LEAN Excellence Director (all genders) - limited to 1 year

Work Your Magic with us!  

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.  

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.

Your role

As Global Lean Excellence Director, you report to the Head of Global Lean Excellence Unit (GLEU), in the Global Healthcare Operations (GHO) Office. Through the Lean Operating System we aim to enable business performance improvement by building the needed lean capabilities and support the deployment of lean practices & methodology at all levels of the organization from shop floor to department / function to senior leaders. Our pursuit of excellence is lived through our ambition of strengthening our operations and becoming an industry reference for integrated performance management. We support all of our strategic dimensions, embracing digitalization and sustainability,  and demonstrating a high impact culture to help deliver an efficient & agile network.  

In this capacity, main responsibilities include:

•    Lead the lean methodology design, capability-building through practical, hands-on lean training and coaching that empowers leaders and teams to drive continuous improvement in their processes
•    Develop future programs and act as a coach for all levels of leadership in the context of the lean leader routines, to enhance the leadership performance of the organisation
•    Lead and orchestrate the collaboration within GHO Office and other communities of practice related to operational excellence programs, to shape and implement the lean operating system and steer effective share & re-apply across sites and functions
•    Lead and support maturity assessments at site and network level ensuring a standard approach is deployed
•    Steer & promote Lean Excellence through clear communication at all levels, including the performance and results achieved through OE to raise awareness on progress and celebrate success stories
•    Maintains strong connections with sponsors and key stakeholders through effective networking and 
•    Leverage insights from communities and forums across Merck, as well as external sources to enrich and continuously enhance the Lean Operating System
•    Collaborate closely with the GHO Office and OE Network to align efforts and maximize our impact
•    As single points of contact (SPOCs), challenge our functions to take full ownership and support them in driving lean implementation
 

Who you are

•    10+ years Operational Excellence experience, ideally in manufacturing & supply operations in pharmaceutical industry, including direct leadership responsibility 
•    Demonstrated high business & behavioral impact in driving operational excellence programs leading cross-functional / cultural teams
•    Experience and success working in a highly matrixed environment through influence and collaboration
•    Track records in stakeholders management, having global experience, interpersonal skills and the ability to convince and interact constructively with all functions / management levels in the organization, with a client-oriented mindset
•    Strong analytical and conceptual thinker, with hands-on mentality and pragmatic impact focus. Able to diagnose and design effective processes and solutions
•    Adaptive mindset, comfortable with ambiguity and changing requirements
•    Self-motivated professional able to take the lead & ownership of programs to add value to the business 
•    Strong communicator (written & oral), with strong listening abilities,  solution-oriented, self-reliant, and maintains a confident and professional demeanor even under time pressure
•    Fluency in English (oral and written); Proficiency in another language (German, Spanish, French) is a plus
•    Coaching experience, preferably with a certification
•    Life science, Engineering or related discipline degree  
•    Lean Expert / Black Black certification, with at demonstrated transformation experience and successful application of lean six sigma methods and tools
•    Experience in fields of Industry 4.0, data analytics, smart manufacturing, applying lean and digital, preferably in Biopharma
•    Willingness to travel

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We celebrate all dimensions of diversity and believe that it drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!
 
Apply now and become a part of our diverse team!