Process Improvement Specialist, NAR - Contract

Volkswagen Group of America; Ontario; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Process Improvement Specialist to lead Lean methodologies across the North American Region. This role focuses on optimizing operations, influencing change, and facilitating workshops to enhance process efficiency. You will guide teams through critical phases of process improvement, ensuring alignment with business goals. If you have a passion for driving change and possess strong analytical and leadership skills, this is an exciting opportunity to make a significant impact in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in agile/lean methodology environments.
• Experience in automotive or financial industries is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead process improvement initiatives and Kaizen workshops.
• Facilitate project status meetings and support benchmarking workshops.

Skills

Communication skills

Problem solving

Analytical skills

Computer savvy

Influencing and negotiation skills

Resource/Team management

Customer Focus

Performance driven

Creative thinking

Leadership skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Business

Master's degree in Finance or Business

Tools

RPA or other workflow automation tools

Job description

Job Description - Process Improvement Specialist, NAR - Contract (VCI003516)

Primary Location

As the captive finance company of the Audi, Ducati and Volkswagen brands in Canada, Volkswagen Financial Services offers a wide range of leasing, retail financing and protection plans expertly tailored to meet the needs of our customers. Additionally, we provide commercial financing products to Audi, Ducati, and Volkswagen Dealers.

Role Summary

The Process Specialist acts as the lead Lean process improvement practitioner for the North American Region. This role supports the improvement of complex operations with undocumented processes, tackles large cross-organizational process opportunities, and will influence change without authority. The sole contributor role guides the subject matter experts through the Define, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) and Design, Measure, Analyze and Verify (DMADV) phases for optimization of existing and newly launched products. He/she will work closely with trained change agents to help with the completion of LCA and Champion projects while delivering on the targeted outcomes including process quality, savings, cost reduction, cost avoidance, and customer satisfaction targets. This role will develop and deliver on process analysis models across the North American Region that establish predictive capability assessments and regression analysis for continuous improvement of implemented solutions. The Specialist is a key facilitator of process redesign and Kaizen/Lean Sprint workshops to timebox the identification of low-hanging fruits in process. In addition, this role acts as a change agent for long-term Lean Process strategies across the North American Region.

Role Responsibilities:

1. Process Improvement & Optimization – 25% of time spent
   • Scoring and prioritization of ideas and Business support requests
   • Management of project scoring and prioritization models to ensure the resources are working on what matters the most
   • Leader of process design reviews to produce process visibility, root cause analysis, and proposed process changes
   • Execute and deliver statistical analysis on new projects and active implementations (regression analysis and performance forecasting)
   • Facilitation of Kaizen/Lean Sprints for front office and back-office departments process discovery workshops
   • On-demand support to Business managers across the North American Region for escalated cross-organizational solutions
2. Process Standardization – 25% of time
   • Lead (prepare and facilitate) weekly project status team meetings to determine health status and risk mitigations to meet delivery targets
   • Lead and support benchmarking workshops to embrace new tools and techniques to optimize process standardization through redesign and automation
   • Support the development, facilitation, and execution of Lean Process forums to support cross-organizational education
3. Lean Academy Support - 25% of time
   • Primary mentor of Lean Change Agents & Lean Champions to ensure standardization of lean process application and adoption across the North American Region.
   • Lead prospective students through the internal certification program to learn and apply the methodology within the business and certify as internal Lean Change Agents across the North American Region.
4. Financial – 25% of time
   • Proactively engage with community leaders, business, and other customer groups to understand and anticipate business needs.
   • Track and report project roadmaps against KPOs/KPI commitments
   • Develop metrics and key performance indicators that provide data for process measurement and drive key decisions for improvement within the business
   • Responsible for leading projects through the degree of implementation level 3 (financial and non-financial contributions).

Years of Relevant Experience

• 5+ years of experience in agile/lean methodology working environments (DMAIC, DFSS, Kaizen, PI planning)
• 3+ years of experience in related industry and/or automotive/financial

Required Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business related or equivalent experience

Desired Education

• Master's degree in Finance or Business

Skills

• Communication skills – interpersonal, presentation, and written
• Problem solving
• Analytical skills – using logic and reason, creative and strategic thinking
• Computer savvy – skilled in the use of software
• Influencing and negotiation skills
• Resource/Team management - ensuring efficient use of available capacity (planning and assignment of tasks)
• Customer Focus - dedicated to building loyalty among customers
• Performance driven
• Creative / unconventional thinking
• Leadership skills - coaching, developing, and mentoring employees

Required Skills

• Strategy execution through designing new models
• Familiar with RPA or other workflow automation tools

Desired Skills

• Six Sigma greenbelt certification
• Data Visualization and Reporting
• Perform Statistical Analysis

Work Flexibility

• Travel up to 15% of time (primarily to attend Group / Project meetings)

Volkswagen Financial Services is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, family status, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, or local laws.

Volkswagen Financial Services is committed to accommodating applicants and employees with disabilities. Should you require an accommodation during the recruitment and selection process, please advise in advance.