Manager, Manufacturing Excellence

At Barry Callebaut, we are on a journey to transform the cocoa and chocolate industry. As the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, our actions truly shape the future of our industry. We are a business-to-business company, serving the entire food sector, from the cocoa bean to the finest chocolate product. We are a company with a purpose, we believe in doing well by doing good and reinvesting in the communities we operate.

We have a long-standing commitment to sustainability and our goal is to shape a sustainable cocoa and chocolate future. We are headquartered in Zurich, and have more than 12,000 passionate employees working in more than 40 countries worldwide. We are very proud of who we are and what we do. And of course, we are always looking for talented people to help us have a positive impact on our industry and beyond!

The Manufacturing Excellence Manager is responsible for leading and sustaining world-class manufacturing performance through the Barry Callebaut Operating System (BCOS), which is fully grounded in Integrated Work Systems (IWS) principles. This role drives continuous improvement, capability building, and cultural transformation across the site, ensuring operational excellence and zero‑loss mindset adoption. The role partners closely with the Plant Leadership Team, BCOS pillar leaders, and cross‑functional teams to embed standardized work processes, develop people capabilities, and deliver measurable improvements aligned with safety, quality, service, cost, and sustainability objectives.

• Lead deployment and sustainability of BCOS, ensuring strong alignment with Global Customer Supply & Development organization and the Global ‘Go for Zero’ ambition.
• Assess site maturity against BCOS/IWS standards and develop a multi‑year manufacturing excellence roadmap aligned with regional and global priorities.
• Coach and develop BCOS pillar leaders, Cell Teams, and plant leadership on work processes, certification expectations, and behavioral standards.
• Drive change management and cultural transformation, promoting a zero‑loss mindset and 100% employee engagement across all levels.
• Conduct regular assessments of routine management, pillar execution, and performance KPIs, ensuring follow‑up on corrective actions.
• Use data analytics and business KPIs to prioritize improvement initiatives that directly improve safety, quality, service, cost, cash, and sustainability performance.
• Facilitate hands‑on continuous improvement activities including workshops, kaizen events, Gemba coaching, and standardization of best practices.
• Enable horizontal learning and replication of best practices across sites through strong collaboration with global Manufacturing Excellence and technical communities.
• Support digital transformation initiatives that enhance manufacturing performance and contribute toward smart factory maturity.
• Act as a visible role model for continuous improvement leadership, shop‑floor engagement, and BCOS oriented thinking.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, or a related technical field is required.
• Advanced certifications in Continuous Improvement, Lean, or IWS frameworks are strongly preferred.

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in a manufacturing environment, with demonstrated leadership in continuous improvement, operational excellence, and capability‑building initiatives within complex, multinational operations. Proven experience deploying Lean, TPM, IWS, or equivalent operating systems is required.

• Deep expertise in Lean Manufacturing, Integrated Work Systems (IWS), Total Productive Maintenance…