and customer-focused lead-time reduction.
• Establish consistent Daily Management, Gemba, Visual Management, Standard Work and Leader Standard Work across priority operations; deploy other Lean methods such as 5S, Kaizen, SMED, Kanban, TPM, cellular/flow manufacturing and error proofing where they improve business performance.
• Standardize and replicate proven practices across sites while allowing appropriate adaptation for local operational needs.
• Lead global Kaizen events across functions driving broad participation across levels

Enterprise Business Process Excellence & Speed

• Apply Lean principles beyond manufacturing across Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement, Finance, HR, Customer Service, Project Management, Sales, IT and other support functions.
• Identify end-to-end process bottlenecks and redesign workflows to simplify work, reduce handoffs, improve quality and increase customer value.
• Make speed a competitive advantage by reducing decision cycle time, accelerating engineering release and new product introduction, improving quote-to-cash performance, shortening problem-resolution cycles and eliminating avoidable delays.

Continuous Improvement & Problem-Solving System

• Build a disciplined enterprise continuous improvement system that combines daily improvement, Kaizen, A3 thinking, PDCA, root-cause problem solving and tiered accountability.
• Develop organizational capability to identify root causes, eliminate recurring problems and convert improvements into stable standards and repeatable management routines.
• Ensure Lean tools are selected to solve business problems and create measurable value - not deployed for compliance or activity.

Lean Culture, Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead the cultural transformation required to make Lean "the way we work," reinforcing respect for people, servant leadership, accountability, curiosity and a bias for action.
• Coach executives, directors, managers, supervisors and frontline teams in Lean thinking, scientific problem solving and leadership behaviors.
• Build and lead a global Lean Champion network across regions and functions; develop internal practitioners, facilitators and future operational leaders.
• Design Lean learning pathways, leadership workshops, mentoring, certification and succession plans that create sustainable internal capability.
• Use coaching before directing and develop ownership in leaders rather than creating dependency on a central Lean team.

Performance & Value Realization

• Define and maintain visual enterprise performance systems and dashboards that connect Lean activity to business outcomes.
• Drive measurable improvement in productivity, manufacturing cost, throughput, OEE, quality, first-pass yield, on-time delivery, lead time, inventory turns, capacity utilization, customer responsiveness, working capital, cash conversion and safety.
• Partner with Finance and business leaders to validate the financial impact of Lean initiatives, including cost, cash and EBITDA improvement, and ensure gains are sustained.

Growth, Expansion & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Support new factory launches, manufacturing footprint expansion and major operational growth initiatives by embedding Lean principles into the design of new processes and operating systems from the outset.
• Lead cross-functional and multi-region improvement priorities that require enterprise coordination, executive sponsorship and disciplined execution.
• Promote transfer of best practices and learning across Smardt locations while strengthening a common global operating culture.

What You'll Bring:

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering or a related discipline.
• Master's degree (MBA, Engineering or related field) preferred.

Experience:

• Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt or equivalent advanced Lean/Operational Excellence certification.
• Toyota Production System, Shingo, Danaher Business System or comparable business-system transformation experience is an asset.
• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, operations and/or operational excellence, including significant global or multi-site responsibility.
• Strong manufacturing leadership foundation, ideally including Operations, Manufacturing or Plant leadership responsibility.
• Proven record of delivering significant operational and financial improvements through Lean, including cost, cash, working capital, quality, delivery and productivity outcomes.
• Experience leading strategy deployment / Hoshin Kanri and connecting executive priorities to operational execution.
• Experience extending Lean and process excellence beyond manufacturing into enterprise business processes.
• Strong executive presence and credibility with the ability to influence the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, Plant Managers and frontline teams across cultures and geographies.

Deep practical expertise in:

• Lean Management Systems / Toyota Production System principles, Daily Management and Leader Standard Work.
• Value Stream Management, flow, pull, constraint removal and waste elimination.
• Structured problem solving including A3, PDCA, root-cause analysis and DMAIC/8D where appropriate.
• Operational performance systems, KPI design, visual management and fact-based decision making.
• Business Process Excellence, change management and enterprise transformation.
• ERP / manufacturing analytics environments and the use of data to identify, prioritize and sustain improvement.

Competencies:

• Leads from the shop floor as comfortably as from the executive table.
• Thinks strategically and systemically while acting practically.
• Coaches before directing and builds capability and ownership in others; a Servant Leader
• Demonstrates executive influence, business acumen and customer-first thinking.
• Uses data and financial insight to make decisions and measure value.
• Challenges the status quo with humility, curiosity and resilience; a Change Leader
• Communicates effectively across functions, cultures and organizational levels.

What Success Looks Like:

First Year:

• Confirm and launch Smardt's Enterprise Lean Strategy and Lean Operating System roadmap, including governance, maturity baseline and deployment priorities.
• Establish a consistent Daily Management and visual performance framework across priority manufacturing sites.
• Launch and activate the global Lean Champion network with defined capability expectations and development pathways.
• Implement an enterprise strategy-deployment and performance-review cadence connecting executive priorities with operational action.
• Deliver measurable improvements in safety, quality, productivity, lead time, delivery and/or working capital in agreed priority value streams.
• Build a visible pipeline of Lean practitioners and future operational leaders.

Three-Year Outcomes:

• Lean thinking is embedded into daily management, leadership behaviour and strategic execution across Smardt.
• Smardt operates with an integrated Lean Management System that creates consistent execution across global sites and functions.
• Material and sustained improvements are evident in customer value, safety, quality, speed, productivity, cost, cash and working capital.
• Internal Lean and operational leadership capability is strong enough to sustain and accelerate continuous improvement without dependence on a central expert.
• Operational excellence is recognized as a defining Smardt capability and a meaningful source of competitive advantage and scalable growth.

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary + annual performance bonus
• 100% employer-paid medical and dental benefits as of day 1!
• Tele-Health service paid by the employer.
• Retirement savings plan with employer contributions up to 6%
• Monthly OPUS subsidy for those who take public transportation to work.
• Dynamic team within a high-growth company
• Company events and team-building activities
• Ongoing training and professional development opportunities

All job offers at Smardt are conditional to successful background and reference checks, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

This position requires medium proficiency in French and English. French is required for communicating with our team in Quebec. Proficiency in English is essential for communicating with our clients, partners, and suppliers located outside of Quebec, as well as for reviewing certain technical documents available only in English.

Please note that Smardt does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies. In the absence of a signed Services Agreement with agency/recruiter, we will not consider or agree to payment of any referral compensation or recruiter fee.

Equal Employment Opportunity

SMARDT is a proud equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace and welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, including but not limited to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, immigration status, or any other characteristic protected by law.