Senior Director, Operations
nVent · Anoka, MN
- Level
- Director+
- Team
- Production
- Base pay
- $204k–$304k
- Degree
- Preferred
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- 2 days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A director-level production role at nVent (industrial) in Anoka, MN.
- They ask for
- degree preferred
- Tools it names
- Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, TPM, OEE, Root cause
- Base pay
- $204k–$304k
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026
Production Engineer roles in Minnesota: typical posted base $118k–$195k. This one lists $204k–$304k.
Median of the low and high ends of 15 live postings that list pay, out of 22 production engineer openings in Minnesota, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
Minnesota plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 21 other live production postings in Minnesota.
- Base pay
- About 99% above similar roles
- Experience asked
- Not stated
Typical $105k–$150k, from 10 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 7+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Team leadership 55%
- ✓ Lean 50%
- ✓ Six Sigma 32%
- ✓ EHS / safety 32%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for TPM, OEE, Automation, Tooling, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
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
Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at nVent
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 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
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 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
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: nVent in Anoka
28 other open roles at this site.
- Maintenance Technician -3rd Shift · Reliability · Technician
- Manufacturing Engineering Technician - 1st Shift · Manufacturing
- Quality Technician (Material Review Board Technician) - 1st Shift · Quality · Technician
- Facilities Technician - 3rd Shift · Reliability · Technician
- Quality Technician - 3rd Shift · Quality · Technician
- Quality Technician - Weekend Shift · Quality · Technician
Full description from nVentAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Key Responsibilities
- ◆Champion a high-performance continuous improvement culture by embedding Lean and problem-solving disciplines across all levels of the organization; empower employees to identify waste, implement solutions, and deliver sustainable gains while formally recognizing exceptional performance and contributions.
- ◆Lead large-scale, multi-site operational transformation across a large scaled flagship campus and additional high-growth plants, ensuring alignment of capacity, capability, and talent strategies to support accelerated business growth and evolving customer demand.
- ◆Drive Smart Factory / Digital Manufacturing advancement by scaling production capability through strategic investments in automation, advanced tooling, equipment, and data-driven systems (Industry 4.0), while balancing legacy operations with next-generation technologies to optimize throughput, quality, and cost.
- ◆Own end-to-end operational performance across Operations, Procurement, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), Facilities, Material Handling, and Business Support functions, ensuring disciplined execution against safety, quality, delivery, cost, and cash flow objectives
- ◆Develop and execute integrated strategic business plans that translate enterprise objectives into site-level actions, including long-range capacity planning, capital deployment (CapEx), workforce strategy, and footprint optimization across multiple locations.
- ◆Serve as a key leader and cross-functional partner, collaborating with senior leadership, supply chain, engineering, and commercial teams to align short- and long-term operational strategies, remove constraints, and ensure successful new product introductions and business expansion.
- ◆Lead, coach, and inspire a large, diverse organization by building strong leadership benches, strengthening succession pipelines, and fostering accountability, engagement, and inclusion across all functions and sites.
- ◆Leverage data and operational analytics to drive decision-making, identifying bottlenecks, improving asset utilization (OEE), optimizing material flow, and prioritizing high-impact investments that enable scalability and profitability.
- ◆Establish robust communication channels and employee engagement mechanisms to proactively monitor organizational health, gather feedback, and address concerns in partnership with Human Resources—ensuring a strong, transparent, and trust-based culture across all locations.
- ◆Ensure world-class safety, compliance, and sustainability performance, reinforcing a zero-harm culture while maintaining adherence to environmental regulations, responsible sourcing practices, and corporate governance standards.
- ◆Establish and sustain a rigorous management operating system across the campus, including daily management, tiered accountability processes, visual management, structured problem solving, and disciplined escalation practices that enable rapid identification and resolution of operational issues.
- ◆Drive stabilization and performance improvement initiatives across critical manufacturing lines, ensuring achievement of safety, quality, delivery, and productivity commitments while restoring operational predictability and customer confidence.
- ◆Lead the continued development of a high-performance culture rooted in accountability, transparency, problem solving, and employee engagement, creating an environment where issues are surfaced early, addressed rapidly, and solved at their root cause.
- ◆Evaluate and optimize material flow, production layout, workforce deployment, and capacity utilization across the campus, balancing immediate operational needs with long-term scalability requirements.
- ◆Partner closely with Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, Lean, Human Resources, and Finance leaders to strengthen organizational capability, improve execution, and ensure alignment around operational priorities and business objectives.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
We’re looking for people who put their innovation to work to advance our success – and their own. Join an organization that ensures a more secure world through connecting and protecting our customers with inventive electrical solutions.
The Senior Director, Operations is a strategic operations leadership role responsible for scaling a $1.5B+ manufacturing campus and multi-site footprint through digital transformation, operational excellence, and high-impact leadership to enable accelerated growth and customer value. While this role carries responsibility for long-term operational strategy, digital transformation, capacity planning, and Smart Factory initiatives, the immediate mandate is centered on stabilizing and transforming one of nVent's most important manufacturing operations globally. The Anoka campus represents approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue and employs roughly 1,700 people today, with expected growth toward 2,000 employees in the coming years. It is the largest manufacturing operation in the United States and the second-largest globally within nVent's manufacturing network.
Reporting directly to the Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain of the Systems Protection Segment, this role will have significant visibility across the organization and will play a critical role in shaping the future operating model of one of nVent's most strategically important manufacturing assets. Success in this role will create meaningful opportunities for broader enterprise leadership responsibility within nVent's global Integrated Supply Chain organization.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
- •The ideal candidate will bring a BA or BS degree in Business, Engineering or similar field; MBA or other graduate degree is preferred.
- •Deep understanding of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement methodologies (TPM, Kaizen) within high-volume environments.
- •Strong command of Smart Factory technologies, including IoT integration, predictive maintenance, automated mate