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Senior Director - Operations

Danaher · Cortland, NY

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Level
Director+
Team
Production
Base pay
$220k–$250k
Travel
20%
Degree
Required
Experience asked
12+ years
Industry
Pharma & life sciences
Posted
24 days ago

The role in 30 seconds

A director-level production role at Danaher (pharma & life sciences) in Cortland, NY. Promote, lead and coach others in the use of DBS tools and lean concepts to improve manufacturability, productivity, yields, cost, process variation, and customer quality in a cost-effective manner with a critical eye toward sustainability and continuous.

They ask for
12+ years · degree required
Tools it names
Lean, Value stream mapping, EHS / safety
Base pay
$220k–$250k
Day to day
about 20% travel

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026

Production Engineer roles in New York: typical posted base $118k–$158k. This one lists $220k–$250k.

Median of the low and high ends of 11 live postings that list pay, out of 13 production engineer openings in New York, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

New York plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 12 other live production postings in New York.

Base pay
About 71% above similar roles

Typical $118k–$158k, from 8 postings that list pay.

Experience asked
More than usual (12+ vs 10+)

Similar roles usually ask 10+ years.

Skills these teams ask for most

  • ✓ EHS / safety 54%
  • ✓ Lean 46%
  • Root cause 46%
  • Team leadership 46%
  • Six Sigma 38%
  • Black Belt 31%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

Stands out: this posting asks for Value stream mapping, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.

It asks for 12+ years. If you're close, apply anyway: requirements are a wish list. Talk to someone doing this work there first.

At a glance

Promotion path mentioned

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

  1. 1

    Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at Danaher

    Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.

  2. 2

    Send a short, curious note

    One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.

  3. 3

    Turn a reply into a short call

    Questions worth asking about this team:

    • What does a normal week look like on your team?
    • The posting says about 20% travel. Between which sites?
    • How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
  4. 4

    Apply with someone vouching for you

    If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.

  5. 5

    Bring proof to the interview

    One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

This plant: Danaher in Cortland

1 other open role at this site.

Full description from DanaherAs posted on their careers site.Show

In this role, you will have the opportunity to

  • ◆Drive activities intended to position the site and the broader N.A. Operations organization to successfully respond to increased demand from the global semiconductor industry while maintaining a focus on Safety, Quality, Delivery, Inventory, and Productivity through effective use of Danaher Business System (DBS) tools including but not limited to the efficient execution of Daily Management and KPI action plan development.
  • ◆Build a Winning Team that is prepared to meet the exceptionally high product complexity demands required to manufacture foundational Pall technologies using proprietary processes in the following key market sectors: nuclear products, gas filtration, semiconductors, and other highly regulated industries.
  • ◆Proactively negotiate with business leaders both internal and external to Pall to establish realistic delivery expectation and prioritize the development of talent and the creation of agile people processes that enable the site to dynamically allocate resources to meet shifting demands in a fast-changing environment.
  • ◆Promote, lead and coach others in the use of DBS tools and lean concepts to improve manufacturability, productivity, yields, cost, process variation, and customer quality in a cost-effective manner with a critical eye toward sustainability and continuous improvement.
  • ◆Focus on bringing the strategy to life for the site leadership team and empowering the team and cross-organizational partners to closely manage headcount and overtime and manage operating expenses, and fiscal budgets set by the broader organization.

The essential

Requirements

  • ✓Ability to travel up t
Show full description ↓

Bring more to life.

Are you ready to accelerate your potential and make a real difference within life sciences, diagnostics, and biotechnology?

At Pall Corporation, one of Danaher’s 15+ operating companies, our work saves lives—and we’re all united by a shared commitment to innovate for tangible impact. You’ll thrive in a culture of belonging where you and your unique viewpoint matter. And by harnessing Danaher’s system of continuous improvement, you help turn ideas into impact – innovating at the speed of life.

As a global leader in high-tech filtration, separation, and purification, Pall Corporation thrives on helping our customers solve their toughest challenges. Our products serve diverse, global customer needs across a wide range of applications to advance health, safety, and environmentally responsible technologies. From airplane engines to hydraulic systems, scotch to smartphones, OLED screens to paper—everyday Pall is there, helping protect critical operating assets, improving product quality, minimizing emissions and waste, and safeguarding health. For the exponentially curious, Pall is a place where you can thrive and amplify your impact on the world. Find what drives you on a team with a more than 75-year history of discovery, determination, and innovation.

Learn about the Danaher Business System which makes everything possible.

The Senior Director of Operations will have full accountability for aligning strategic priorities to drive performance at Pall’s Cortland site. This leader will oversee approximately 400 associates and drive transformation and operational excellence across a unionized, highly regulated operation that supports all four Pall businesses and manufactures proprietary, market-differentiating technologies. With full P&L accountability and responsibility for safety, quality, service, cost, productivity, and working-capital objectives, the Senior Director of Operations will lead a diverse, cross-functional management team spanning Value Streams/Production, Planning, Procurement, Engineering, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS&S), Facilities and Maintenance, and Continuous Improvement/DBS.

The successful candidate will support the development of Pall’s overall operations strategy and priorities while balancing the needs of multiple Pall businesses. This leader will be expected to develop and continually refine organizational capability, allocate resources effectively, and drive sustained continuous improvement and transformation across the operation.

This position reports to the VP Operations North America and Energy+ and is part of the Operations team located in Cortland NY. This is an on-site role.

of the job include

  • •Bachelor’s degree with 12+ years of manufacturing people leadership experience. A Masters’ degree and/or formal certifications in areas related to manufacturing operations are preferred with proven experience in site transformation to high performing organization/culture.
  • •Experience with successful implementation of Continuous Improvement and Lean Manufacturing programs, principles and practices, and the ability to demonstrate a strong understanding of CI tools and techniques in successfully sustaining results. Formal Lean and CI certifications are preferred.
  • •Demonstrated strong understanding of the inter-relationship between manufacturing, production planning, SIOP/S&OP, engineering, inventory/materials management, quality and regulatory affairs programs and purchasing.
  • •Demonstrates safety leadership knowledge, team building skills and the ability to demonstrate how you have developed and sustained a safety culture that achieved outstanding outcomes and yielded measurable safety performance improvements.
  • •Excellent communication (both verbal and written) and people skills, sensitivity to cultural differences, with a demonstrated ability to maintain and improve upon strong relationships with union leadership in a manufacturing operations setting.
  • •Strong financial background with the ability to speak with clarity on how operational decisions articulate in the financial outcomes.
  • •Demonstrated experience with the ability to highlight successful development of talent to ensure the talent availability and strong succession readiness across key roles.

Travel

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