Director of Operations

At Dexter, we manufacture and distribute axles, accessories, and towing components primarily serving the commercial trailer, RV, marine, agriculture, and manufactured housing markets. We’re building products and systems that are rooted in a culture of safety, collaboration, and innovation. Headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana, Dexter has manufacturing and distribution locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Employing state‑of‑the‑art robotics, precision welding equipment, and automated machining processes, Dexter has achieved over 65 years of success through a commitment to the principles of superior quality, continuous improvement, and unparalleled customer service. Scope Nine (9) Dexter UpFit U.S. site locations. Focus Productivity, CapEx, strategic projects, operational gaps, and growth readiness. Impact Revenue enablement, capacity, cost, quality, safety, execution, and talent strength. Why This Role Is Compelling Enterprise‑level influence across a nine‑site manufacturing network. Direct impact on productivity, capacity, revenue enablement, and operational execution. High visibility to senior leadership in a role built for practical, measurable results. What You Will Do Assess operational performance across Dexter UpFit sites and identify opportunities to improve productivity, capacity, quality, safety, cost, and revenue. Lead and support strategic projects that improve site execution and accelerate business performance. Identify, scope, and develop CapEx requests with clear business justification, ROI, payback, implementation plans, and expected results. Partner with finance, engineering, operations, supply chain, HR, and site leadership to prioritize projects, remove barriers, and validate results. Challenge current‑state thinking, uncover performance gaps, and implement practical improvement plans. Support critical operational issues, leadership gaps, or business disruptions through hands‑on support or temporary coverage as needed. Assess talent, coach leaders, and help structure organizations for growth across the network. What You Will Bring Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Business, Supply Chain, Industrial Technology, or a related field. 10+ years of progressive manufacturing operations experience, including plant, operational excellence, engineering, or transformation leadership. Experience leading or supporting multi‑site manufacturing operations. Proven ability to deliver measurable improvements in productivity, cost, quality, safety, capacity, or revenue. Strong experience developing, supporting, or executing CapEx projects and business cases. Financial and analytical strength, including ROI, payback, cost‑benefit analysis, KPI management, and benefit tracking. Practical Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, root cause problem solving, and change leadership experience. Ability to influence across sites and functions, communicate from the shop floor to executives, and travel regularly to nine U.S. Dexter UpFit locations. Preferred Qualifications MBA, master's degree, Lean Six Sigma certification, or PMP certification. Experience in upfitting, trailer, vehicle, automotive, specialty equipment, metal fabrication, assembly, or industrial manufacturing. Experience supporting growth, turnaround, acquisition integration, site expansion, or organizational transformation. Who Thrives Here You are a strategic operator who can walk a plant floor, identify constraints, align teams around action, build a compelling business case, and help deliver results. You bring operational urgency, financial discipline, and the leadership maturity to improve today's performance while building the organization for future growth. Benefits Competitive wage. Full benefits package including Health, Dental, Vision, Life, STD, LTD, FSA, HSA. 3% profit sharing in our Safe Harbor program. 401(k) Plan with company contributions. Opportunities for internal career development and growth. Dexter is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining a highly qualified, dedicated workforce. We hire and promote individuals based on their qualifications, performance, and abilities. It is the policy of the Company to provide equal opportunity to all qualified individuals without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, religion, veteran status, citizenship status or any other protected characteristic as outlined by applicable U.S. and Canada equal rights legislation protected by federal, state, province or local law. #J-18808-Ljbffr