Job DescriptionPOSITION SUMMARYThe Senior Manager, Americas Productivity and Cost Engineering is fully dedicated to accelerating productivity and efficiency across Americas manufacturing plants and major operations projects. This role owns the regional productivity pipeline and benefit-realization process, converts plant actions into verified cost and capacity outcomes, and gives leadership clear visibility to performance, risks, and required decisions. The position works closely with plant managers, finance, the Vertiv Operating System, planning, quality, safety, supply chain, manufacturing engineering, and project leaders. The role establishes operating standards, evaluates improvement opportunities, validates financial benefits, tracks execution, and partners with operations and finance to improve labor efficiency, conversion cost, capacity utilization, and project returns. The expected balance of activities includes approximately:
- 60% regional productivity governance and benefit realization
- 25% targeted site intervention
- 15% capability building and standardization
Location: Westerville, Ohio preferred; another major Americas manufacturing location may be considered.
Direct reports: None. Special physical requirements: None.
RESPONSIBILITIES- Establish and own a consistent regional productivity governance process covering all Americas plants and major operations projects. Maintain one prioritized pipeline of productivity and efficiency initiatives with accountable owners, milestones, risks, investment requirements, and monthly benefit realization.
- Develop plant productivity baselines, annual targets, and forecasts using earned standard hours, labor hours, conversion cost, material usage, overhead absorption, capacity utilization, and other agreed measures. Evaluate proposed initiatives and validate expected labor, material, overhead, capacity, inventory, quality, lead-time, and cash impacts before approval. Partner with plant finance and regional finance to ensure savings are measurable, auditable, and appropriately reflected in budgets, forecasts, and standard costs.
- Partner with Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and Manufacturing Sites to conduct targeted industrial engineering studies, including time studies, labor standards, staffing models, line balancing, layout, material flow, equipment utilization, and capacity analysis. Standardize industrial engineering methods, templates, assumptions, and benefit-calculation rules across the region. Ensure productivity improvements are sustainable and do not compromise employee safety, product quality, customer delivery, or regulatory compliance.
- Review plant and project performance, identify gaps and root causes, and drive recovery plans when benefits or milestones are at risk. Prepare concise monthly reporting for operations leadership showing performance to target, projected outcomes, major variances, risks, and decisions required.
- The role has authority to establish regional productivity methods and governance requirements, challenge or return unsupported benefit claims, and escalate initiatives that are materially off plan. Final financial recognition remains subject to finance approval.
- Measures of success:
- Delivery of the annual Americas productivity commitment
- Finance-validated realization of approved benefits
- Adequate qualified pipeline coverage against the annual target
- Accuracy and timeliness of monthly productivity forecasts
- Improvement in labor efficiency and conversion cost
- Recovery or escalation of initiatives that fall behind plan
QUALIFICATIONS- Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, mechanical engineering, systems engineering, or a closely related field.
- Seven plus years of progressive experience in industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, operational excellence, cost reduction, or productivity leadership.
- Demonstrated success delivering measurable productivity and cost improvements in a complex manufacturing environment.
- Experience supporting multiple plants and influencing plant leaders without direct reporting authority.
- Strong working knowledge of labor standards, work measurement, line balancing, capacity analysis, manufacturing cost structures, and financial benefit validation.
- Ability to connect operational metrics to financial results and clearly distinguish cost avoidance, capacity creation, and realized savings.
- Advanced analytical capability using Microsoft Excel, enterprise data systems, and data-visualization tools.
- Strong project-management, problem-solving, facilitation, and executive-communication skills.
- Professional proficiency in English is required.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS- Master's degree in engineering, operations, or business administration.
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or comparable advanced continuous-improvement certification.
- Training or demonstrated knowledge in manufacturing cost accounting, standard costing, and capital-project financial analysis is preferred.
- Experience in engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, or complex assembly manufacturing is preferred.
- Spanish language capability.
TRAVEL REQUIRED- 25% travel, including regular visits to manufacturing sites in the United States and Mexico.
