Automation Operations Leader
$122,600–$122,600 year
On-siteGreenville, North Carolina, United States or Schenectady, New York, United States
Job Summary
Translate operational KPIs like throughput, downtime, and scrap rates into financial impact metrics including NPV, payback period, and ROI. Own the end-to-end financial evaluation of global automation investments by building standardized models and consolidating portfolio health reports. Design and enforce the Center of Excellence service offerings, establishing tollgate frameworks that define deliverables and mitigate project risks through disciplined stage-gates. Partner with business unit leaders to ensure automation business cases accurately reflect real-world constraints while presenting decision-ready insights to senior leadership on investment performance and capital allocation. This role serves as the critical link between operational teams and financial reporting to ensure disciplined execution across the global automation portfolio.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Engineering, or related field (MBA a plus)
- Significant experience in financial analysis, operations, investment/capital planning, or program management, ideally within industrial, energy, or manufacturing sectors
- Demonstrated ability to translate operational data into financial insights (e.g., converting downtime, scrap, or throughput data into cost/ROI impact)
- Strong hands-on experience with NPV, payback period, IRR, and ROI analysis for capital investments
- Experience designing or implementing stage-gate/tollgate frameworks for project governance and risk mitigation
- Experience building or leveraging dashboards/visualization tools for KPI and performance reporting
- Experience working within or alongside a Center of Excellence (COE) model or matrixed organization
- Proven track record presenting financial/investment performance to senior/executive leadership
- Must be fully authorized to work in the nation of the applicable work location
- English language proficiency, written and verbal, is required to successfully perform the duties of this role
Desired Qualifications
- Strong understanding of manufacturing/operational KPIs (OEE, downtime, scrap rate, throughput, labor efficiency) and how they translate into financial outcomes
- Ability to 'speak both languages' — operations and finance — and act as a translator between technical/operational teams and leadership
- Experience building tools/frameworks that standardize operational-to-financial reporting
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