Head of Operational Excellence

As Head of Operational Excellence, you will be responsible for driving site-level and cross-site Operational Excellence initiatives across Orifarm’s production sites in Łyszkowice (PL), Hostivice (CZ), and Hobro (DK), while also working closely with relevant headquarters functions. Your role is to improve performance across safety, quality, delivery, and cost by leading transformation initiatives rooted in Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, automation, and digitalization.

Your responsibilities include:

• Leading the development, deployment and execution of site-level and cross-site Operational Excellence strategies aligned with Corporate Goals.
• Setting-up and leading an organizational framework of Yellow Belts, Green Belts and Black Belts without hierarchical reporting lines, but ensuring that this organization drives improvement and delivers the resulting financial and non-financial benefits.
• Driving continuous improvement initiatives across manufacturing, packaging, re-packaging, testing, and release processes under GMP.
• Deploying a certification and re-certification program to ensure that within Technical Operations the same standards and methodologies of Lean and Six Sigma are applied.
• Performing the training and re-training of Black Belts in Lean and in Six Sigma methodologies and ensuring that they train and re-train Green Belts accordingly.
• Championing Digital Transformation methodologies to enhance operational efficiency and compliance.
• Leading the improvement of operational processes within the production sites across all areas and functions.
• Mentoring and coaching Operational Excellence Black Belts, Champions and site teams to strengthen skills and capabilities.
• Leading large-scale, complex transformation projects from A-Z (i.e. from business case to monitoring of sustainable success), involving multiple functions, geographies, and stakeholder groups.
• Collaborating with site leadership to identify performance gaps and implement structured problem-solving approaches.
• Leading the benchmarking process with external consultants (e.g. McKinsey or University of St. Gallen) and monitoring performance improvement.
• Ensuring harmonization and standardization of best practices across sites, fostering a culture of excellence.
• Overseeing the deployment of KPIs and performance dashboards to monitor progress and sustain improvements.
• Acting as a strategic partner to senior leadership in shaping long-term operational capabilities and transformation roadmaps.
• Quantifying and monitoring both monetary and non-monetary impacts of Operational Excellence initiatives, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Establishing and maintaining governance structures to support effective decision-making, prioritization, and resource allocation.
• Organizing and oversee the development of Operational Excellence competencies across sites, including training programs, capability assessments, and talent development.
• Facilitating cross-functional workshops and Kaizen events to drive engagement and innovation.
• Liaising with IT and digital teams to integrate smart manufacturing technologies and data analytics.
• Liaising with Technical Operations Processes and Site Relationship Director to align on Supply Chain Excellence and related cross-site / cross-functional projects.
• Liaising with Business Process Excellence Function to align bottom-up Operational Excellence with top-down Business Process Excellence.
• Representing Technical Operations in global Operational Excellence forums and benchmarking initiatives.

Who are you? 

You are a highly experienced Operational Excellence professional with a strong strategic mindset and a proven ability to deliver results in complex, regulated environments.

You bring:

• A relevant Master’s degree and 20+ years of experience within pharmaceutical manufacturing
• Advanced proficiency in Lean and Six Sigma, preferably Master Black Belt
• Advanced proficiency in TPM, Agile and other structured improvement or problem-solving methodologies.
• Extensive experience in leading complex, cross-functional projects across manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and IT.
• Deep understanding of GMP regulations and pharmaceutical production processes, including packaging, testing, and release.
• Strong capability in quantifying and communicating the financial and operational impact of improvement initiatives.
• Experience in establishing governance frameworks for Operational Excellence programs, including prioritization and performance tracking.
• Familiarity with digital transformation in manufacturing, including MES, automation, and data analytics.
• Skills in capability building, including designing and implementing training programs and competency frameworks.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive alignment across diverse organizational layers and geographies.
• Strategic and systems thinking with the ability to translate vision into actionable plans.
• Strong leadership presence with a collaborative and inclusive approach to team development.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, able to navigate complex organizational dynamics.
• High resilience and adaptability in fast-paced, regulated environments.
• Results-oriented with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
• Cultural agility and ability to work effectively across international teams and locations.
• Passion about developing others and fostering a continuous improvement mindset.
• Fluency in English.

Who are we?

You will join a highly professional and international Technical Operations organization working across multiple production sites and functions. Our environment is characterized by strong collaboration, high standards, and a shared ambition to continuously improve how we operate.

We work closely across sites and with headquarters to ensure alignment, transparency, and sustainable results. Knowledge sharing, openness, and mutual support are core elements of how we succeed together.

We offer:

• Fulltime employment contract
• Annual bonus
• Life insurance
• Private medical care
• Sports card
• PPK
• Hybrid work model
• Flexible working hours

Job Location

Warsaw or Łyszkowice. Hybrid work model – 3x/week.

Travelling to Orifarm’s production sites is included in the role.

Application deadline 

ASAP. Applications will be reviewed in January 2026.

Why should you work for Orifarm?

At Orifarm, we know that our growth comes from the development of our employees. We are an ambitious organization with an entrepreneurial culture celebrating can-do attitudes, smarts, and hearts. Our secret to success? Valuing how different skill sets join forces to make our journey happen.

You will experience a work environment characterized by flexibility and a strong commitment to work-life balance, understanding that the best results come from satisfied and well-supported employees. Our international setting offers great opportunities for growth and career advancement. We also prioritize social events and gatherings to ensure that our employees feel connected and engaged with each other.

We regard our feedback culture as a fundamental element in the individual employee's opportunities for learning and development. When we have good results, every employee, including student workers, is part of our bonus scheme.

About Orifarm

Everyone should have access to modern medicine. High costs or lack of access to pharmaceuticals should never impact our possibility to receive treatment or relief and live a healthy life. At Orifarm, we aim to bring healthy days by making modern healthcare a better deal for the people and the societies we serve. Working towards our vision, we create access to affordable, high-quality pharmaceuticals and healthcare products by challenging markets and always seeking new opportunities. With our core values paving the way, we always act responsibly and constantly with our customers at the center of our attention. And everything we do is driven by our sole purpose:

For as many as possible, as healthy a day as possible.

Our history goes back to 1994 when Orifarm was founded in Denmark by Hans and Birgitte Bøgh-Sørensen. Since then, Orifarm has grown from a small nine-person company into an international company operating globally in 15 countries. Today, Orifarm is Europe's largest parallel importer of pharmaceuticals and Denmark's largest supplier of pharmaceuticals, with more than 2,200 employees.

We encourage everyone to apply

At Orifarm, we welcome people from all backgrounds, recognizing that the best outcomes come from a diverse and inclusive work environment. Our commitment is to create an environment where different perspectives and skills drive innovation and contribute to a sustainable future. By creating such an environment, we are confident that we can achieve better results together.

We are often looking for new employees to help us grow and therefore, we may have other interesting opportunities for you. Follow us on LinkedIn to receive updates on our business activities and job opportunities: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/. Alternatively, if we do not have any vacant positions that match your interests at this time, we encourage you to submit your resume to our talent pool, from which we continuously select candidates: https://careers.orifarm.com/lp/TalentPool/28c5a1691eef5fd4/.