Director, Business Process Excellence

Responsibilities

• Own the overall BPE program: charter, objectives, operating model, and multi-initiative roadmap.
• Chair portfolio management activities and serve as the primary liaison to the BPESC (comprised of the ELT plus the program lead), reporting monthly on portfolio status, resource needs, and roadblocks.
• Maintain and enforce the Tier I/II/III project classification system and associated capacity allocation (70% Tier I, 20% Tier II, 10% Tier III).
• Escalate risks, roadblocks, and resourcing gaps to the BPESC in a timely manner.
• Establish a BPE Center of Excellence (CoE) to implement standards, methods, tools, and approaches that are repeatable and scalable.
• Lead structured discovery with the ELT, including one-on-one interviews and value-stream walkthroughs of core end-to-end flows, to surface high-value candidate initiatives grounded in evidence rather than open brainstorming.
• Facilitate ELT prioritization workshops, scoring candidate initiatives on business impact (velocity, financial, or scalability gain) versus Level of Effort (LOE) and feasibility.
• Recommend and drive consensus on the top initiatives for active investment, ensuring Tier I projects span at least two departments where handoff friction exists.
• Evaluate and reprioritize the portfolio upon completion of each initiative or as may be required if the portfolio changes.
• Direct execution of the standard working method across active initiatives: as-is process mapping, to-be design (cross-functional), removal of non-value-added steps, roadblock identification, plan-building (owners, timelines, dependencies), and execution oversight.
• Ensure every initiative has a clear, measurable benefits case tied to program objectives (velocity, scalability, quality, consistency, visibility & data integrity, or cost) before resourcing is committed.
• Ensure the Data & Systems Analyst establishes reliable, automated KPI reporting so leaders can manage the business by facts rather than anecdotes.
• Build and oversee a team consisting of the following to design, build, and deliver solutions that create measurable benefit for the company:
• Business Process Analyst
• Business Process Engineers
• Data and Systems Analyst
• Department Partnership & Change Management:
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with ELT members and their direct reports, ensuring departments supply engaged initiative owners and dedicate the resources required for success.
• Escalate to the appropriate ELT member if engagement or execution decreases.
• Work with each ELT department to designate and support embedded Process Owners or Departmental Champions who keep initiatives on schedule and sustain gains after the core team disengages.
• Reinforce the governance principle that the CoE drives and supports projects but does not own departmental processes. Accountability for outcomes remains with the business.
• Champion continuous improvement as a durable organizational capability, not a one-time project, including training and enabling frontline practitioners.
• Escalate delays or roadblocks early before they cause delivery or execution delays.
• Reporting & Benefit Realization:
• Track and report progress against the program's core objectives and their measures (e.g., order lead time, revenue per employee, rework rate, cost per order/unit/change order, improvement ideas implemented, etc.).
• Establish new KPIs if required.
• Own benefits realization tracking end-to-end, validating that projected gains are achieved and sustained post-implementation.
• Provide regular, data-driven updates and continuous communication to the BPESC and broader stakeholders on program health, wins, and course corrections.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive experience in business process improvement, operational excellence, and program and portfolio management.
• 5+ years of technology leadership experience at the Manager or Director level.
• 3+ years leading a team focused on Business Process Optimization or Operational Excellence.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, Industrial Engineering, Operations, Operations Management, Systems Engineering, or related field. Additional 4 years of experience will be accepted in lieu of a degree.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives at the enterprise level.
• Demonstrated experience with process improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Business Process Management, TQB, or direct field applicable experience leading enterprise-wide initiatives in Business Process Improvement) and process mapping including documenting current-state vs. future-state design.
• Experience standing up or leading a Center of Excellence, PMO, or similar centralized capability that partners with, rather than replaces, business-unit ownership.
• Proven track record managing a multi-initiative portfolio, including prioritization frameworks and capacity and resource allocation.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, with experience presenting to and influencing senior leadership and executive leadership.
• Experience across multiple functional domains (e.g., Engineering, Finance, Sales/Order Management, Operations/Supply Chain, HR) or the ability to quickly build credibility across them.
• Data-driven mindset, with experience using KPIs and dashboards to drive decisions and measure benefits realization.
• Change management skills, with experience embedding sustainable ownership of process improvements within business units.
• Strong experience using AI tools to solve business problems. Extensive, demonstratable experience using automation and system integration to reduce errors, increase velocity, and reduce manual steps or handoffs. This includes practical experience with applying automation and AI to process improvement (e.g., RPA, workflow automation, AI-enabled solutions) across commercial, operations, and finance domains.