Global APS Excellence Manager, Supply Chain

Are you passionate about operational excellence and continuous improvement? Do you thrive on creating global standards, best practices, and ways of working that empower thousands of colleagues every day? Can you shape a world-class system that drives consistency, engagement, and results across our production network and beyond? Then join our team to take the lead on developing the Arla Performance System (APS) further – the backbone of operational excellence at Arla!

You will join a growing and ambitious team of program managers in the Global Operational Excellence and Digital Transformation TMO in Supply Chain. The team drives the planning and execution of strategic initiatives across our value chain – from farm to fridge – with a strong focus on our production operations. These include the portfolio management and scaling of digital solutions developed as part of Arla's Future26 strategy, the development and continuous improvement of the Arla Performance System, the establishment of functional communities and the engagement of stakeholders from the shopfloor to the executive level.

You will be part of a highly collaborative, international team working across Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK, and beyond. With teammates and stakeholders from multiple cultures, markets and functional areas across our Supply Chain, you will gain unparalleled exposure to diverse ways of thinking and get to proactively shape Arla’s operational excellence agenda on a global scale. With your new team, you will support and empower colleagues at 50+ production sites with standards, tools and practices that will help them perform their day-to-day work more effectively.

How you will make an impact

As our new Global APS Excellence Manager, you will take a leading role in continuously improving and maturing APS, ensuring it provides a seamless, world-class experience for end-users at sites. Acting as a trusted partner to central CoEs, Market OpEx Managers, and Site OpEx Managers, you will drive alignment, best practice deployment, and cross-functional integration..

In this role, you will:

• Own and develop the APS roadmap, ensuring standards, ways of working, and best practices remain fit-for-purpose and aligned with Arla’s strategic priorities.
• Drive best practice deployment by harmonizing APS implementation across markets and sites, embedding learnings from audits, maturity assessments, and benchmarking against world-class manufacturers.
• Continuously improve the structure and content of APS, incorporating site feedback, addressing usability challenges, and enabling adoption through training, super-user networks, and community building.
• Expand APS beyond Production by collaborating with functions such as Quality, Maintenance, Planning, Engineering, and Sustainability to integrate their standards and practices.
• Monitor and communicate impact, defining KPIs for APS adoption, consistency, and performance improvement, and reporting results to senior stakeholders.
• Support standardization and scalability by developing templates, methods, and digital enablers that strengthen APS as a scalable system.
• Facilitate global collaboration, aligning Market and Site OpEx Managers, CoEs, and functional experts to ensure APS evolves in line with Arla’s strategy.

What will make you successful?

We imagine that the ideal candidate brings solid experience in operational excellence and continuous improvement, combined with a collaborative and user-centric mindset. You will need to be confident navigating complex global environments, while keeping end-users at the center of APS development.

We are looking for an ambitious new member for our TMO who possesses:

• A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Engineering, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 5-7 years of experience working with operational excellence, APS/Lean, or continuous improvement in manufacturing or supply chain.
• Strong knowledge of lean principles, standard work, and best practice deployment – ideally with exposure to multi-site or global rollouts.
• Proven ability to engage stakeholders across shopfloor, market, central functions, and senior leadership levels.
• Experience in change management, training, and adoption support.
• Analytical skills to interpret KPIs and maturity assessments, and translate them into actionable improvements.
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken; additional languages are a plus.

Your curiosity, proactive approach, and ability to connect people and processes will help you inspire others and keep APS evolving as the foundation for operational excellence at Arla.

What do we offer?

At Arla, you will be part of a purpose-driven organization where people and planet come first. You will join a high-performing, international team at the forefront of Arla’s transformation, where your ideas and leadership can have a tangible impact on how we operate globally. We offer:

• A dynamic and supportive environment where innovation thrives.
• Opportunities to shape Arla’s digital future and influence key decisions.
• Professional and personal development in a global FMCG organization.
• Flexible working arrangements and the possibility to work remotely.
• Competitive salary and benefits, with a focus on work-life balance.

At Arla, we are committed to unlocking the highest potential in each other while building a sustainable future of dairy. Together, we call it Stronger People, Stronger Planet.

Would you like to join us?

Please apply as soon as possible by uploading your CV highlighting relevant work experience, as well as a cover letter showcasing what interests you about the role and what would make you a great fit for it. We will review applications and conduct interviews on an ongoing basis and close the position as soon as the right candidate is found. For further information please contact the hiring manager, Norbert Baricz, Head of the Global Operational Excellence and Digital Transformation TMO at norba@arlafoods.com.