As the Manager, Operational Excellence, you will lead operational excellence initiatives across Rivian’s Parts Distribution Center network with a focus on standardization, process adherence, training effectiveness, quality improvement, and continuous improvement execution. This role will partner closely with PDC Operations, Quality, Planning, and cross-functional support teams to identify performance gaps, build sustainable countermeasures, and improve how work is documented, trained, measured, and executed.
The Manager, Operational Excellence will be responsible for driving adoption of standardized operating methods across the network, including playbook content, Standard Work Sheets (SWS), training tools, process audits, and structured change management. This role will also help ensure operational priorities are translated into clear actions, owned by the right teams, and tracked through consistent review mechanisms.
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Lead the operational excellence roadmap across the PDC network, ensuring priorities are aligned to safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost objectives.
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Partner with site leadership to identify process gaps, standardization opportunities, and execution risks across inbound, outbound, inventory, quality, repack, and special process areas.
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Own the development, review, enhancement, and rollout of standardized operating documentation, including playbook content, SWS, training aids, process visuals, and audit tools.
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Drive consistent implementation of standard work across sites by establishing clear governance for updates, communication, training, and adoption follow-up.
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Lead continuous improvement initiatives and kaizen follow-up activities, ensuring actions move from idea stage through implementation and sustainment.
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Build and maintain a structured operating cadence to review operational performance, audit findings, open gaps, and corrective actions with site and functional leaders.
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Partner with Quality and Operations teams to strengthen root cause problem solving, process confirmation, and countermeasure implementation for recurring operational issues.
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Support development of the PDC Distribution Jira board and related workflow so operational excellence work is visible, prioritized, assigned, and tracked in a consistent manner.
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Ensure the network has effective change management practices for new processes, revised standards, pilot launches, and cross-site rollouts.
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Coach and develop team members while fostering a culture of accountability, problem solving, and continuous improvement.
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Bachelor’s degree preferred, or equivalent practical experience in supply chain, operations, engineering, business, or a related field.
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5+ years of experience in distribution, warehouse operations, operational excellence, continuous improvement, quality, or supply chain roles.
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2+ years of people leadership or equivalent experience leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing teams in a matrixed environment.
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Strong knowledge of warehouse and distribution operations, including process standardization, training systems, quality controls, and operational performance management.
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Demonstrated experience building or improving standard work, process documentation, training content, and operational governance routines.
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Experience leading continuous improvement initiatives using structured problem-solving methods such as root cause analysis, kaizen, Lean, or similar approaches.
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Ability to work cross-functionally with operations, planning, quality, engineering, and business teams to translate high-level needs into practical execution plans.
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Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create clear expectations, drive alignment, and communicate effectively across multiple levels of the organization.
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Experience using digital tools to manage work, document standards, and track actions; experience with Jira, Confluence, SAP, and Google Workspace preferred.
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Strong organizational and project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
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Willingness to travel as needed to support PDC network standardization, implementation, and audit activity.
