LSS Black Belt

The Avient Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Black Belt (BB) is a full-time dedicated position responsible for leading complex, high-value projects across the group and its plants, and for planning and deploying the Business Unit's (BU) end-to-end business process improvement initiatives. The LSS BB leverages LSS methodologies to drive operational efficiency, cost optimization, and digital deployment, in support of the BU's overall strategic objectives. They establish, coordinate, and lead assigned LSS projects within the Business Unit, ensuring these projects align with the BU Strategy & Lean Six Sigma initiatives and adhere to the guidelines, criteria, and metrics jointly defined by the Business Unit General Manager and Deployment Champion. This role requires 20%–60% travel.

• Essential Duties & Responsibilities
  • 60% - Lead Lean Six Sigma projects within the business unit and effectively coordinates these projects with the deployment champion and other improvement project teams. Project leadership includes identifying opportunities, defining and financially justifying projects, launching project teams, using good project management to manage team activities, leading teams to execute projects with the problem-solving methodology, tracking project status and results, removing and elevating project barriers and developing team members. It is also critical to identify integration issues with other projects/processes and coordinate the improvements with the appropriate project/process owners to accomplish the project goals.
  • 30% - Lead the selection, piloting, and rollout of digital improvement tools (e.g., MES, APS, RPA). Transition digital improvement from "project-based" to "business-as-usual" by codifying replicable standardized templates and mechanisms and collaborate with IT and business teams to ensure digital solutions meet actual shop-floor needs.
  • 10% - Ensure two-way open communication throughout the organization for Lean Six Sigma. This includes keeping the Deployment Champion informed of program status and ensuring coordination of activities between other Black Belts. This also includes capturing project lessons learned that can be reused for other projects.
• Requirements
• Must-Have
  • Bachelor's degree or above; Industrial Engineering, Mechanical, Automation, Statistics, or related fields preferred
  • 5+ years of experience in continuous improvement / lean manufacturing / Six Sigma within a manufacturing environment; prior experience as a BU- or plant-level improvement lead is preferred
  • LSS Green Belt certification or higher (Black Belt preferred); proficiency in DMAIC, SPC, VSM, 5S, TPM etc.
  • A proven track record of quantifiable cost reduction and efficiency gains (e.g., annual cost savings, % efficiency uplift, lead-time reduction)
  • Solid data analysis skills; proficient in Minitab / Excel / Power BI
  • Excellent cross-functional communication, project management, and influencing skills
• Nice-to-Have
  • Hands-on experience in digital transformation / Industry 4.0 deployment (MES, APS, IoT, etc.)
  • Familiarity with discrete manufacturing (automotive, electronics, machinery) or process manufacturing (chemical, molding)
  • English as a working language (a plus for global organizations)
  • PMP or equivalent project management certification