Director of Business Operations

Director, Business Operations

Location: Catoosa, OK

Reports to: Senior Director, Operations

Role Summary

The Director, Business Operations is the accountable business-unit leader for a major manufacturing operation within the Catoosa site. The role owns end-to-end performance across safety, quality, delivery, cost, people, customer outcomes, financial performance, and execution against customer order commitments.

The Director is the single operational voice of truth for the business unit, translating customer and financial commitments into daily execution, weekly build plans, material readiness, labor requirements, and recovery actions. This role has full day-to-day operating authority and direct escalation authority across Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Customer Order Management, Finance, Maintenance, Facilities, HR, and Operational Excellence.

Key Responsibilities

1. Business Leadership / P&L Ownership

• Own the business-unit operating model, weekly build plan, revenue bridge, labor model, capacity plan, margin performance, cash-impacting constraints, and recovery actions
• Lead the annual operating plan (AOP), forecasting, and performance management process tied to revenue, productivity, margin, delivery, and customer commitments
• Translate site and business strategy into operating plans and drive actions to close gaps, remove constraints, and deliver financial and customer outcomes

2. Operations Execution

• Own daily execution from production plan through quality release, shipment readiness, and customer-impacting constraints, including material readiness and field/site feedback loops
• Lead production flow, scheduling adherence, labor deployment, constraint management, recovery planning, and on-time delivery performance
• Establish daily management, Gemba, standard work, KPIs, and escalation routines to make performance visible and sustainable

3. Commercial and Customer Growth

• Serve as the single operational voice of truth for customer order execution, readiness, escalations, schedule recovery, and cross-functional commitments
• Partner with commercial, program management, and customer order management to support revenue growth, customer expansion, and customer confidence
• Participate in critical customer interactions, readiness reviews, delivery escalations, new program launches, capacity planning, and service-level improvement

4. Financial and Operational Discipline

• Own labor content, overtime, cost per unit, productivity, rework cost, expediting impact, inventory exposure, and capital readiness tied to business performance
• Own the capex roadmap, business cases, and project execution supporting capacity expansion, operational efficiency, safety, and long-term growth
• Partner with Finance on variance analysis, forecast accuracy, cost actions, margin recovery, cash-impacting constraints, and financial risk mitigation

5. Cross-Functional Leadership

• Drive one integrated operating rhythm across production planning, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Customer Order Management, Facilities, Maintenance, HR, and Operational Excellence
• Align cross-functional teams to business priorities, weekly build plans, delivery commitments, customer escalations, and recovery actions
• Lead through a matrix structure to ensure support functions remove barriers and execute against commitments without requiring direct ownership of every function

6. People Leadership and Culture

• Build the next layer of leaders by coaching frontline leaders, managers, and functional partners on ownership, accountability, and disciplined execution
• Establish ownership behaviors, visible floor-led culture, and clear operating expectations from the floor to senior leadership
• Strengthen a high-performance culture focused on safety, quality, delivery, cost, people, accountability, engagement, retention, and results

7. Continuous Improvement

• Lead plant-owned daily management, Gemba, leader standard work, and problem-solving routines that make performance visible and sustainable
• Drive lean and continuous improvement initiatives tied to throughput, labor efficiency, quality release, rework reduction, schedule adherence, and customer commitments
• Establish root-cause accountability, sustain improvements, reduce waste, optimize processes, and scale best practices across the business unit

Qualifications

• 10+ years of manufacturing or industrial operations leadership experience, including leadership of a business unit, plant, large value stream, or complex manufacturing operation
• Demonstrated experience owning or strongly influencing P&L, revenue, margin, labor, cost, cash, and customer order commitments
• Experience running daily/weekly operating mechanisms across production, supply chain, quality, engineering, customer order management, finance, maintenance/facilities, HR, and OpEx
• Background in high-volume, complex manufacturing environments with proven schedule recovery, capacity planning, productivity, and customer execution results
• Lean and continuous improvement experience required

Skills and Capabilities

• Strong business acumen with ability to connect daily execution to financial outcomes, customer outcomes, margin, and cash impact
• Proven ability to lead through a matrix organization, align support functions, and escalate barriers required to deliver the plan
• Ability to serve as the single operational voice of truth while balancing daily execution, customer commitments, and strategic growth
• Strong operating cadence, problem-solving, decision-making, prioritization, and recovery planning capability
• Effective communicator with ability to engage frontline teams, support functions, customers, and senior leadership

At Kelvion we thrive on collaboration, embracing diversity of thought, and valuing every voice. Within Kelvion creativity shines because people are listened to, their contributions recognised, and their ideas welcomed. Our flexible approach to the way we work places people's health and satisfaction as a priority, enhancing engagement and fostering career opportunities. We empower engaged individuals to grow, progress and carve their own paths within the company.

Together, We Shape the Future