Operational Excellence Advocate – Lean Specialist

Rolls-Royce

Operational Excellence Advocate at Rolls-Royce driving Lean improvements across manufacturing sites. Engaging teams to ensure Lean principles are effectively adopted through coaching and workshops.

Posted 4/16/2026full-timeDerby • 🇬🇧 United KingdomMid-LevelSeniorWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Develop communications for our Operational Excellence journey, translating high-level goals into relatable stories, connecting what our plant teams are delivering to support those goals.
Develop and lead internal communications celebrating improvement successes and share best practices across sites.
Lead hands-on workshops and Kaizen events.
Support our plants to sustain their progress towards becoming lean enterprises, by embedding a structured change management process.
Coach and support the uptake of our production system across the business and maintain documentation, including best practice examples.
Work across multiple plants to ensure that while each site is unique, our "Continuous Improvement" culture feels consistent, supportive, and energised.
Spend time on the shop floor to understand the real-world barriers to Lean adoption, feeding those insights back into our strategy.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Competent understanding of Lean tools (Green Belt or Lean equivalent preferred, but not required)
Exceptional verbal and written skills; ability to create engaging visual content or presentations in multiple media, to create a following from diverse backgrounds.
Proven ability to lead without formal authority and manage change.
Capable of effectively leading projects by integrating various functions in the organisation.
Willingness to travel 20% of the time across our plant network.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Work in a safety-first environment where doing the right thing and keeping it simple are core principles.
Join a culture that values making a real difference through your work.
Develop your career as a mid-career professional blending technical expertise with strong personal qualities.
Thrive in a role that encourages integrity, accountability, resilience, and curiosity.
Collaborate and build relationships in a team-focused environment while also working independently.
Take initiative, lead, and make smart decisions with confidence and support.
Grow through continuous learning, openness to improvement, and exposure to challenging opportunities.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Lean toolsChange managementProject managementWorkshop facilitationKaizen eventsDocumentationContinuous Improvement

Soft Skills

Verbal communicationWritten communicationLeadershipChange managementCollaborationCoachingEngagement

Certifications

Lean Green Belt