Director, Improvement; Manufacturing and Industrials

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth.

Ankura’s Performance Improvement practice provides extensive industry expertise combined with data-driven, objective, and innovative approaches to the most complex business challenges. Our significant experience working with companies at critical inflection points in their life cycles has informed our approach and instilled a sense of urgency in solving problems. Our team works with numerous clients to build value and accelerate business performance via process improvement.

The ideal candidate for this role will be based in Chicago, Dallas, or New York though other locations may be considered. When not traveling, this role would be hybrid splitting time between working in an Ankura office and remotely. Depending on candidate qualifications this role could be filled at the Director or Senior Director level. The strongest candidate will bring hands-on manufacturing and industrials performance improvement experience, including plant operations leadership, enterprise value creation, CAPEX execution, Lean/Six Sigma, value stream performance, labor productivity, safety, quality, and operational transformation.

A mix of corporate and consulting experience is prized, consulting only experience will be considered.

• Support clients through rapid growth, plant turnarounds, acquisition integrations, carve-outs, and broader cultural or operating model transformations, including M&A operational due diligence and pre/post-close execution.
• Assess plant performance using OEE, throughput, labor productivity, reliability, quality, and asset utilization to identify EBITDA and cash flow improvement opportunities.
• Evaluate operating systems, management routines, process discipline, leadership effectiveness, and manufacturing networks (footprint, capacity utilization, synergies) to enhance safety, quality, service, and productivity and support M&A-related decisions.
• Translate shop-floor performance and operational diagnostics into clear financial outcomes, supporting capacity unlock, CAPEX optimization, and enterprise value creation initiatives.
• Build analytical tools and financial models; deploy advanced analytics, dashboards, KPI reporting, and operating scorecards beyond basic Excel to drive data-based decision making.
• Apply Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement methods to reduce waste and defects, increase throughput, improve setup/changeover, and stabilize inventory and service levels.
• Analyze complex, multi-shift and 24/7 manufacturing operations across labor, value streams, production planning, quality, safety, and customer service to identify bottlenecks and improvement levers.
• Develop practical value creation roadmaps with measurable targets for EBITDA, cash flow, productivity, quality, safety, service, working capital, and CAPEX effectiveness.
• Manage engagement workplans, milestones, issue logs, and status reporting; prepare executive-ready reports, scorecards, business cases, and presentations, and communicate findings to senior leadership.
• Lead and collaborate with client and internal teams, working directly with senior clients to gather data and test hypotheses; set priorities across work streams, manage Associates/Senior Associates, and provide coaching and feedback.

• Undergraduate degree from a top academic institution with a strong GPA required;
  Master’s degree preferred and MBA strongly valued.
• 5+ years of advisory experience with a top-tier management consulting firm with significant manufacturing/industrials experience; 10+ years of progressive operations leadership across consulting and corporate/client-side roles preferred for senior-level consideration.
• Proven experience leading or advising manufacturing operations with accountability for productivity, quality, safety, budget/P&L performance, workforce management, and customer service outcomes, with a demonstrated track record of measurable enterprise value creation, operational productivity improvement, cost reduction, and performance gains in complex manufacturing environments.
• Hands-on experience with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, value stream mapping, kaizen, standard work, plant turnarounds, and performance management systems;
  Lean and/or Six Sigma certification preferred.
• Experience supporting CAPEX planning and execution, asset management, labor strategy, inventory recovery, backorder reduction,…