Manager, Operational Excellence

At HelloFresh, we want to revolutionize the way we eat by making it more convenient and exciting to cook meals from scratch. We have offices all over the world and we deliver delicious meals to millions of people.  

We are the industry leader in meal-kit subscription services and we’re growing all the time. We have distinct meal-kit services that cater to everyone with the most menu variety in the market, which allows us to reach an incredibly wide population of people.

The HelloFresh team is diverse, high-performing, and international, and our work environment is an inspiring space where you can thrive as a result.

Summary/Objective:

As the Manager, Operational Excellence, you will drive OpEx capability development programs for the company and partner with functional leaders to define and execute improvement initiatives across the entire HelloFresh US operations. This individual will coordinate with local Distribution Center and Central teams to drive improved performance in Quality, Service, and Efficiency. In addition to general knowledge of Operational Excellence techniques, the Manager, Operational Excellence should also have subject matter expertise in one or more specific areas of operations.

The Manager, Operational Excellence identifies key opportunities and gaps in the core business processes; aligns resources to these priorities; ensures appropriate charters and quality improvement methodologies, tools and techniques are being leveraged to drive improvements; and continues to be an advocate for future operational improvements by partnering with and challenging the business and leadership in system thinking and new ideas.

This role will be based in the Chicago metro area but may require occasional travel to HelloFresh locations across the country.

Essential Functions

• Responsible for development and implementation of HF Operations Strategic projects including Continuous Improvement, Change Management, cost optimization, and Operational Excellence Training.


• Assist in leading complex improvement projects within operations or across facilities and effectively coordinate these programs with the project teams.


• Assure that practices promoting continuous improvement are adopted by the organization to drive improvements in morale, quality, delivery and cost.


• Project leadership includes: identifying opportunities; defining and financially justifying projects; negotiating resources; launching project teams; using good project management to manage team activities; training and coaching of Lean resources assigned to the team; leading teams to execute projects with problem solving methodology; tracking project status and results; anticipating and removing project barriers; and developing team members.


• Ensure projects are integrated and aligned with other business activities, improvement projects and business strategy and coordinated with the appropriate project/process owners to accomplish the project goals (whenever possible).


• Communicate best practices and key learning's across the organization.


• Support the company’s commitment to employee engagement, critical thinking and innovation


• Utilizes continuous improvement tools and methodology to conduct root cause analysis


• Leads risk identification and risk mitigating planning


• You lead change management planning and execution for projects. Ensures effective, accurate, and timely communication of project information to meet the needs of identified partners.


• Utilizes negotiation, facilitation, meeting management, and conflict resolution skills to enhance cross-functional team performance.


• Facilitates project post-mortems with all key partners and identify key areas for process improvements


• While this position has no direct reports, it does require the influence of a large team of indirect reports including associates, managers, and leaders across the US.


• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time.  


• May perform other duties as assigned.

Competencies

• Leadership   


• Time Management     


• Respectful Coaching Techniques   


• Thoroughness


• Detail Oriented and Results Driven


• Conflict Resolution


• Cross functional collaboration


• Selection and Interviewing skills          

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or related management work experience.


• At least 5 years of leadership experience in a production environment

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master’s degree


• Six Sigma/Lean certification


• At least 7 years of work experience in a production environment, specifically targeted towards Continuous Improvement related work

You’ll get…

• Competitive hourly rate, 401K company match that vests immediately upon participation, & team bonus opportunities


• Generous PTO and flexible attendance policy 


• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits with options at $0 monthly, effective first day of employment


• Up to 85% discount on subscriptions to HelloFresh meal plans (HelloFresh, Green Chef, Everyplate, and Factor_)   


• Access to Employee Resource Groups that are open to all employees, including those pertaining to BIPOC, women, veterans, parents, and LGBTQ+


• Inclusive, collaborative, and dynamic work environment within a fast-paced, mission-driven company that is disrupting the traditional food supply chain

This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the responsibilities. However, the Company reserves the right to adjust, modify, or reassign work tasks and responsibilities as needed to meet changing business needs, operational requirements, or other factors.