Continuous Improvement/Operational Excellence Engineer
Valar Atomics · Los Angeles, CA · 3 wk ago
On-siteManagement$175k–$240k/yrFull-time
About the role
Joining Valar Atomics means becoming part of a company where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level. The Role
Key Responsibilities
- Lead enterprise-wide process improvement initiatives across Engineering, Manufacturing, Construction, Supply Chain, Quality, Laboratory Operations, Customer Service, and other business functions.
- Map, analyze, improve, and standardize end-to-end business processes to improve safety, quality, delivery performance, customer satisfaction, organizational effectiveness, and scalability.
- Evaluate business processes against applicable regulatory requirements, quality management standards, consensus standards, and organizational objectives while ensuring controls remain appropriate to risk.
- Identify process bottlenecks, organizational friction points, unclear ownership boundaries, redundant activities, excessive handoffs, and non-value-added work.
- Facilitate structured problem-solving efforts using Lean, Six Sigma, value stream mapping, root cause analysis, systems thinking, and other continuous improvement methodologies.
- Develop process architectures, process interaction models, governance frameworks, ownership structures, and performance measurement systems that support sustainable organizational growth.
- Partner with process owners and leadership teams to define future-state workflows that improve execution consistency while maintaining operational flexibility where appropriate.
- Help ensure enterprise processes are effectively implemented through supporting business systems including ERP, CRM, PLM, MES, DMS, QMS, LMS, LIMS, CMMS, and related operational platforms.
- Establish meaningful process performance metrics, dashboards, scorecards, and management review mechanisms that support data-driven decision making.
- Support development of enterprise process governance frameworks that balance regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, quality objectives, and business needs.
- Coach leaders and teams on process thinking, process ownership, operational excellence principles, and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Help establish a culture where continuous improvement, disciplined execution, and organizational learning become embedded behaviors throughout the enterprise.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Systems Engineering, Quality Engineering, Business Operations, Operations Management, or a related technical discipline.
- 15+ years of experience in operational excellence, continuous improvement, business process development, quality systems, industrial engineering, operations management, or related disciplines.
- Demonstrated experience improving business processes within manufacturing, engineering, construction, energy, aerospace, defense, semiconductor, nuclear, or similarly complex technical environments.
- Strong understanding of process mapping, process analysis, root cause analysis, value stream mapping, performance measurement, and organizational process improvement methodologies.
- Familiarity with enterprise business systems and operational workflows commonly supported through ERP, CRM, PLM, MES, DMS, QMS, LMS, LIMS, and CMMS platforms.
- Strong facilitation, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Comfortable operating in fast-paced environments with evolving priorities and organizational structures.