Operational Excellence Engineer

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Location:

St. Louis, MO, US, 63114

Business Unit:
Thermal Process Management

Posting Date:
Oct 19, 2026

Job Description:

The Operational Excellence (Opex) Engineer will be responsible for accelerating the Continuous Improvement initiatives (programs, process, & projects) within the plant. The Opex Engineer assists in the development, implementation, maintenance, quality, and improvement of the day-to-day operations with a focus on lean principles. He/she aims to support development, implementation & sustainability of world class operational capabilities overtime through continued coaching in the facility.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Champions Safety Site-wide, driving improvements and safety-first culture.
• Collaborates with cross functional teams at all levels on continuous improvement projects, aimed directly at improving efficiencies, reducing waste, defect reduction, and low-value activities, improving quality & productivity.
• Actively support team’s ability to solve their short-term and long-term operational issues by developing key process documentation to translate the tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, elaborate standard operating procedures and guidelines, share best practices.
• Actively support improving organizational capabilities by using 5S, visual management, teamwork, focused improvement, practical problem solving, time studies, process flow mapping, root cause analysis, and kaizen.
• Support the design and implementation of specific projects.
• Support and assist management, and plant supervisors, in implementing cost optimization tools; including, but not limited to Lean, Six Sigma, High Performance Work Teams, etc.
• Support application of process improvement tools to identify measurable standards to improve business capabilities (Safety/Quality/Productivity): specifically, Lean tools and methodology to improve process capability and eliminate defects, as well as tools and principles to eliminate waste and create visual controls.
• Support cost optimization projects, including project identification, prioritization, and selection, tracking project results, monitoring project progress, and reporting on progress.
• Supports design, implementation, and launches of New Product projects.
• Actively create a culture in which continuous Improvement becomes organizational values to create a competitive advantage.
• Support and maintain quality standards and procedures.

Position Requirements :
Education and/or

Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, or Chemical Engineering or equivalent
• 3-5 years’ experience and Lean or Six Sigma
• Experience executing continuous improvement / Lean / Six Sigma efforts and methodologies and enabling efficiency, effectiveness, and tangible financial benefit.
• Previous participation in kaizen events preferred.
• Successful project management experience and acumen
• Comfortable with change management
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to use AI tools to improve productivity, decision-making, work quality, and to reduce costs. The successful candidate must be able to identify appropriate AI use cases and critically evaluate AI-generated outputs.

About O'Brien:

• For over 50 years, O'Brien, a business of AMETEK®, has been a trusted partner to the petrochemical, refining, pulp & paper, and power industries. We specialize in engineered solutions that ensure reliable process measurement and control, even in the harshest environments.
• Our expertise in heat transfer and fluid transport allows us to deliver complete, code-compliant systems tailored to your application. Whether you're looking for off-the-shelf reliability or…