Senior Associate, Operational Excellence

About Palladium

Operating in over 50 countries, Palladium is a global consulting and implementation company working in partnership with governments, businesses, investors, and communities to design and deliver solutions that create lasting positive impact. We address some of the world's most complex challenges across infrastructure, economic growth and natural capital, health, energy, climate and environment, and digital transformation—strengthening systems, institutions, and markets to support inclusive and sustainable development. Our more than 2,100 staff worldwide work as trusted advisors across diverse contexts, combining deep technical expertise, implementation techniques, and innovative technology to deliver locally informed, client-focused solutions that help organizations achieve measurable, sustainable impact. Palladium is part of GISI's global family of companies, which aims to create solutions for the world's most complex challenges. With annual revenues of $18 billion, GISI's approximately 16,000 employees are engaged in projects across 100 countries worldwide providing construction, program/project management, and engineering consulting services.

This Opportunity

Palladium is seeking a Senior Associate, Operational Excellence to play a pivotal role in supporting administrative and executive management activities, contribute to the team's pipeline of process improvement activities, and provide support to business development and project management teams. The Senior Associate will be a member of the Operational Excellence team and will provide cross-functional coordination, administrative, and project support to all functions overseen by the Vice President, Operational Excellence, including Process Excellence, Human Resources, Contracts, Legal, and Facilities. The role will support initiatives that strengthen operational systems, improve internal ways of working, and help corporate functions deliver timely, practical support to business development and project delivery teams. Through this work, the Senior Associate will gain exposure to a broad range of corporate operations within Palladium and contribute to initiatives that enable the company to deliver impact across its global portfolio.

Location

The position is based in Palladium's Arlington, VA office within our Americas region. Candidates must be authorized to work in the US as visa sponsorship is not available. Palladium supports a hybrid working model with 3 days in office, 2 days from home.

Compensation

The annual base salary for this position is expected to range from $75,000 to $80,000. Please be advised that a final salary offer will be based on various factors, including but not limited to your qualifications, education, experience, skills, seniority, performance, and Palladium's business or organizational needs.

Reporting and Supervision

The role will report to the Senior Manager, Process Excellence. This role will not have supervisory responsibilities.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Providing day-to-day administrative, coordination, and project support to the Vice President, Operational Excellence, including helping manage priorities, follow-ups, deadlines, meetings, documentation, and requests across Process Excellence, Human Resources, Contracts, and Legal
• Providing ad hoc executive and administrative assistance, including processing invoices and financial documentation, preparing and organizing files, developing templates, maintaining shared resources, and ensuring information is accurate, accessible, and easy to use
• Serving as a liaison between all internal stakeholders including but not limited to corporate services, practices, and business development teams to support timely information flow, coordinated decision-making, and alignment with organizational priorities
• Maintaining team trackers, priority lists, schedules, agendas, meeting notes, and action items to help the VP and supported departments monitor progress, follow through on commitments, and coordinate work across functions
• Supporting operational activities associated with projects, internal initiatives, proposals, policy updates, process improvements, and corporate function priorities, as requested
• Assisting with internal and external communications
• Coordinating team data collection and file organization
• Identifying, proposing, and helping implement practical improvements to tools, templates, workflows, trackers, and team processes that improve efficiency, consistency, and the user experience for internal clients
• Providing comprehensive support for meetings, workshops, trainings, and events, including scheduling, agenda development, participant coordination, logistics, materials preparation, budget tracking, vendor coordination, and follow-up documentation, as requested
• Other duties as required

Essential Criteria

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work with a diverse range of people
• An interest in supporting the operational systems, corporate functions, and project delivery infrastructure that enable Palladium's international development work
• Knowledge of project coordination practices and comfort using collaboration and tracking tools such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Excel, and other systems used to manage priorities, documentation, action items, and shared resources
• The ability to juggle multiple tasks and adapt to changing priorities
• Excellent organizational and administrative skills with strong attention to detail and timeliness
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Independence in work, coupled with strong teamwork skills

Desired Criteria

• Professional working proficiency in multiple languages with priority given to Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic