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Continuous Improvement Engineer

Northlake IL

About Misfits Market:

Misfits Market is a mission-driven, high-growth startup dedicated to reducing food waste and making shopping for sustainable, high-quality groceries easier and more affordable. We deliver organic produce, high-quality meats and seafood, plant-based proteins, dairy, bakery, wine, and other grocery items to nearly every zip code in 48 states at up to 30 percent off traditional grocery store prices. In 2022, Misfits Market acquired sustainable e-grocer Imperfect Foods and now leverages its in-house transportation network to deliver directly to consumers with one of the most carbon-efficient grocery delivery models on the market. By tackling inefficiencies in the food system, our passionate and motivated team of problem solvers helps save an average of 500,000 pounds of food per week from waste or lesser outcomes, with an all-time savings of 190+ million pounds of food.

As Misfits we support our customers and mission by embracing our core values of

Prioritizing our Customers                             

Doing more with less

Thinking Differently         

Respecting one another                             

Moving deliberately and quickly                   

Taking initiative and delivering 

About Role:

The Continuous Improvement Engineer is responsible for leading process improvement initiatives that optimize our logistics and distribution network from project inception through implementation. This role partners closely with Transportation, Distribution, and Field Operations teams to improve delivery execution, routing, network performance, service levels, cost efficiency, and operational scalability while maintaining a strong focus on safety, quality, and the customer experience.

As a CI Engineer, you will leverage data to identify opportunities, design scalable solutions, and implement operational improvements across our delivery network. You will serve as a trusted partner to field leadership by coaching teams, standardizing best practices, and ensuring data-driven decision making.

As we continue expanding our logistics footprint and launching new markets, this role will help build scalable transportation processes, improve network performance, and establish operational standards that enhance customer satisfaction while improving unit economics. You will lead cross-functional initiatives spanning transportation operations, routing, technology implementations, and network optimization.

Additionally, this role will support the growth of our third-party logistics (3PL) business by designing scalable transportation and distribution processes, improving operational reporting, and building capabilities that enable exceptional customer service for external partners.

Responsibilities: 

  • Lead continuous improvement initiatives across transportation, distribution, and last-mile delivery operations.
  • Partner with Transportation, Operations, Planning, and Analytics teams to identify opportunities that improve delivery performance, network efficiency, and service reliability.
  • Analyze transportation and operational data to identify trends, bottlenecks, and opportunities to improve routing, capacity utilization, on-time delivery, and cost per delivery.
  • Support the launch of new markets, delivery stations, transportation partners, and network expansion initiatives.
  • Develop and implement standard operating procedures, playbooks, and training materials that improve execution consistency across the distribution network.
  • Drive root cause analysis for operational issues impacting customer experience, delivery performance, or transportation costs.
  • Lead Kaizen events and Lean projects focused on reducing waste across logistics operations.
  • Partner with Technology teams to validate and implement transportation systems, routing tools, and operational software enhancements.
  • Build dashboards and KPIs that provide visibility into transportation performance and operational health.
  • Coach field leaders on Lean principles, problem solving, and continuous improvement methodologies.
  • Manage multiple cross-functional projects from planning through implementation while ensuring stakeholder alignment.
  •  

Skills & Qualifications:

  • Two - five years of hands-on experience in a manufacturing, warehouse and/or delivery operations environment.
  • Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, project management or equivalent experience.
  • Working knowledge of lean manufacturing principles and practices.
  • Minimum of a Yellow Belt Lean Six Sigma Certification is preferred, and capable of providing examples of the use of Lean tools.
  • Ability to collaborate and work cross-functionally with a variety of teams including Operations, HR, Supply, Innovation, Customer Care, and Marketing.
  • Ability to work both independently and collaboratively, with little supervision and able to work in a changing environment with changing priorities.
  • Demonstrated experience recognizing and identifying root causes for subtle differences in processes and data sets.
  • Ability to Coach and to practice a very strong and disciplined Lean daily management approach at the point of value adding to enable a continual focus on process improvement to eliminate waste. This includes maintaining visual controls that track only the critical metrics, which tell you whether you are eliminating waste from your value-adding activities.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • A self-starter attitude and an ability to attack problems with minimal direction.
  • Strong Experience using Google Suite and Microsoft Office applications, and project management software such as Jira and Confluence.
  • Skilled in the use of MS Excel, MS Word, MS PowerPoint at an Intermediate level.
  • Skilled in learning new concepts quickly.

Details of Position & Benefits:

  • Salary range: $75,000 - $80,000 
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) 
  • Annual Misfits grocery box credit of $1200 paid in weekly installments
  • Life insurance
  • Paid vacation time
  • Paid holidays 
  • Paid sick days
  • Commuter benefits

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