Operational Excellence Program Manager

Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Job Overview

Location

Virtual (USA)

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• The Operational Excellence Program Manager at Land O'Lakes, Inc. is a pivotal role responsible for enabling and sustaining the organization’s Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and continuous improvement capabilities across a Fortune 250 farmer-owned cooperative. This position serves as the central program owner for Operational Excellence training, certification governance, playbook content, and enterprise improvement initiatives, ensuring consistency, scalability, and effective administration of the company’s Operational Excellence framework. By partnering with Regional Operational Excellence leaders, the role focuses on program coordination and sustainability rather than deep technical execution, making it ideal for a highly organized, communicative professional passionate about building process improvement knowledge organization-wide.
• Day-to-day responsibilities include maintaining and continuously improving Lean Six Sigma training content for Lean Leader, Op Ex portions of LEAD supervisor training, Sponsor Champion, and Green Belt programs; ensuring consistent documentation, version control, and accessibility of all training materials; and serving as steward of the Op Ex Playbook and Op Ex Center of Excellence, including tools, templates, and standard methodologies. The role also involves coordinating logistics and deployment of LSS and Op Ex training programs, supporting the selection and onboarding of internal trainers and coaches, facilitating workshops and best practice sharing sessions, and providing coordination for the Op Ex component of LEAD supervisor training to strengthen frontline continuous improvement capability.
• In certification and governance, the manager oversees the LSS Green Belt and Black Belt certification process, including candidate tracking, documentation, and governance reviews; maintains certification standards and evaluation criteria; and reports on program effectiveness by tracking training participation, certifications, and capability development metrics. The role further supports enterprise initiatives such as Igniting Growth/WAVE and other improvement efforts focused on cost-to-serve, efficiency, and growth, while also contributing to culture-building programs like Courage to Care through communications and success storytelling to drive awareness and engagement in Operational Excellence efforts.
• Program coordination and reporting duties include maintaining centralized tracking of improvement initiatives, training, and certifications; developing and supporting dashboards and reports that provide visibility into Op Ex capability growth and impact; and partnering with Regional Op Ex Managers to ensure program alignment and sustainability. The role requires a minimum of 50% travel to engage with regional teams and support enterprise-wide initiatives.
• The Operational Excellence Program Manager will gain deep expertise in enterprise-scale process improvement frameworks, enhance leadership and stakeholder management skills across a large, geographically dispersed organization, and contribute meaningfully to Land O'Lakes’ mission of reimagining the business of food through operational excellence. Success in this role offers the opportunity to influence organizational capability at scale, drive measurable efficiency gains, and grow into broader leadership positions within continuous improvement, learning and development, or operations management.
• Land O'Lakes, Inc. is a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative recognized as a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn and named to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list. The company fosters a culture of innovation, inclusion, and sustainability, offering employees the chance to work on meaningful challenges in agriculture, food production, and supply chain excellence while being part of an organization owned by the very farmers it serves.

🎯 Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in operational excellence, process improvement, learning program management, or project/program coordination
• Experience supporting training programs, workshops, or structured capability development initiatives
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work across all levels of the organization
• Green Belt certification

🏖️ Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Paid time off (PTO) and holiday pay
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Education assistance and tuition reimbursement
• Life and disability insurance
• Well-being resources and employee assistance programs

Skills & Technologies

Onsite

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Land O'Lakes, Inc.

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About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is a member-owned agricultural cooperative based in Arden Hills, Minnesota. Founded in 1921, it processes and markets dairy foods, animal feed, and crop inputs while providing technology and services to farmers. The cooperative supports more than 300,000 agricultural producers through its dairy foods, Purina Animal Nutrition and WinField United divisions. Land O'Lakes operates manufacturing, distribution and research facilities across North America, focusing on sustainable farming practices, food safety and rural community development. The company also advances agricultural technology and data analytics to improve productivity across the food production chain.

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