Continuous Improvement Engineer

Continuous Improvement Engineer

Job Description

About the Role:
We are seeking a proactive and motivated Continuous Improvement Engineer to support the successful implementation and sustainability of business excellence initiatives at our site. This role plays a critical part in driving cultural transformation, enabling continuous improvement, and ensuring operational standards are upheld across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

1. Production Floor Engagement (70%+)
Maintain a strong daily presence on the production floor, acting as the first-line engineering resource for operators and supervisors.
Build deep process knowledge across all stations and understand how work content, takt time, and staffing impact throughput.
Support operators in issue resolution, performance visibility, and process adherence.

2. Line Balancing & Goal Alignment
Learn and interpret the line balance to understand expected performance at each station and for the entire line.
Translate line-balance expectations into clear, actionable performance goals for operators and supervisors.
Adjust monthly goals to reflect changing headcount, learning curves, product mix, and ramp conditions.

3. Performance Analysis & Feedback
Measure true line performance and compare it to expected performance from the line balance.
Identify stations performing above expectation, validate the root cause of over-performance, and update goals accordingly.
Highlight stations performing below expectation and escalate issues, gather data, or coordinate cross-functional support.
Communicate performance insights effectively to operations teams in a concise and actionable manner.

4. Cycle Time & Station Optimization
Conduct time studies, observe operator methods, and quantify variation in work steps across operators.
Drive cycle-time consistency, standardize best practices, and reduce variation across the team.
Develop and support execution of incremental improvement roadmaps for target stations.
Partner with supervisors, technicians, and engineers to implement process improvements, layout adjustments, and waste removal.

5. Continuous Improvement & Shop-Floor Support
Facilitate quick feedback loops for issues affecting throughput, quality, or safety.
Assist with creation or updates of standard work, operator instructions, and training materials.
Support improvement events (Kaizens), rapid experiments, data collection, and pilot runs.
Ensure that changes implemented on the floor are followed, measured, and sustained.

Required Skills & Competencies
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering discipline, ex: Industrial Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related discipline.
Candidate must have 1-3+ years of experience in medical device manufacturing.
0–3 years of experience in manufacturing, production engineering, or continuous improvement preferred.
Strong analytical skills with proficiency in basic data analysis tools (Excel, Power BI, or equivalent).
Strong communication skills and ability to work closely with front-line teams.
Competency in time studies, takt time analysis, and basic capacity modeling (preferred but trainable).
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving production environment.
Desire to be involved with day-to-day operations – working/shadowing/coaching product builders
Strong ability to be a self starter
Strong follow-up, execution and organizational skills

Notes:
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM

VIVA is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants have an equal opportunity for placement, and all employees have an equal opportunity to develop on the job. This means that VIVA will not discriminate against any employee or qualified applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.