Operational Excellence Lead

Sazerac · Louisville, KY

Level: Manager
Team: Lean / CI
Base pay: $106k–$159k
Industry: Food & beverage
Posted: 30+ days ago

The role in 30 seconds

A management continuous improvement role at Sazerac (food & beverage) in Louisville, KY. You will partner with plant operations and cross-functional teams to improve productivity, reduce costs, and strengthen performance across Safety, Quality, Service, Cost, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

Tools it names: Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, TPM, OEE, Root cause
Base pay: $106k–$159k

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026

Continuous Improvement roles in the US: typical posted base $105k–$150k. This one lists $106k–$159k.

Median of the low and high ends of 155 live postings that list pay, out of 413 continuous improvement openings in the US, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

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

How this role compares

Against 412 other live lean / ci postings in the US.

Base pay: About 8% above similar roles
Experience asked: Not stated

Skills these teams ask for most

✓ Lean 85%
✓ Six Sigma 57%
✓ Kaizen 52%
Value stream mapping 49%
✓ Root cause 47%
5S 34%

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

Stands out: this posting asks for OEE, 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 Lean / CI team at Sazerac
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?
- Is CI run from the plant floor or from a corporate OpEx group?
- Which metrics does leadership actually watch: OEE, scrap, cost per unit?
- 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: Sazerac in Louisville

1 other open role at this site.

Reliability Engineer · Reliability

Full description from SazeracAs posted on their careers site.Show

Job Description/Responsibilities

Join our Operational Excellence team and help drive measurable improvements across Sazerac’s manufacturing network. As an Operational Excellence Lead , you will partner with plant operations and cross-functional teams to improve productivity, reduce costs, and strengthen performance across Safety, Quality, Service, Cost, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). This role combines data-driven problem solving, continuous improvement methodologies, and hands-on project execution to develop scalable solutions and standardize best practices across operations.

Required

✓Bachelor’s degree.
✓4+ years of relevant experience in operational excellence, continuous improvement, manufacturing, engineering, operations, or a related field.
✓Knowledge of Lean manufacturing principles with Lean Six Sigma certification or relevant project management experience.
✓Strong analytical, problem-solving, project leadership, change management, communication, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to use data to drive decisions and influence others.

Requirements

✓Ability to travel up to manufacturing sites as needed
✓Ability to move throughout manufacturing facilities and between worksites as needed.

Culture and Benefits

Show full description ↓

Sazerac Company Overview

Build your career at Sazerac! With almost 400 years of rich history, Sazerac Company has thrived as an independent, American family-owned company with operations in the United States and around the world. Since the 2000s, Sazerac has averaged double digit growth every year! Sazerac Company produces and markets the most award-winning bourbons and whiskeys in the world, including Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, Traveller, and Sazerac Rye. Additionally, Sazerac owns many popular brands across a range of spirits, including Fireball, Svedka, Wheatley, BuzzBallz, Southern Comfort, Seagram’s V.O., Myers’s, Goldschläger, Parrot Bay, 99 Brand, and Platinum Vodka.

We’re proud of our award-winning culture and distilleries. Our Louisville office has been named one of the “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” four times, and our Buffalo Trace Distillery has earned the title of “world’s most award-winning distillery” through the dedication of our craftsmen for well over 200 years. Whether you’re a recent graduate or an experienced professional, Sazerac provides extraordinary opportunities for growth with competitive salaries and benefits in an exciting, entrepreneurial industry.

What You’ll Do

•Lead and support continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, TPM, and structured problem-solving methodologies to improve manufacturing performance.
•Identify productivity and cost-saving opportunities across line efficiency, throughput, waste, yield, labor, changeovers, materials, energy, and utilities.
•Analyze operational data, identify performance gaps, develop business cases, and track project results and benefits against established targets.
•Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Engineering teams to identify root causes, develop solutions, and implement sustainable improvements.
•Support standardized work practices, performance management systems, visual management, operational audits, and sharing of best practices across sites.

Preferred

+Experience leading or supporting continuous improvement and cost-reduction initiatives within a manufacturing environment.
+Experience applying Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, Kaizen, or other structured continuous improvement methodologies.
+Experience coaching cross-functional teams and standardizing operational best practices across manufacturing lines or sites.

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