Senior Director Operational Excellence Lean Jobs

Trident Seafoods is North America’s largest vertically integrated seafood company—partnering with fishermen, employees, and communities to responsibly harvest, process, and share wild Alaska seafood with the world. With deep roots in Alaska and operating across the globe, Trident is a privately held company headquartered in Seattle, committed to nourishing the world while upholding the highest standards for safety, sustainability, and excellence.

At Trident Seafoods, we work together for something bigger than ourselves. From nourishing the world with the best protein on earth to protecting our oceans, serving our fishermen, and supporting communities in Alaska and beyond, here, you’ll find a values-driven culture where your growth matters, your work has purpose and your contributions are recognized and appreciated—because at Trident, we believe meaningful work connects us all.

Summary: The Sr Director, Operational Excellence is responsible for leading the deployment, sustainment, and continuous evolution of the Trident Performance System (TPS) across manufacturing facilities, vessels, distribution operations, and supply chain functions. This role serves as a strategic business partner to operations leaders and is accountable for improving operational effectiveness through the implementation of continuous improvement methodologies and standardized management systems along with improvements in service, productivity, cost performance, employee engagement. 

The Sr Director leads large-scale transformation initiatives, develops organizational capability, establishes performance management systems, and drives measurable business results across a complex, geographically dispersed operation. Success in this role requires strong operational leadership, change management expertise, business and financial acumen, and the ability to influence stakeholders across a matrixed organization. 

Essential Functions: (Responsibilities, Tasks, Supervisory Needs)

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Operational Excellence Leadership 

• Lead deployment, sustainment, and continuous improvement of the Trident Performance System across assigned operations. 
• Develop and execute operational excellence roadmaps aligned with business priorities, annual objectives, and supply chain transformation goals. 
• Drive enterprise initiatives focused on safety, quality, productivity, service, cost reduction, asset utilization, and employee engagement. 
• Establish and promote standardized processes, best practices, and daily management systems across sites and functions. 
• Identify opportunities to eliminate waste, streamline processes, improve resource utilization, and strengthen cost performance. 
• Ensure operational excellence initiatives produce measurable, sustainable business results. 

Continuous Improvement and Lean Leadership 

• Serve as a subject matter expert in Lean, TPM, Six Sigma, Kaizen, OEE, KPI management, and operational excellence methodologies. 
• Facilitate Kaizen events, value stream mapping, root cause analysis, problem-solving workshops, and other improvement activities. 
• Coach operations leaders and teams on TPS tools, problem-solving routines, and sustainable improvement practices. 
• Develop implementation plans that improve operational maturity and adoption of TPS principles. 
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous learning, disciplined execution, and operational excellence. 

Performance Management and Analytics 

• Develop, monitor, and improve operational KPIs, reporting frameworks, visual management systems, and performance routines. 
• Analyze operational data to identify trends, risks, gaps, and improvement opportunities. 
• Lead efforts to achieve annual savings, productivity, quality, service, safety, and operational performance targets. 
• Partner with operations leaders to develop improvement plans, track progress, communicate results, and sustain improvements. 

Strategic Partnership and Change Leadership 

• Partner with executive, supply chain, plant, vessel, and functional leaders to align improvement initiatives with business priorities. 
• Lead organizational change efforts that build engagement, adoption, and sustained capability across all levels of the organization. 
• Influence stakeholders in a matrixed environment to drive enterprise objectives and cross-functional alignment. 
• Communicate operational performance, project status, risks, opportunities, and resource needs to senior leadership. 
• Support strategic planning, business reviews, operating budget discussions, and operational transformation efforts. 

Project and Program Leadership 

• Lead complex cross-functional projects from conception through implementation, sustainment, and benefits realization. 
• Manage initiatives involving multiple facilities, business units, operational teams, and internal stakeholders. 
• Ensure project milestones, scope, business outcomes, savings targets, and financial objectives are achieved. 
• Support operational due diligence, acquisition integration, site readiness, and other special projects as assigned. 

People Leadership 

• Lead, coach, develop, and inspire Operational Excellence professionals and cross-functional project teams. 
• Build organizational capability through training, coaching, mentoring, and succession planning. 
• Promote a culture of collaboration, accountability, inclusion, safety, and continuous improvement. 
• Support staffing continuity, onboarding, interview participation, and interim leadership coverage as business needs require. 

The essential functions listed above are not exhaustive.  The organization may assign other duties as needed to meet business requirements.

Travel/On-Call Requirements:

• Frequent travel to operational sites, including manufacturing plants, vessels, cold storage locations, and remote operating environments. 
• Travel may range from 40% to 70% depending on business needs, including extended site visits during peak operations or major transformation initiatives. 
• May be required to support urgent operational issues, project implementations, or critical business needs outside of standard business hours. 

Required Qualifications: (Education, Years of Experience, Certifications)

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline. 
• Minimum 10-12 years of progressive operations, manufacturing, supply chain, or continuous improvement leadership experience. 
• Minimum 10 years of progressive people leadership experience leading managers, professional staff, and cross-functional teams within manufacturing, operations, supply chain, continuous improvement, or similarly complex business environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale operational transformation or continuous improvement initiatives. 
• Experience implementing Lean, TPM, Six Sigma, Kaizen, or equivalent continuous improvement systems. 
• Experience developing KPIs, reporting frameworks, visual management systems, and performance management routines. 
• Demonstrated success driving measurable improvements in safety, quality, productivity, service, cost, and employee engagement. 
• Experience leading complex cross-functional projects and influencing stakeholders in a matrixed organization. 

Preferred Education & Experiences:

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or a related field. 
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Master Black Belt, Lean Practitioner, TPM, or PMP certification. 
• Food manufacturing, seafood processing, protein manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, or related industry experience. 
• Multi-site operational leadership experience, including remote, vessel, or Alaska operations experience. 
• Experience supporting domestic and international manufacturing or supply chain sites. 
• SAP or related ERP system experience. 
• Demonstrated financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, savings validation, and cost improvement analysis.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs):

• Coaching, mentoring and team leadership
• Influencing without authority
• Executive communication and stakeholder management
• Data-driven decision making
• Analytical problem-solving
• Project and program management
• Strategic supply chain leadership
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Result orientation and accountability
• Strategic thinking

Stay connected with Trident Seafoods online at www.tridentseafoods.com and follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube or LinkedIn
Trident Seafoods provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
Trident Seafoods and its subsidiaries have adopted a drug-free workplace policy. Working under the influence of Drugs or Alcohol is not permitted.
Employment with Trident Seafoods is contingent upon the candidate maintaining valid immigration status and work authorization throughout employment, with or without immigration sponsorship by the company.