Job TitleContinuous Improvement ManagerPosition PurposeWorks with factories, vendors, and merchandising team to find ways to improve the factory, reduce cost in the system (packaging, freight, handling, etc.), and improve product quality (product testing and product requirements. Works collaboratively with quality team members in Mexico, us, and china. Will spend a significant portion of work week in the factories.- Primary Accountabilities- Factory development - visit factories in Latin and south America to document current manufacturing status (capacity, effectiveness of quality systems and management systems, cost reduction, employee and product safety) and create improvement plans.- Customer satisfaction - manage warranty reduction. Work with vendors and merchandising to identify key return drivers and develop plans to address through manufacturing and design, customer knowledge, and AutoZoner knowledge.- Product testing - support product testing for benchmarking, qualification, performance verification, product safety/compliance and marketing by developing testing protocols and working to interpret data.- Waste elimination/cost reduction and packaging improvements at DC- work with vendors and cross functionally to identify and capture savings.- Coordinates with us/china quality team on initiatives taking place in the us and china.Education & ExperienceLevel of Formal Education: A Bachelor's degree (BA, BS) or equivalent.Area of Study: Engineering (mechanical, chemical, electrical, or industrial), quality, and/or managementYears of Experience: Three to five years.Type of Experience: work experience in corporate or plant setting; retail experience, automotive a big plus; project management.Special Certifications or Technical Skills: experience with lean, six sigma, and other continuous improvement methods; quality management systems experience with iso9001 or ts16949; excellent Spanish and English verbal written skills; proficient Microsoft office.Other/Preferred: Portuguese and mandarin language skills; as certified (cqm or cqe), basic statistical analysis ability; light sas sql programming experience; ability to travel domestically and internationally.