Director of Continuous Improvement​/Operational Excellence

Overview   About Maneva
Maneva is an AI services company founded by a former Google Deep Mind researcher, focused on transforming manufacturing operations through advanced AI. We enable autonomous factory operation and optimization by generating AI-driven actions and insights using off-the-shelf hardware or existing vision systems. Our solutions address real-world manufacturing challenges across product and equipment inspection, production efficiency, safety, and operational performance—delivering measurable impact without requiring heavy infrastructure changes.
Statement of Purpose
As Director of Business Development (Quality), your purpose is to serve as Maneva''s senior authority on quality, compliance, and operational risk within manufacturing environments. You anchor credibility in enterprise discovery conversations by translating Maneva''s Video-to-Action AI into outcomes that quality leaders and executive buyers care about — defect reduction, audit readiness, yield improvement, and risk mitigation. This role exists to increase trust, shorten sales cycles, and elevate the quality narrative in enterprise buying committees by engaging as a peer — not a salesperson.

The Role  You are a senior quality leader with deep manufacturing credibility who partners closely with Account Executives to influence enterprise decisions. You participate in high-stakes discovery calls, executive briefings, and strategic sessions where quality, compliance, and operational risk are central to the buying decision. You represent Maneva as a trusted quality expert — grounding AI capabilities in real-world quality systems, regulatory expectations, and financial impact — while also serving as a key feedback loop to Product and Leadership on how quality organizations evaluate and adopt AI.
Core Responsibilities    Enterprise Discovery & Executive Engagement   Participate in enterprise-level discovery calls focused on quality systems, yield, compliance, and operational risk.
Establish trust with Directors, VPs, and Heads of Quality by speaking fluently in audit, compliance, and quality performance language.
Act as Maneva's senior quality voice in executive briefings, private sessions, and customer workshops.

Value Translation & Quality Outcomes   Translate Maneva's AI capabilities into concrete quality outcomes such as defect reduction, audit readiness, SPC augmentation, and risk mitigation.
Frame AI adoption in terms of financial impact, regulatory confidence, and operational stability.
Support AEs by anchoring conversations in outcomes rather than features.

Strategic Account Leadership   Serve as the quality domain leader for strategic enterprise accounts.
Guide customers on where AI can most effectively augment existing quality systems and processes.
Act as a trusted peer advisor rather than a transactional seller.

Product & Market Feedback   Provide structured feedback to Product and Engineering on quality-related AI use cases, gaps, and roadmap opportunities.
Represent the voice of enterprise quality leaders internally to ensure alignment with real-world expectations.

Thought Leadership & Market Presence   Support webinars, executive round tables, and private sessions focused on quality, compliance, and risk reduction.
Elevate Maneva's credibility in quality-led buying motions across regulated and complex manufacturing environments.

Requirements  Experience   12-20 years of progressive experience in Quality Leadership, Continuous Improvement, or Operational Excellence within manufacturing environments.
Prior roles may include Director or VP of Quality, Head of Quality Systems, or senior CI leadership with quality oversight.
Experience operating at a corporate, regional, or global level (not exclusively plant-level).
Manufacturing & Enterprise Exposure   

Experience with in multinational manufacturing organizations is required.
Comfort operating across multiple plants, regions, and regulatory environments.
Familiarity with enterprise audit, compliance, and governance structures.
Domain Credibility   Strong command of quality systems, audits, compliance frameworks, and performance metrics.
Six Sigma / Lean expertise is a strong asset…