Continuous Improvement Engineer

The Continuous Improvement Engineer drives sustainable improvement in Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, Sustainability and People performance through Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence and structured problem solving. Working closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain and Site Leadership, the role identifies chronic losses, delivers measurable improvement projects and strengthens the site Daily Management System. The role acts as a catalyst for cultural change by building capability, challenging existing processes and ensuring improvement activity delivers sustainable business benefits aligned with site and regional priorities.,

Support deployment of the site Operational Excellence strategy and translate performance losses into prioritised, well-governed improvement activity. Coach teams to solve problems at source, standardise improved ways of working and sustain results through clear ownership, visual management and effective routines.

• Promote and support a safe working environment, ensuring improvement activity is planned and delivered in line with legislative and internal health and safety standards.
• Use structured improvement methods to support near-miss reduction, safer ways of working and completion of agreed safety actions.

• Ensure improvement activity protects product safety, legality, quality and compliance with applicable site standards, including GMP and HACCP requirements.
• Lead structured problem solving on defects, customer complaints, process variation and Cost of Quality losses.
• Work with Quality and Technical colleagues to ensure process changes are risk assessed, documented, validated, and embedded before full implementation.

• Support and continuously improve the site Daily Management Systems and Daily Direction Setting routines.
• Maintain KPI dashboards, visual management and action tracking so performance losses are visible, escalated and acted upon.
• Coach operational teams to use daily performance data for decision making and monitor adherence to Leader Standard Work and agreed routines.
• Provide clear, factual reporting of performance, project progress, risks and benefits to site leadership and governance forums.

• Identify, prioritise and deliver improvement opportunities across manufacturing and support functions.
• Lead Lean activity focused on Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Sustainability, including Loss Elimination events, Rapid Improvement Workshops and Value Stream Mapping.
• Apply appropriate methods such as PDCA, Unified Problem Solving, Initial Problem Solving, 5 Why Analysis, Rapid Changeover, Autonomous Maintenance and Standard Work.
• Eliminate waste, variation, and recurring operational issues by addressing process causes rather than symptoms.

• Analyse operational data to identify trends, chronic losses, emerging risks and improvement opportunities.
• Develop and maintain improvement dashboards and performance measures, with clear baselines and targets.
• Quantify, validate, and track operational and financial benefits in partnership with relevant functional owners.
• Support annual business planning through performance analysis, loss intelligence and opportunity identification.

• Manage a portfolio of improvement projects aligned with site priorities, using clear charters, timelines, resources, risks, and benefit targets.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver agreed scope, milestones and outcomes.
• Support implementation of new technologies, processes and operating standards, ensuring changes are documented, standardised and…