Job Overview
* The Lean Practitioner will apply Lean methodologies within the Hard Services delivery team to improve maintenance and engineering processes, eliminate waste, and embed standardised best practice across a regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing environment.
The role supports continuous improvement initiatives, drives operational excellence, and fosters a culture of proactive problem-solving and sustained performance optimisation
Main Duties
* 1) Continuous improvement leadership (Hard Services)
o Create and manage a site Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP), ensuring initiatives are scoped, prioritised, resourced, tracked and benefits realised/sustained.
o Lead structured improvement activity using Lean/Kaizen and Lean Six Sigma approaches (e.g., DMAIC/PDCA thinking, root cause analysis) to remove waste and reduce process variation in maintenance workflows.
o Apply practical Lean tools in the engineering environment including 5S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain) to improve safety, compliance, and efficiency in workshops, stores, plant rooms, and maintenance areas.
o Use time-and-motion / workload-balancing techniques (e.g., Yamazumi-style analysis) to identify non-productive time, improve scheduling, and optimise resource deployment across the site.
* 2) Data-led performance insight & problem solving
o Review operational data to understand trends, identify constraints and repeat failures, and target the highest-value improvement opportunities (reactive drivers, permit delays, spares bottlenecks, planning effectiveness, repeat defects).
o Establish practical “feedback loops” (e.g., stakeholder feedback, satisfaction measures, helpdesk insights) and convert them into prioritised improvement actions.
o Facilitate structured root cause investigations and ensure corrective and preventative actions are embedded into standard processes.
* 3) Engagement, coaching & culture
o Coach and support engineers, planners, supervisors, and supply chain partners to use Lean tools in daily work (toolbox talks, huddles, short workshops, on-the-job coaching).
o Promote standardised ways of working and share learning across teams to prevent reoccurrence and sustain improvements.
o Support delivery of Lean / Operational Excellence capability-building (e.g., Yellow/Green Belt level development) to embed Lean behaviours across the hard services organisation.
* 4) Regulated site compliance & documentation discipline
o Operate within the requirements of a regulated pharmaceutical environment (e.g., GMP/GLP areas), ensuring improvements strengthen audit readiness, documentation quality, and compliance behaviours.
o Ensure improvement activity aligns with safe systems of work, permit-to-work controls, contractor controls, and local SSOW requirements, partnering with HSE/Compliance leads as required.
* 5) Governance & stakeholder management
o Maintain an ongoing, collaborative dialogue with key site stakeholders to understand priorities, issues, and operational risk; translate these into CI deliverables and measurable outcomes.
o Contribute to (and where required, facilitate) joint improvement forums/committees with stakeholders and supply chain to review progress, remove blockers, and agree next steps.
o Produce clear reporting for governance packs: CI pipeline, benefits realisation, risks/issues, and actions to sustain improvements
What we are looking for
Essential
* Demonstrable experience applying Lean / continuous improvement in an operational environment (engineering, maintenance, manufacturing, or facilities)
* Strong working knowledge of core Lean tools (process mapping, 5 Whys, standard work, visual management, 5S) and facilitation of improvement workshops.
* Confident using data to diagnose issues and evidence benefits (trend analysis, Pareto thinking, workload/time studies).
* Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills—able to influence engineers and leaders and embed change on shift-based teams.
Desirable
* Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (or higher) and/or formal Operational Excellence training.
* Experience working in regulated environments (pharma, life sciences, critical environments) with strong documentation discipline and audit readiness focus.
* Understanding of maintenance best practice (planned maintenance optimisation, proactive/predictive mindset, reliability concepts)
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