Director of Business Excellence, Advanced Separation & Water (ASW)

Job Summary

CECO Environmental is a global leader in providing sustainable solutions for industrial air, water, and energy transition. Since 1966, we've been addressing the world's most pressing environmental challenges. Our mission is to protect people, the environment, and industrial equipment, making a tangible impact across industries like renewable energy, semiconductor manufacturing, power generation, and water treatment. As a purpose-driven company, we foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and integrity, ensuring that every project we undertake creates lasting positive change. At CECO, you'll be part of a growing, dynamic team committed to a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable future.

We are proud to share that CECO was named one of Newsweek's America's Greatest Companies for 2025 and that Forbes recognized CECO as one of America's Most Successful Small-Cap Companies for 2026, marking our third consecutive year on the Forbes list. CECO Environmental is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker CECO, reflecting our strong growth, financial performance, and commitment to delivering value to shareholders.


As part of the CECO Environmental family of brands, Emtrol-Buell plays a critical role in delivering specialized energy transition solutions that protect both people and the environment. By joining our team, you'll contribute to our shared mission of protecting global industrial operations and shaping the future of environmental stewardship.

The Director of Business Excellence is an enterprise leader accountable for designing, owning, and executing ASW's operational excellence strategy to drive sustainable growth, margin expansion, and enterprise scalability.

This role leads the Business Excellence function across ASW and serves as a strategic partner to platform leadership, plant leaders, and corporate functions to translate strategy into measurable operational and financial outcomes. The Director owns the operating system, improvement roadmap, KPI architecture, and transformation cadence that enable consistent performance across all manufacturing sites.

Your Responsibilities Will Be:

Enterprise Business Excellence Leadership

• Own and lead the ASW Business Excellence function, setting vision, priorities, standards, and governance.
• Define and deploy the enterprise operating system, including KPI architecture, review cadence, and escalation mechanisms.
• Hold leaders accountable for performance outcomes through disciplined operating reviews and corrective action governance.
• Translate enterprise strategy into operational priorities, initiatives, and measurable targets.

Strategic Growth & Financial Performance

• Own the operational components of the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), ensuring alignment between strategy, capacity, capital, and execution.
• Drive margin expansion initiatives, including productivity, labor optimization, footprint efficiency, and working capital improvement.
• Identify and prioritize enterprise improvement initiatives that unlock growth, scalability, and profitability.

Manufacturing Excellence & Standardization

• Establish and enforce standardized manufacturing processes, workflows, and performance expectations across all sites.
• Lead capacity, footprint, and throughput strategies to support growth while controlling cost.
• Oversee enterprise KPI performance across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Cash, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Continuous Improvement & Lean Transformation

• Own the Lean and Continuous Improvement strategy, ensuring consistent deployment across all facilities.
• Build CI capability within operations leadership through coaching, training, and structured problem-solving.
• Drive waste elimination, variation reduction, and quality improvement using Lean/Six Sigma methodologies.

ERP Ownership & Digital Enablement

• Serve as the executive operational owner of ERP and manufacturing systems in partnership with IT.
• Define operational requirements for ERP, MES, automation, and analytics to enable visibility, scheduling accuracy, and execution discipline.
• Lead ERP optimization and adoption, ensuring systems drive behavior, accountability, and performance.

M&A Integration & Operational Due Diligence

• Lead operational due diligence for acquisitions, assessing manufacturing capability, scalability, and integration risk.
• Own post-close operational integration, including process harmonization, KPI alignment, and ERP migration readiness.
• Ensure rapid performance stabilization and value capture post-acquisition.

Safety, Quality & Culture

• Champion a strong safety and quality culture, partnering with EHS and Quality leaders to embed standards and accountability.
• Ensure operational excellence is embedded in leadership behaviors, decision-making, and talent development.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, or related field (Master's preferred).
• 10-15+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing or industrial operations.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-level operational excellence and transformation.
• Strong financial acumen with experience driving margin, productivity, and working capital results.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional, multi-site organizations through change.
• Deep experience with Lean, Continuous Improvement, and KPI-driven operating systems.
• ERP implementation and optimization experience in manufacturing environments.
• Experience supporting M&A operational diligence and integration strongly preferred.

Certifications (Preferred):

• Lean / Six Sigma certification (Black Belt or equivalent).
• Continuous Improvement or Operational Excellence certifications.

Travel Requirements:

• Regular domestic travel to manufacturing sites
• Periodic international travel
• Valid driver's license and passport required

ADA Requirements:

Work Environment: This position is based in a remote, home-office setting. The role requires a dedicated workspace with reliable internet access and a quiet environment conducive to focused work. The candidate must be self-motivated and able to manage boundaries between work and personal life effectively. Minimal physical requirements, primarily computer use, and communication via virtual platforms, are necessary. Flexibility to adapt to occasional scheduled video meetings and collaborative tasks is essential.

• Physical Demands: Positions in this function typically require standing, climbing, balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, reaching, standing, walking, pushing, pulling, lifting, fingering, grasping, feeling, talking, hearing, seeing and repetitive motions.

• Concentrated mental and/or visual attention. The work involves performing complex tasks to very close accuracy and quality specifications, or a high degree of hand and eye coordination for sustained periods.

We Offer:

We provide a variety of medical insurance plans, with dental and vision coverage, Employee 401(k), tuition reimbursement, and much more.


At CECO, we are committed to a culture where every employee is valued and respected for their unique experiences and perspectives. We believe a diverse and inclusive work environment contributes to the rich exchange of ideas and diversity of thoughts, that inspires innovation and brings the best solutions to our customers.


ABOUT US

CECO's Commitment to Our People


At CECO, our people are at the center of everything we do. Whether you're a professional looking for a career change, an undergraduate student exploring opportunities, or a recent graduate with an advanced degree, you'll find your chance to make a difference with CECO.


ABOUT CECO

CECO Environmental is a leading environmentally focused, diversified industrial company whose solutions protect people, the environment, and industrial equipment across the globe, serving a broad landscape of industrial air, industrial water and energy transition markets.


We serve these markets and our global customers through our key business segments: Engineered Systems and Industrial Process Solutions. Learn more about CECO by visiting About Us.


Equal Opportunity Employer

CECO is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status. We are committed to providing a workplace free of any discrimination or harassment.


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