Global Continuous Improvement Manager (m/f/d) 100%

For the HACO Group, we are looking for a committed and practice-oriented personality in the role who actively shapes the establishment, further development, and anchoring of a group-wide Continuous Improvement and Lean Culture.

In this strategically important role, you report directly to the CTO of the HACO Group (Gümligen, CH) and work closely with the international production companies. Your goal is to harmonize processes, promote operational excellence, and sustainably integrate improvement initiatives into the daily work of the sites.

A special focus is on achieving measurable, quantitative results that positively impact the efficiency, quality, and profitability of the production sites. You thus make a significant contribution to anchoring a sustainable performance and improvement culture within the entire corporate group.

• Establishment, further development, and coordination of a group-wide Continuous Improvement program.
• Introduction and promotion of a Lean Manufacturing culture across all production sites.
• Initiation and support of improvement projects along the entire value chain.
• Conducting ad-hoc interventions as needed to operationally support local teams.
• Coaching and enabling local managers and CI officers in applying Lean principles (e.g., Kaizen, 5S, SMED, Standard Work).
• Analysis and harmonization of production processes, key figures, and workflows to ensure measurable improvements.
• Promotion of best-practice sharing between international sites.
• Building a structured KPI and performance management culture as a basis for targeted improvement initiatives.
• Close collaboration with production, quality, and IT teams in subsidiaries.
• Travel activity to international production sites (at least 50%).

• Completed scientific or technical studies, ideally in production engineering, food technology, industrial engineering, or comparable fields.
• Several years of professional experience in the food industry or a manufacturing environment (preferably process industry).
• Proven experience in Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, or Operational Excellence.
• Solid understanding of production processes, performance management, and change management.
• Experience in leading or moderating improvement projects (e.g., Kaizen workshops, Value Stream Mapping, Root Cause Analysis).
• Strong mindset to achieve measurable results and the ability to clearly quantify and communicate successes.
• Strong communication and intercultural skills combined with implementation strength and a hands-on mentality.
• Analytical, structured, and practice-oriented working style.
• High willingness to travel and flexibility.
• Native German or English speaker, fluent English skills are required; good German skills are sufficient if German is not native.
• Residence in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, or Switzerland).

• A responsible, international position with great scope for design.
• Direct reporting line to the CTO of the HACO Group.
• Possibility to work 100% remotely.
• Diverse insights into various production sites and systems.
• A motivated, interdisciplinary team in a dynamic, growth-oriented environment.