Lead Transformation Manager (Schiphol, NL, 1118)

We are looking for a senior operational leader who combines deep manufacturing knowledge with strong analytical skills, financial understanding and the ability to inspire people.

Ideally, you bring:

• 10+ years of senior operational experience across manufacturing, production, engineering, maintenance and/or quality
• A strong track record of leading large-scale shop-floor transformations
• Deep knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma and continuous improvement, ideally with Black Belt-level expertise
• Demonstrated ability to translate operational improvements into financial value
• Strong analytical and conceptual skills and the ability to turn strategy into practical action
• Excellent project, change and performance management capabilities
• Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to influence both senior executives and shop-floor teams
• Proven experience as a people leader, coach, trainer and facilitator
• The confidence to operate in a fast-moving, international and sometimes ambiguous environment
• High levels of integrity, credibility, resilience and personal ownership

Experience at Engagement Manager, Senior Manager or Director level within a top-tier consulting environment would be a strong advantage.

We are particularly interested in candidates who also bring hands-on knowledge of emerging operational technologies such as AI, advanced analytics, digital twins, simulation, robotics or process mining.

Are you an experienced transformation leader who knows how to turn operational challenges into measurable business impact? Someone who can move comfortably from the boardroom to the shop floor, challenge established thinking and mobilise teams to deliver lasting change?

As Lead Transformation Manager, you will play a key role in the Trivium Business System (TBS) and our Operational Excellence programme. Your mission is clear: create step-change improvements in operational performance and translate them into measurable EBITDA impact.

This is not a traditional continuous improvement role. You will work alongside senior Operations leaders, Plant Managers and multidisciplinary teams to define transformation ambitions, identify value opportunities and turn them into concrete, sustainable results across our manufacturing network.

You will join a small team of 5–6 senior transformation leaders, working collaboratively across Europe or the Americas. The role involves significant international exposure and typically requires up to 80% travel within your region.

You will lead plant-level transformations designed to improve performance and deliver significant financial value.

Your focus will include:

• Improving OEE, productivity and reducing spoilage and waste
• Optimising maintenance, supply chain, quality and other key cost drivers
• Identifying performance gaps through data-driven diagnostics and structured shop-floor observations
• Translating operational improvement into measurable P&L and EBITDA impact
• Building bottom-up improvement plans with clear ownership at plant level
• Embedding the structures, capabilities and behaviours required to sustain continuous improvement

Each Lead Transformation Manager is expected to enable transformation initiatives with the potential to deliver USD 10–20 million EBITDA impact annually.

You will take ownership of the full transformation journey:

• Partner with senior Operations leaders to define plant strategy, ambition and value targets
• Lead hypothesis-driven diagnostics using data analysis, observations, workshops, simulations and interviews
• Identify ambitious but achievable improvement opportunities, particularly those requiring limited investment or offering rapid payback
• Mobilise multidisciplinary teams and drive implementation
• Connect operational initiatives with key performance indicators and financial results
• Establish governance and interventions that ensure improvements are delivered and sustained

Transformation only works when people own it. A major part of your role will therefore be to develop leaders and teams across the organisation.

You will:

• Coach Plant Managers, plant leadership teams, Continuous Improvement specialists and Transformation Managers
• Lead and develop transformation teams through matrix leadership
• Deliver hands-on coaching and capability-building, including Lean and Six Sigma methodologies
• Help operational leaders strengthen their approach to performance management and continuous improvement
• Build trust, challenge constructively and create commitment to new ways of working

You will help further develop and apply the Operational Excellence pillar of the Trivium Business System, drawing on leading practices across manufacturing, quality, maintenance, supply chain, organisation and performance management.

Beyond applying proven approaches, we want you to challenge them.

You will explore how emerging technologies and methodologies such as agentic AI, advanced analytics, digital twins, simulation, robotics, process mining and systems thinking can unlock the next level of operational performance.

This is a highly visible role requiring credibility from the factory floor to senior executive level.

You will:

• Build strong peer-to-peer relationships with Plant Managers and Operations Directors
• Lead executive governance and steering forums with clear, fact-based recommendations
• Communicate value delivery, priorities, risks and required decisions
• Collaborate with Finance, Engineering, Procurement, Sustainability and other specialist functions
• Share and scale best practices across the manufacturing network
• Use the TBS toolbox and structured problem-solving to support plants facing complex operational challenges

This is an opportunity for someone who wants more than an advisory role.

You will be expected to identify the opportunity, challenge the status quo, mobilise the organisation and stay close enough to the operation to turn ambition into results.

You will have the opportunity to:

• Lead major transformations across an international manufacturing network
• Work directly with senior operational leadership
• Deliver visible and measurable business impact
• Develop future transformation and operational leaders
• Influence how Operational Excellence evolves across the organisation
• Combine proven continuous improvement methods with the next generation of digital and AI-enabled operations

If you are energised by complex operational challenges, enjoy working where strategy meets the shop floor and want to see the measurable impact of your work, this could be your next challenge.