Black Belt Manager

Role & responsibilities

• Support Operational Excellence Leader in driving the OpEx Program at designated sites.
• Build a culture of continuous improvement by developing sensitization programs for CI idea generation across all workforce levels.
• Facilitate CI idea evaluation and coordinate timely CI awards/recognition ceremonies.
• Train workforce at multiple levels on Lean, Six Sigma, and problem-solving tools.
• Coordinate and support implementation of process improvement projects at sites.
• Independently lead DMAIC/Kaizen projects with strong cross-functional collaboration and influence.
• Prepare detailed project closure reports including savings validation.
• Track, report, and close gaps in OpEx Program deployment to OpEx Leader.
• Participate in structured problem-solving meetings as required.
• Prepare MIS documents including dashboards and site performance reports for section heads.
• Comply with HSE policies, company procedures, training, and upskilling requirements.
• Take on additional responsibilities as assigned by reporting manager.

Qualifications

• Bachelors/Master’s in Engineering, Industrial/Manufacturing, or related field.
• Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (ASQ/IASSC/recognized internal BB certification).
• 5–10+ years of CI/OpEx experience in manufacturing (process industry preferred).
• Experience leading multiple end-to-end projects with measurable financial impact.

Critical Skills

• Strong statistical and data analytics skills (Minitab/Excel/Power BI/SQL/Python preferred).
• Excellent project mentoring and team facilitation capability.
• Shopfloor bias: able to work in manufacturing environment, observe processes, and coach teams on-site.
• Communication and influence across levels (operators to leadership).
• Ability to translate data into root causes and sustainable countermeasures.

Preferred Industry Exposure

• Oleoresins / spice extracts / food ingredients / pharma extraction / chemicals / FMCG process plants.
• Exposure to batch processes, solvent extraction, steam distillation, filtration, drying, blending, packing.
• Understanding of yield loss, quality variation, downtime drivers, and energy/waste reduction.

Success Measures

• Project savings delivered vs target
• CI idea participation and closure rate
• Reduction in COPQ, yield loss, cycle time, downtime, complaints
• Training completion and skill uplift across workforce
• Robust dashboards and MIS cadence

Must-Have vs Good-to-Have

Must-Have (non-negotiable)

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification + real project proof
• Solid hands-on data analysis (not just facilitation)
• Comfortable on shopfloor with operators/maintenance/quality teams
• Led DMAIC projects end-to-end with validated savings
• Strong root cause skills (stats + process understanding)
• Power BI + SQL/Python modeling skills / Minitab skills

Good-to-Have

• Process industry / extraction / batch manufacturing experience
• TPM / Reliability / SMED / VSM / OEE program experience
• Experience rolling out OpEx system across multi-sites
• Knowledge of food safety / GMP / HACCP is a bonus