CI Specialist

Alex Minnesota St Facility, 3915 Minnesota Street, Alexandria, Minnesota, United States of America

Posted Friday, January 30, 2026 at 6:00 AM

About Sun Opta

Sun Opta delivers customized supply chain solutions and innovation for top brands, retailers, and food service providers across a broad portfolio of beverages, broths, and better-for-you snacks. With over 50 years of expertise, Sun Opta fuels customers’ growth with high-quality, sustainability-forward solutions distributed through retail, club, food service, and e-commerce channels across North America.

Job Summary:

The CI Specialist supports the implementation of continuous improvement (CI) initiatives by assisting with data collection, basic analysis, and execution of small-scale improvement activities. This role provides foundational support for CI projects, engages with production floor employees, and contributes to problem-solving efforts to enhance operational efficiency and business continuity.

This position is also responsible to identify, train and deploy resources to apply state-of-the-art approaches and tools to achieve performance excellence and process improvements.

Essential Functions of the Job:

• Establish and standardize business and operational processes through facilitated work sessions, process & tool development, and process pilots; then educate and transfer ownership to end state users and process owners.
• Facilitates Kaizens, brainstorming sessions, workshops, problem solving sessions and process mapping exercises to bring alignment, extract knowledge, and improve performance.
• Monitors business and operational performance through metrics, identifies gaps in performance, and facilitates problem-solving activities to close performance gaps.
• Trains, coaches and facilitates continuous improvement tools and methodologies such as lean, six sigma, kaizen, quality and process management.
• Assists and executes improvement projects across or within functions/operational sites via Lean Six Sigma or similar methodology.
• Facilitate flow of information/processes/procedures and helps troubleshoot and resolve issues.
• Adheres to company GMP’s (good manufacturing practices), safety procedures and all other quality processes.
• Works with management to ensure effective organizational design and that role is correctly organized, defined, documented, and communicated to all employees.
• Ensures effective safety procedures, tools and record keeping are managed through site leadership.
• Wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) when required.
• All other duties, as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• None.

Minimum Qualifications:

• High School Degree or GED.
• 5+ years related experience and/or training, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Must have a working knowledge or MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and be proficient with MS Excel.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent training and/or certifications.
• Associate or Bachelor degree in Engineering or related field.
• Experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience with cross-functional project management.

Knowledge and

Skills:

• Familiarity with fundamental CI tools and techniques.
• Candidate must have a continuous improvement / problem-solving mindset and experience.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams in reviews, process improvement events and/or Kaizens.
• Experience leading training and providing coaching/support.
• Disciplined approach to project execution with a track record of positive, tangible results.
• Ability to handle spreadsheets and create simple charts for analysis.
• Willingness to grow within the CI discipline and refine problem-solving skills.

Featured Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Vision insurance
• Paid Family leave
• Paid maternity leave
• 401(k) with Match
• Voluntary Life, Accident, Critical Illness and Hospital indemnity
• Paid Holidays
• Tuition assistance
• Short-term and Long-term Disability insurance

Additional Considerations:

• Travel: Up to 10% for meetings and other job-related functions.
• Location: This position will be our Sun Opta Plant in Alexandria, MN.
• Work Environment: Approximately 50% is in a manufacturing/production environment; approximately 50% of this role is performed in an office environment.
• Relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered.

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
EOE M/W/VET/DISABLED