Portfolio Optimization Leader (SKU Rationalization 80/20),

About the role

This is where your work makes a difference.

Baxter believes every person—regardless of who they are or where they are from—deserves a chance to live a healthy life. Our mission is to save and sustain lives through efficient and effective healthcare delivery. The Portfolio Optimization Leader is a strategic member of the Baxter GPS office and is responsible for driving enterprise-level focus and value creation through Portfolio Optimization, which includes projects that improve processes and accelerate transformation, as well as product portfolio rationalization using 80/20 capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Prioritization: Apply the Pareto Principle to identify the “vital few” tasks, customers, and SKU/product lines that generate the highest returns.
• Portfolio Optimization & Governance: Govern a portfolio of initiatives focused on process improvement, business transformation, and product portfolio rationalization using 80/20 capabilities; establish governance forums, decision rights, and prioritization criteria to focus investment on the highest-value opportunities and eliminate low-value complexity.
• Portfolio Reporting & Value Realization: Report the status of an 800+ project portfolio, including value realization and risks to achieving targets; provide transparency on progress, expected outcomes, and gaps requiring leadership attention or intervention. Ensure benefit tracing is in place across Operating Income, Revenue Growth, ROIC, Free Cash Flow, cost avoidance, and customer satisfaction, and provide regular updates to Senior Leaders.
• Portfolio Mining & Enterprise Deployment: Mine the portfolio to identify repeatable initiatives, scalable solutions, and proven practices; standardize and enforce deployment of these across the enterprise to accelerate value capture, reduce duplication, and improve consistency of outcomes.
• Resource Allocation: Redirect human, financial, and technological resources toward high-impact initiatives.
• Culture Transformation: Champion a culture of simplification, continuous improvement, and focus.
• Team Empowerment & Delegation: Identify top talent and delegate intentionally.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Use segmented P&Ls and analytics to guide decisions.
• Process Improvement & Transformation: Oversee and govern kaizen events, transformation initiatives, and cross-functional improvement efforts to ensure they align to enterprise priorities, simplify processes, increase productivity, and deliver measurable business impact.

Requirements

• Analyze and interpret complex data sets to inform strategic decisions.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across the organization.
• Lead cross-functional teams to achieve common goals.
• Communicate effectively with all levels of the organization, including senior leadership.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring timely completion and adherence to budget and scope.
• Apply advanced analytical and strategic thinking to identify and prioritize high-value opportunities.
• Drive accountability and ensure alignment with strategic objectives.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Operations Management, Business Administration, Engineering).
• 10-15+ years of experience in operations, strategy, or continuous improvement.
• Experience with 80/20 methodology, Lean, or segmentation.

Skills

• Analytical & Strategic Thinking: Ability to see the big picture and pinpoint leverage points.
• Influence & Coaching: Inspire and coach leaders and teams to adopt focused, high-impact behaviors.
• Decisive & Focused: Concentrate on important—not just urgent—work and say "no" to lower-value activities.
• Governance & Accountability Orientation: Drive results through clear governance, disciplined prioritization, and strong accountability across the portfolio.
• Exceptional Communication: Clearly articulate the "why" behind decisions and challenge existing norms.
• Change Leadership: Influence teams through organizational transformation and simplification.

Benefits

Learn more about our benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and other perks.