Continuous Improvement Excellence Lead

Maersk is a global leader in integrated logistics and have been industry pioneers for over a century. Through innovation and transformation, we are redefining the boundaries of possibility, continuously setting new standards for efficiency, sustainability, and excellence.

At Maersk, we believe in the power of diversity, collaboration, and continuous learning and we work hard to ensure that the people in our organization reflect and understand the customers we exist to serve.

With over 100,000 employees across 130 countries, we work together to shape the future of global trade and logistics.

Join us as we harness cutting-edge technologies and unlock opportunities on a global scale. Together, let's sail towards a brighter, more sustainable future with Maersk.

What we offer:

·       Impact: Your work will directly contribute to the success of our global operations.

·       Opportunity: Maersk provides ample opportunities for growth and development, both professionally and personally.

·       Innovation: Join a forward-thinking team that embraces innovation and cutting-edge technologies.

·       Global Exposure: Collaborate with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and gain exposure to international business practices.

·       Work-Life Balance: We value work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements to support our employees

Job Summary: 

The CI COE - OPEX Culture & Capability Building Lead is accountable for strengthening Operational Excellence capability, problem solving discipline, and system thinking across GSC through the deployment of Opex, Lean practices, and structured capability building interventions. This role acts as a Centre of Excellence capability leader, working in partnership with GSC functions, CI teams, L&D, and business leaders to embed OPEX ways of working into daily management routines, leadership cadences, and value stream performance improvement.

The role is responsible for enabling the shift from silo optimisation to end-to-end value stream thinking by building practitioner capability, coaching CI colleagues, strengthening Operating System (Governance) discipline, and ensuring learning is applied on real business problems linked to Dashboard reds, value stream gaps, and enterprise priorities. The role directly supports the development of self-sufficient teams that can diagnose performance gaps, run structured A3 problem solving, deploy Visual Management, facilitate Kaizen and VSM interventions, and sustain improvements beyond initial deployment, underpinned by data-driven tracking of capability maturity and adoption

Key Responsibilities

Drive OPEX culture and system thinking across GSC by enabling the shift from silo-based improvement to end-to-end value stream thinking across CX, Finance, Operations, and other GSC value streams.

Embed structured problem solving into daily ways of working by strengthening the use of A3 Problem Solving, and performance gap ownership.

Design and deploy structured capability journeys covering OPEX elements, A3 Problem Solving, Daily Management, Kaizen, Action Planning, Lean concepts, Value Stream Mapping, Waste Identification, and Standard Work principles.

Lead training and facilitation for OPEX capability building across GSC locations through classroom training, virtual sessions, refresher sessions, Q&A forums, leadership awareness sessions, and applied coaching interventions.

Enable the Train the Practitioner model for CI deployment by coaching CI colleagues to independently deploy OPEX work packages across L3 processes, including A3 Problem Solving, Value Stream Mapping workshops, Kaizen events, Visual Management, and structured action planning.

Build internal faculty and practitioner capability to scale OPEX deployment across GSC processes, ensuring CI colleagues are equipped to facilitate, coach, assess maturity, and sustain adoption across functions and locations.

Strengthen Operating System and Daily Management discipline by improving linkage between performance gaps, VMS boards, daily and weekly review cadences, A3 pipeline, and structured countermeasure tracking.

Support deployment of OPEX practices across GSC, including Visual Management, Performance Dashboards, Daily Management Boards, A3 Problem Solving, Kaizen, Action Planning, and leadership routines linked to business outcomes.

Partner with business leaders and CI teams to ensure OPEX capability building is linked to real business problems, persistent KPI reds, customer pain points, operational reliability gaps, rework, escalations, cost-to-serve opportunities, and value stream performance.

Partner with L&D to strengthen behavioural enablers required for sustainable OPEX adoption, including leader standard work mindset, coaching capability, system thinking, problem ownership behaviour, and learning application.

Define and track adoption and maturity signals such as trained practitioner penetration, quality of A3 problem statements, VSM coverage, A3 throughput, sustainment effectiveness, and CI practitioner-led deployment across L3 processes , leveraging capability dashboards, maturity models, and capability health metrics available to consume in the organisation ecosystem.  

Actively participate in and contribute to the GSC Continuous Improvement community by sharing current good practices, standardising deployment approaches, improving tools and templates, and supporting enterprise-level OPEX maturity building.

Lead change leadership and adoption management by influencing behaviours, building ownership of new OPEX ways of working, constructively addressing resistance, and sustaining improvements beyond initial deployment.

Required Skills and Experience

Must have Skills:

• Strong Continuous Improvement, Lean, and Operational Excellence mindset with hands-on deployment experience in large-scale operations or shared services environments.
• Practical experience in building OPEX culture, capability journeys, and structured problem-solving discipline across business teams.
• Strong knowledge of Six Sigma & Lean methods including A3 Problem Solving, Root Cause Analysis, Kaizen, Visual Management, Value Stream Mapping, Waste Identification, Standard Work, and Daily Management.
• Ability to translate enterprise priorities into capability building interventions, deployment roadmaps, coaching plans, and measurable adoption outcomes.
• Strong facilitation and training capability, with experience delivering classroom and virtual learning interventions for leaders, managers, CI practitioners, and frontline teams.
• Strong coaching capability to support CI practitioners, leaders, and teams in applying OPEX methods on real business problems.
• Ability to work across a complex matrix organisation and influence stakeholders across functions, locations, and leadership levels.
• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving skills with the ability to connect KPIs, performance gaps, process issues, root causes, and countermeasures.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to partner with CI teams, business leaders, L&D, site teams, and global functional stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills with fluency in English, including the ability to create leadership-ready narratives, training material, one-pagers, playbooks, and governance updates.
• Ability to manage multiple capability building initiatives, training calendars, deployment plans, and stakeholder expectations in parallel.
• Relevant degree or equivalent qualification in business, operations, engineering, quality, transformation, or related discipline.

• Ability to embed enterprise culture, execution excellence, and customer-centric thinking into OPEX deployment.

Other preferred skills:

• Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Master Black Belt, Lean Practitioner, Agile Coach, or equivalent CI/OPEX certification.
• Experience working in Global Capability Centres, shared services, logistics, supply chain, customer experience, finance operations, or large-scale service operations.
• Experience in designing maturity models, assessment frameworks, adoption dashboards, and capability health metrics.
• Strong understanding of performance management systems, KPI governance, leading and lagging indicators, and daily management routines.
• Experience in building Train the Trainer or Train the Practitioner models at scale.
• Ability to simplify complex OPEX concepts into practical, business-friendly tools and methods.
• Strong ownership and execution mindset with the ability to drive outcomes without direct authority.
• Confidence to challenge constructively, push for problem clarity, and prevent premature solutioning.
• Experience working with globally distributed, multicultural teams.
• Strong business partnering mindset with customer-centric and outcome-driven orientation.

Good to Have

Digital and analytical orientation with working knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, Python, SQL, automation concepts, or process intelligence tools.

Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

We are happy to support your need for any adjustments during the application and hiring process. If you need special assistance or an accommodation to use our website, apply for a position, or to perform a job, please contact us by emailing  accommodationrequests@maersk.com.