Senior Manager, Manufacturing Excellence

Filtrona is the only global, independent market leader in the design, testing and manufacturing of specialist filter solutions and related scientific services. With a head office in Singapore, Filtrona has 9 manufacturing facilities across Europe, America, and Asia, together with 2 innovation centers, an accredited laboratory and a Centre of Excellence focused on sustainability. The company has 2,000 employees serving customers across 120 countries.

Our purpose is to support partners to transform and benefit from business growth; we succeed when they succeed. Our mission is to be a responsible, customer-focused innovation leader creating excellence in sustainable solutions for today and tomorrow.

For more information, please visit www.filtrona.com.

The Senior Manager, Manufacturing Excellence, provides leadership in planning, executing, and delivering enterprise-wide operational initiatives that enhance efficiency, scalability, quality, and cost-effectiveness across the organization. This role drives strategic transformation by partnering with Operations, Innovation, Finance, Supply Chain, IT, and other business units to ensure initiatives are not only delivered on time and within scope but also aligned with long-term organizational objectives and competitive advantage.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive operational projects focused on process optimization, cost reduction, capacity planning, performance improvement, ensuring alignment with corporate strategy and market demands.
• Lead complex initiatives across regions, balancing resources, budgets and priorities to maximize impact.
• Collaborate with leadership team and global stakeholders to shape initiatives, secure buy-in, and drive organizational change.
• Establish objectives, KPIs, monitoring and governance framework to monitor outcomes, identify opportunities, and sustain continuous improvement.
• Drive change control processes and ensure smooth implementation of operational changes.
• Anticipate risks, implement mitigation strategies, and ensure adherence to global standards and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain strategic engagements with suppliers, ensuring alignment with specifications, expectations, and long-term value creation.
• Deliver transparent, data-driven insights to executive leadership, enabling informed decision-making and strategic course corrections.

Key Requirements

• Extensive experience within the tobacco industry, bringing deep knowledge of operational processes, compliance requirements, and supplier partnerships.
• 10 to 15 years of progressive experience leading operational and manufacturing project management within complex, process-driven environments
• Proven track record of leading and managing large-scale, cross-functional teams and complex, concurrent global/regional projects
• Experience with advanced project management methodologies, leveraging tools to drive efficiency, transparency and alignment across functions.
• Strong communication, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, deliver compelling presentations, and foster collaboration across international and multicultural environments.
• Successfully directed initiatives across international teams, global suppliers, driving operational excellence globally.
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related discipline.

Preferred Skills

• Deep mechanical expertise in complex parts, assemblies, and advanced manufacturing methods, with the ability to translate technical knowledge into strategic operational improvements.
• Analytical and data-driven, leveraging on analytics and performance dashboards to inform decision-making and drive measurable outcomes.
• Strategic organization and detail-orientation, with experience in enterprise-level database management and reporting.
• Proactive leadership in cost optimization, consistently identifying and implementing innovative strategies that deliver significant savings while enhancing scalability and efficiency.
• Proactive in identifying and pursuing cost-saving opportunities.