Director of Operational Excellence

Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. is an industry-leading home, security and digital products company. We’re focused on exciting opportunities within the home, security and commercial building markets. Our driving purpose is to elevate every life by transforming spaces into havens. We believe our work and our brands can have incredibly positive impacts for not just our business and shareholders, but for people and the planet, too.

At Fortune Brands, we’re building something big. We’re advancing exciting innovations in all of our products and processes. We’re delivering trust, dependability, sustainability, and style. To make it all happen, we’ve transformed our workplace into an environment where smart, ambitious people have the support to reach their fullest potential.

When you join Fortune Brands, you become part of a high-performing team empowered to think big, learn fast and make bold decisions. We support an inclusive culture where everyone is encouraged be their authentic selves, and where our differences and unique perspectives are a key strength.

Explore life at Fortune Brands here.

The Director of Operational Excellence is the enterprise leader responsible for advancing Lean and Operational Excellence across FBIN’s manufacturing and distribution network. This role blends enterprise strategy with hands‑on, on‑site deployment to deliver sustained improvements in safety, quality, delivery, cost, and asset reliability.

Position Location: This is a hybrid role reporting into the Deerfield office 3x per week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) with the option to work remotely on Monday & Friday.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise Lean and Operational Excellence strategy, including roadmap development and governance, to drive consistent performance improvement across manufacturing and distribution.
• Deploy and scale the Enterprise Operating System across sites with varying maturity levels, aligning execution to business priorities.
• Provide hands‑on leadership at key Lean milestones, including value stream mapping, Kaizen events, and site transformation efforts.
• Partner with Plant Managers and site leaders to improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and asset reliability while building sustainable CI capability.
• Establish and standardize OpEx metrics and operating rhythms to track progress, drive accountability, and sustain results.
• Present OpEx progress, transformation roadmaps, and capital plans to executive leadership.
• Leverage data and performance insights to prioritize improvements and support fact‑based decision making.

• Bachelors degree required
• Minimum of 7 years of hands‑on Lean / CI experience. Strong background in Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Daily Management, and Kaizen required.  Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing large‑scale manufacturing operations or multiple production sites.
• Strong project management skills with ability to plan tasks, assign and manage resources, remove barriers, manage change, resolve conflict, build consensus, and motivate team members.
• Strong influence, leadership, and change management skills.
• Experience with dashboards and analytics tools (Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or similar).
• Ability to travel up to 30-50%.

Fortune Brands believes in fair and equitable pay. A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is Hiring Pay Range: $150,000 USD - $230,000 USD. Please note that actual salaries may vary within the range, or be above or below the range, based on factors including, but not limited to, education, training, experience, professional achievement, business need, and location. In addition to base salary, employees will participate in either an annual bonus plan based on company and individual performance, or a role-based sales incentive plan.

At Fortune Brands, we support the overall health and wellness of our associates by offering comprehensive, competitive benefits that prioritize all aspects of wellbeing and provide flexibility for our teammates’ unique needs. This includes robust health plans, a market-leading 401(k) program with a company contribution, product discounts, flexible time off benefits, adoption benefits, and more. We offer numerous ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) to foster a sense of belonging for all associates.

Fortune Brands is built on industry-leading brands and innovation within the high-growth categories of water, outdoors and security. The Company makes innovative products for residential and commercial environments, with a growing focus on digital solutions and products that add luxury, contribute to safety and enhance sustainability. To learn more, visit our website at fbin.com.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Fortune Brands is an equal opportunity employer. Fortune Brands evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, disability/handicap status, marital status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic history or information, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Reasonable Accommodations

Fortune Brands is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or interview process, please contact us at [email protected] and let us know the nature of your request along with your contact information.

Important Notice: Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Job Postings

To protect yourself from fraudulent job postings or recruitment scams, please note that Fortune Brands job postings are exclusively hosted on our website at fbin.com/careers via our SmartRecruiters platform. Fortune Brands will never request banking information or sensitive personal details until an offer of employment has been accepted and the onboarding process begins.