Associate Director, Operational Excellence - Productivity

About this role

Working with Us Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working-with-us .

The Associate Director, Operational Excellence – Productivity is responsible for driving enterprise-wide productivity, efficiency, and performance improvement across the manufacturing and laboratory network. This leader embeds a culture of continuous improvement, standardizes best practices, and ensures delivery of measurable financial and operational outcomes (e.g., COGS reduction, capacity unlock, reliability improvements, and lab throughput gains). This role has a strong emphasis on deploying and maturing Lean Labs across QC, Stability, Raw Materials, and other laboratory environments – leveling demand, establishing standard work and flow, and building tiered management and problem-solving discipline to deliver consistent, predictable, and continuously improving lab performance (SQDC+P).

This role operates at the intersection of operations, quality/laboratory, finance, supply chain, and digital, translating strategy into site-level and lab-level execution. Partner/Support Fusion team Aim Points for Cash Flow, Zero Disruptions, Revenue Acceleration, and Decision Making.

The Operational Excellence role creates enterprise value across four key dimensions: a. Financial Impact (Hard Value) • Reduction in COGS through yield improvement, waste reduction, material cost (PPV)/negotiation/rebates, supply chain/landed cost, product design, and labor productivity/automation • Increase in capacity utilization, delaying or eliminating capital investments – including unlocking hidden lab capacity through demand leveling • Improved inventory turns and working capital efficiency

b. Operational Performance • Increased OEE (typically +5–15 points across network) • Reduced deviations, batch failures, and right-first-time (RFT) losses • Shorter cycle times and improved throughput, including lab turnaround/lead-time consistency • Improved analyst productivity of 10–15%+ through demand leveling, standard work, and flow in laboratories

c. Reliability & Supply Assurance • Improved service levels (OTIF) and reduced supply disruptions • Faster and more predictable product release timelines, driven by leveled lab demand and defined sample flow (rhythm wheels, trains, or defined days) • Stronger resilience through standardized processes

d. Capability Building & Culture • Institutionalization of a continuous improvement (CI) mindset, including Lean Labs foundational and advanced elements • Development of site-level CI leaders and problem-solving capability, including lab tiered management and Gemba practice • Scalable deployment of best practices across the network • Build/coach financial acumen for site OpEx

Key Responsibilities:

1. Network Performance & Value Delivery • Design and partner with BI&T to build network-level dashboards and reporting KPIs: OEE, yield, cycle time, COGS/unit, and lab metrics (% RFT, % roles/on-time, capacity utilization) • Build a transparent performance management system across sites and laboratories • Identify quantified savings and productivity improvements (annual targets) • Attend budget reviews and align on productivity goals and delivery • Identify network-wide resource needs to deliver business results

2. Lean Labs & Focused Improvement System Deployment • Establish and scale Lean / Six Sigma methodologies across manufacturing and laboratory operations • Lead deployment of the Lean Labs sub-system: analyze demand variability (Coefficient of Variation) and select the appropriate leveling strategy (queue-based, mixed workstream, staggered planting, forced combination, or planned hours leveling) • Establish standard work and defined analyst roles (Role Cards, Work Combination Sheets) that support repeatable, balanced, and productive workloads • Design and implement flow mechanisms (rhythm wheels, test trains, or defined days) to reduce sample throughput time and work-in-progress • Deploy and coach tiered, visually managed performance boards (daily huddles, KPI/KBI trackers, issue/action logs) to drive short-interval control and root-cause problem solving • Lead structured problem-solving and root cause elimination (A3, DMAIC/PDCA) across labs and manufacturing • Drive right-first-time and deviation reduction initiatives • Advance labs along the maturity curve (Reactive → Proactive → Integrating → Excellent) using the Lean Labs maturity assessment grid

3. Standardization & Best Practice Scaling • Identify high-performing sites/labs and codify best practices • Rapidly deploy proven improvements, including Lean Labs foundational and advanced elements, across the network • Reduce process variability and performance gaps

4. Capacity & Asset Optimization • Unlock hidden capacity in manufacturing and laboratories (debottlenecking, scheduling optimization, leveled demand modeling) • Improve asset utilization and labor/analyst productivity • Deploy and maintain skills matrices to identify training gaps, target minimum headcount by skill, and prioritize training investment • Reduce the need for capital expenditures through efficiency gains

5. Digital & Data-Driven Manufacturing an

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