CI Programme Lead — AI & Operational Excellence

Kirby Group Engineering; Limerick; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Kirby Group Engineering is seeking a motivated CI Programme Lead to own governance and coordination of Kirby’s continuous improvement portfolio across Ireland, the UK, Europe and South Africa. You will ensure initiatives are defined, prioritised, controlled and measured to deliver real business value.

The role reports to the Performance Associate Director and is based in Limerick, with potential flexible locations in Dublin or Galway.

Qualifications

• Recognised third level qualification; master’s degree preferred.
• Desirable: programme or project management, Lean, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, business transformation or equivalent.
• Minimum 7 years’ relevant experience in programme management, continuous improvement, operational excellence or business transformation, preferably within engineering or construction.
• Experience coordinating digital transformation, automation or AI initiatives in a business environment.
• Excellent communication, facilitation and influencing skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders from project teams through to Board level.
• Strong analytical capability to define KPIs, assess delivery confidence, interpret performance information and present clear recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Kirby’s standard initiative delivery framework, governance model, templates and reporting requirements.
• Ensure initiatives have a clear problem statement, scope, objectives, sponsor, business owner, initiative lead, milestones and measurable benefits.
• Apply a consistent lifecycle from identification and approval through pilot, implementation, embedding and business-as-usual handover.
• Promote practical, proportionate governance that supports delivery without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Maintain a central view of strategic and operational improvement initiatives across the business.
• Coordinate portfolio reviews and governance meetings, ensuring decisions, actions, risks, issues and dependencies are clearly recorded and owned.
• Support senior leadership in prioritising initiatives and identifying resource constraints or competing business demands.
• Challenge stalled or poorly defined initiatives and coordinate recovery actions where agreed outcomes are at risk.
• Maintain a coordinated portfolio of AI opportunities, pilots and implementation initiatives across Kirby.
• Define business problem, intended outcome, ownership, governance and success measures for each initiative with business leaders and IT.
• Track operational value, adoption, risks and lessons learned and share across the business.
• Facilitate scoping, prioritisation, problem-solving and cross-functional improvement workshops.
• Coach initiative leads in structured delivery, governance, risk management and benefits tracking.
• Identify opportunities to simplify work, reduce duplication, improve hand-offs and standardise ways of working.
• Ensure solutions are practical for live engineering and construction environments and can be sustained after handover.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and lead improvements to governance, reporting and benefits-realisation approaches.
• Encourage a culture of innovation, knowledge sharing and organisational learning.

Skills

Portfolio governance

Initiative delivery

Benefits realisation

Executive reporting

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Master’s degree preferred

Job description

Kirby Group Engineering is seeking a motivated CI Programme Lead to own governance and coordination of Kirby’s continuous improvement portfolio across Ireland, the UK, Europe and South Africa. You will ensure initiatives are defined, prioritised, controlled and measured to deliver real business value.

The role reports to the Performance Associate Director and is based in Limerick, with potential flexible locations in Dublin or Galway.