Operational Excellence Principal EngineerCambrex

Cambrex


Operational Excellence Principal Engineer

US-IA-Charles City

Job ID: 2026-5078
Type: Regular Full-Time
# of Openings: 1
Category: Six Sigma
Cambrex - Charles City

Overview

The Principal Engineer, Operational Excellence is a senior technical improvement leader responsible for identifying, leading, and sustaining high-impact operational improvements that increase capacity, improve throughput, reduce cycle time, improve yield, strengthen schedule attainment, and eliminate waste across manufacturing and support functions.

This role serves as a subject matter expert in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, engineering, and operational performance improvement within a regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing environment. Working closely with cross functional teams, the Principal Engineer applies chemical engineering principles and data-driven problem solving to remove production constraints, optimize process performance, and deliver measurable business results.

Responsibilities

Safety Culture

• Inspire and drive a site culture focused on safety for all employees as per our commitment to “Safety is non-negotiable”

·       Develop improvements that release incremental capacity from existing assets, systems, workflows, and labor resources. 

• Collaborate with cross functional teams to improve process robustness, equipment utilization, reliability, and manufacturing efficiency. 
• Apply statistical analysis, root-cause analysis, FMEA, process capability analysis, regression, and Design of Experiments to complex operational problems. 
• Analyze process flow, chemistry, variability, constraints, and resource utilization to improve manufacturing predictability and performance. 
• Lead DMAIC, PDCA, Kaizen, and other structured problem-solving efforts. 

 

• Evaluate automation, digital, and emerging technology opportunities that simplify work and improve operational visibility or control. 

·       Support process transfers, scale-up, capital projects, technology implementation, and operational readiness activities. 

·       Establish baselines, define success measures, and validate realized savings and operational benefits with process owners and Finance. 

• Support sustainment of Lean Manufacturing, TQM Daily Management, leadership standard work, visual management, tiered accountability, 6S, and structured problem-solving systems. 
• Mentor Lean Six Sigma practitioners, and cross-functional project teams to strengthen site capability. 

Qualifications / Skills

• Advanced knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and operational excellence systems.
• Strong chemical engineering fundamentals and the ability to apply them in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, cross-functional improvement initiatives with measurable results.
• Understanding of process capability, variation reduction, bottleneck management, and waste elimination.
• Strong project leadership, facilitation, coaching, and change-management skills.
• Financial acumen and the ability to quantify, communicate, and validate business impact.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from an accredited institution.
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification at minimum, higher belt preferred
• 7+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing, process engineering, operational excellence, or continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated experience leading significant cross-functional projects that delivered measurable improvements in operational or financial performance.

 

Equal employment opportunity, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.

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