Description
We're looking for an Associate Director of Continuous Improvement to build and lead the continuous improvement function for our cultivation, post-harvest, and packaging operations. Reporting to the VP of Operations, this role establishes the standards, routines, and verification systems that drive consistent operational performance across our sites.
The Associate Director will directly own the layered process audit program, the development of standard work, the leader routines that verify performance during the shift rather than after it, and a prioritized portfolio of improvement projects. This role builds the function from the ground up - defining the methodology, developing capability in the line organization, and establishing the structure and team that Continuous Improvement will grow into.
This is a builder role for someone who wants to install an operating system rather than run projects inside one. The responsibilities below capture the core of this role, but as Glass House Brands grows quickly, your scope may evolve to match new opportunities and business needs.
Requirements
What we're looking for:
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, operations management, agriculture, life sciences, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years in operations, manufacturing, or agricultural production, including at least 3 years leading continuous improvement or operational excellence work.
• Demonstrated experience building an improvement program from the ground up, not only executing projects within an established one.
• Working knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, the Toyota Production System, or an equivalent production system, applied in a live production environment.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to establish a baseline from operational data and validate results against it.
• Experience designing or running layered process audits, leader standard work, or an equivalent verification program, preferred.
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification, or experience in a regulated production environment such as cannabis, food, pharmaceutical, or agriculture, a plus.
• Conversational Spanish a plus.
• Valid California driver's license and the ability to travel regularly between our Camarillo and Carpinteria sites.
• Ability to work in greenhouse and post-harvest environments, including heat, humidity, and extended periods of standing and walking, with required personal protective equipment.
Skills:
• Able to translate a production problem into a measurable baseline, a countermeasure, and a control.
• Strong facilitation skills, effective running a problem-solving session with an hourly team and a review with the executive team.
• Ability to influence and drive change across departments that do not report to this role.
• Clear written communication, including standard work, audit content, and executive reporting.
• Strong project management and prioritization across multiple concurrent improvements.
• Comfortable working on the floor and in the greenhouse, not only from data.
• Sound judgment about where standardization adds value and where it adds only paperwork.
Personal Attributes:
• High personal credibility, earned by being present where the work happens.
• Persistence in the face of early resistance to new routines.
• Intellectual honesty about results, including improvements that did not work.
• A collaborative approach that treats the line organization as the owner of its own process.
