OPEX Head

"Expect to grow", personally and professionally: At Siegfried, we offer exciting challenges and ample opportunities to showcase your talents. As a trusted and respected partner to the pharmaceutical industry, we uphold the highest standards in safety, quality and sustainability, while fostering a culture that empowers you to thrive. Join a rapidly expanding global company, where diverse perspectives and experiences come together in a collaborative environment. Here, you'll find a workplace that values both collective success and your individual contributions-offering long-term opportunities to grow and make an impact.

Your Role:

The jobholder organizationally reports to Site Head. Functionally, the job holder reports to the Global Head of Operations Management and Operational Excellence.

Lead and deploy the site Operational Excellence strategy and management system to sustainably improve performance, ensuring alignment with safety, quality, and regulatory requirements as well as global OPEX standards.

At our Pennsville facility, the role combines strategic governance with hands-on identification, prioritization, and implementation support for site improvement opportunities, according to site maturity and business needs. Strong emphasis on operational stability, performance management, waste elimination, and cross-functional deployment of management systems.

Your Profile:

• Strategy & Deployment:

• Define and deploy the site OPEX strategy aligned with site and global priorities

• Lead the local, cross-functional translation of strategic objectives into structured improvement programs and roadmaps

• Project Portfolio & Governance:

• Manage the full lifecycle of the OPEX project portfolio (idea to sustainability)

• Ensure structured prioritization, governance, and tracking of initiatives, including global projects and initiatives

• Performance Management & KPIs:

• Define and monitor relevant KPIs linked to value drivers (safety, quality, delivery, cost)

• Drive KPI-based steering and performance review routines

• Capability Building & Coaching:

• Train and coach employees and leaders in Lean, Six Sigma, and problem-solving methods

• Lead cross-functional and sustainable site capability-building and ownership of improvement practices

• Culture & Cross-functional Enablement:

• Foster a continuous improvement mindset across all functions

• Enable cross-functional collaboration and alignment on improvement priorities

Additional focus areas may include OEE implementation and improvement, debottlenecking, cost of goods analysis, financial variance analysis, inventory flow improvement, where relevant and aligned with the global standard.

Main Tasks

• Define and align the site improvement program with the leadership team
• Identify, assess, and prioritize improvement opportunities
• Lead strategic cross-functional improvement projects
• Deploy standard improvement methods and governance routines
• Ensure sustainability and ownership of implemented improvements
• Provide fact-based analysis and recommendations to site leadership
• Drive KPI implementation and review routines
• Lead or facilitate value stream mapping and root cause problem solving
• Identify and implement cost reduction opportunities across operations and support functions.

Education and competencies

• Degree in engineering, science, or related field
• Experience in manufacturing/operations, continuous improvement, and/or consulting
• Track record with state-of-the-art lean production systems (TPS, IWS, WCM, etc.)
• Strong Lean/Six Sigma expertise
• Strong project and program management skills
• Analytical thinking and data-driven decision-making capability
• Strong leadership, coaching, and change management skills
• Ability to influence in a matrix organization
• Additional competencies may include experience with SAP, Minitab or similar analytical tools, CMMS awareness, and practical application of Lean tools.
• Experience in regulated manufacturing environments is a plus (SHE and cGMP requirements)

Your Benefits:

• Competitive performance-based bonus
• Employee Share Matching Plan
• 401(k) Match
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Offerings
• Life, Sickness and Accident insurance, and Long-term disability
• Increased Voluntary Life Insurance (employee and family) (optional)

The salary for this role is anticipated to be between $140,000 and $175,000

Founded in 1873 in Zofingen, Switzerland, Siegfried has grown into a global network of 16 sites across three continents. With a team of more than 4,200 highly skilled professionals, we take the innovations of our pharmaceutical customers to industrial scale and manufacture safe drugs for patients worldwide. As a fully integrated CDMO, Siegfried is one of the few organizations today that can carry out the development and manufacturing of APIs and finished dosage forms under one roof. This unique combination of know-how and experience makes us the most trusted partner in the pharmaceutical industry.